KNOXVILLE — In her new book, “America’s Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force,” Temple University Professor Beth Bailey looks at how a volunteer Army has raised political, moral and social issues for our country.
On Nov. 12, Bailey — a leading historian of American culture and society in the 20th century — will be at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, to present the history department’s Charles O. Jackson Memorial Lecture. The event begins at 5 p.m. in the Shiloh Room (Room 235) of the University Center. A reception will follow.
Bailey’s topic, drawn from her book, will be “America’s Army: Race, Gender and Social Good in the Post-Cold War Military.”
Summarizing Bailey’s new book, Amazon.com says: “‘America’s Army’ is the story of the all-volunteer force, from the draft protests and policy proposals of the 1960s through the Iraq War. It is also a history of America in the post-Vietnam era. In the Army, America directly confronted the legacies of civil rights and black power, the women’s movement and gay rights. The volunteer force raised questions about the meaning of citizenship and the rights and obligations it carries; about whether liberty or equality is the more central American value; what role the military should play in American society not only in time of war, but in time of peace.”
Bailey gathered information for her book through archival research, as well as interviews with Army officers and recruiters, advertising executives and policy makers.
Bailey has a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Chicago. She has authored or co-authored nine books, two book series and numerous papers, book chapters and other publications on topics ranging from the military to dating, marriage, love and sexuality, use of the birth control pill, and historical looks at the 1950s and 1960s.
She also has won numerous awards for teaching and writing, including the 2007 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award.
The Charles O. Jackson Memorial Lecture Series honors the career of the late Charles O. Jackson, a scholar of American culture and society who, together with Charles W. Johnson, wrote “City Behind a Fence: Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 1942-1946,” a blend of social and military history published in 1981. Jackson was a member of UT’s history department from 1969 to 1997.
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C O N T A C T :
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu)