Peter Schrijvers

Having written about how American military personnel reacted to Europe in World War II, Schrijvers now turns his hand to the cultural shocks dished out to Americans by war in the Pacfic and on the Asian mainland. While covering some of the same territory as John Dower, Eric Bergerud, and others, Schrijvers is much more interested in unpacking cultural outlooks. This is as he traces the trajectory of experience from the optimistic outlook of individuals with their heads full of the images generated by Hollywood and the like, to the expressions of despair wrought by the sheer bludgeoning alien nature of the "Far West;" which most American participants simply lacked the cultural tools to comprehend what they were seeing. This is never forgetting the brutal nature of the environment and the savagery of the conflict itself. Drawing much on the period writings of those who experienced this war, Schrijvers finds a certain continuity with earlier American traditions of subduing the frontier, hand in hand with darker fears of cultural degradation. Much of this will not be new to old hands, but Schrijvers is very readable and it's interesting to get the outlook of a non-American on this whole brutal adventure.… (plus d'informations)