The Cultural Politics of Veterans' Narratives

The Cultural Politics of Veterans’ Narratives investigates the role veterans’ stories play in our collective cultural and political life. Grounded in contemporary narrative theory, it offers a conceptual framework for studying veterans’ narratives, followed by a series of unique empirical chapters dealing with different genres of veteran storytelling, including trauma, transition, culture and identity, and the Afghanistan war memoir. The book’s main argument views narrative as a powerful social practice with the power to transform our imagination of war and those who fight in line with political and moral values. Narrative ‘carries’ cultural politics; the ideas, symbols, values and practices that form our cultural political environment find expression in and through stories. Veterans’ stories breathe life into cultural politics in ways that, often unconsciously, shape our lives and values. Opportunities for encountering veterans’ stories abound in everyday life – from theatre to social media, news media, podcasts, memoirs, political speech, academia, and interviews – and The Cultural Politics of Veterans’ Narratives traces how these stories unfold across a wide range of sources and subjects. The book questions the British veteran as a political figure, exploring what their stories tell us about the morality and politics of war and military life. It also traces how social norms about militarism, nationalism, and patriotism pivot as a result. Caddick considers what the stakes are for veterans as their stories interact with wider cultural narratives, and for society in grappling with the ‘militarist terms of reference’ these stories impart to us.