{"product_id":"why-war-the-cultural-logic-of-iraq-the-gulf-war-and-suez","title":"Why War?: The Cultural Logic of Iraq  the Gulf War  and Suez","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhy did America invade Iraq? Why do nations choose to fight certain wars and not others? How do we bring ourselves to believe that the sacrifice of our troops is acceptable? For most  the answers to these questions are tied to struggles for power or resources and the machinations of particular interest groups. Philip Smith argues that this realist answer to the age-old \"why war?\" question is insufficient. Instead  Smith suggests that every war has its roots in the ways we tell and interpret stories.  Comprised of case studies of the War in Iraq  the Gulf War  and the Suez Crisis  Why War? decodes the cultural logic of the narratives that justify military action. Each nation  Smith argues  makes use of binary codesgood and evil  sacred and profane  rational and irrational  to name a few. These codes  in the hands of political leaders  activists  and the media  are deployed within four different types of narrativesmundane  tragic  romantic  or apocalyptic. With this cultural system  Smith is able to radically recast our \"war stories\" and show how nations can have vastly different understandings of crises as each identifies the relevant protagonists and antagonists  objects of struggle  and threats and dangers.  The large-scale sacrifice of human lives necessary in modern war  according to Smith  requires an apocalyptic vision of world events. In the case of the War in Iraq  for example  he argues that the United States and Britain replicated a narrative of impending global doom from the Gulf War. But in their apocalyptic account they mistakenly made the now seemingly toothless Saddam Hussein once again a symbol of evil by writing him into the story alongside al Qaeda  resulting in the wars contestation in the United States  Britain  and abroad.  Offering an innovative approach to understanding how major wars are packaged  sold  and understood  Why War? will be applauded by anyone with an interest in military history  political science  cultural studies  and communication.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44985035718709,"sku":"ByrdShop_0226763889","price":59.88,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780226763880.jpg?v=1770843783","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/why-war-the-cultural-logic-of-iraq-the-gulf-war-and-suez","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}