Overview

American military power in the War on Terror has increasingly depended on the capacity to see the enemy. The act of seeing-enhanced by electronic and digital technologies-has separated shooter from target, eliminating risk of bodily harm to the remote warrior, while YouTube videos eroticize pulling the trigger and video games blur the line between simulated play and fighting. Light It Up examines the visual culture of the early twenty-first century military. Focusing on the Marine Corps, which played a critical part in the invasion and occupation of Iraq, John Pettegrew argues that U.S. military force in the Iraq War was projected through an ""optics of combat."" Powerful military technology developed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has placed war in a new posthuman era. Pettegrew's interviews with marines, as well as his analysis of first-person shooter videogames and combat footage, lead to startling insights into the militarization of popular digital culture. An essential study for readers interested in modern warfare, policy makers, and historians of technology, war, and visual and military culture.

Full Product Details

Author:   John Pettegrew
Publisher:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Imprint:   Johns Hopkins University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.10cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9781421417851

ISBN 10:   1421417855
Pages:   240
Publication Date:   10 January 2016
Recommended Age:   From 17
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

"Preface Acknowledgments Introduction. Force Projection and the Marine Eye for Battle 1. Shock and Awe and Air Power Network-Centric Warfare, Sensors, and Total Situational Awareness Achieving Rapid Dominance in Iraq Kill Boxes, LITENING Pods, and the Third Marine Aircraft Wing ""Keep Your Eyes Out,"" Fair Fighting, and Memories of Killing 2. Of War Porn and Pleasure in Killing Pornography Is the Theory, and Killing the Practice Classic Hollywood Combat Films Marine Moto on YouTube The Iraq War on Television 3. Fallujah, First to Fight, and Ludology Ender's Game and the Rise of Simulation in Military Training, 1995–2005 From Combat Films to Video Games The Value Added to Military Training Fighting in the Digitized Streets of Beirut 4. Counterinsurgency and ""Turning Off the Killing Switch"" Empathy, General Mattis, and the Profound Paradox of Marine Humanitarianism Haditha, Acute Stress, and the Excesses of Occupying Force USMC Literary Culture and Warrior Ethos ""Which Way Would You Run?"" 5. Posthuman Warfighting Marines in Science Fiction and in Space The Postmasculinist Marines and New Optics of Combat The Gladiator Robot and the Critique of Remote Warfare 6. Synthetic Visions of War Biopolitics and the Costs of War Digital Culture and the Computational Marine Subjectivity Lives and Dies Notes Essay on Primary Sources Index"

Reviews

Examines how [video game] technologies have affected the training and actual fighting of U.S. marines... Pettegrew's book is filled with interesting and thought-provoking material. * Foreign Affairs * This book does two things: it addresses a worthwhile subject, and it makes us think. * Journal of America's Military Past *

Examines how [video game] technologies have affected the training and actual fighting of U.S. marines... Pettegrew's book is filled with interesting and thought-provoking material. Foreign Affairs

Examines how [video game] technologies have affected the training and actual fighting of U.S. marines... Pettegrew's book is filled with interesting and thought-provoking material. Foreign Affairs This book does two things: it addresses a worthwhile subject, and it makes us think. Journal of America's Military Past

Author Information

John Pettegrew, an associate professor of history and director of the American Studies Program at Lehigh University, is the author of Brutes in Suits: Male Sensibility in America, 1890-1920.

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