Overview
Drunken disorderliness. Cowardice in battle. Writing bad cheques. Vulgarity. Sexual indecency. Adultery. Following courts martial for such disgraceful deeds, hundreds of Canadian officers lost their commissions during the First and Second World Wars. Scandalous Conduct investigates the forgotten experiences of these dismissed ex-officers to offer a new critical perspective on constructed notions of honour and dishonour. Matthew Barrett explores how changing definitions of scandalous behaviour shaped the quintessential honour crime known as “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.” As symbolized by the loss of commissioned rank, dishonour represented a direct challenge to the discredited officer’s prestige, livelihood, and sense of manhood. Drawing on fascinating court cases that have never before been studied, Scandalous Conduct convincingly demonstrates a surprising conclusion. The scope of officer misconduct revealed that the ideal of military honour was not nearly as stable as leaders preferred to believe; instead it depended on changing social circumstances and disciplinary requirements.
Full Product Details
Author: Matthew Barrett
Publisher: University of British Columbia Press
Imprint: University of British Columbia Press
Weight: 0.420kg
ISBN: 9780774867597
ISBN 10: 0774867590
Pages: 276
Publication Date: 01 November 2022
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
""Scandalous Conduct is a welcome addition to the literature on Canadian military culture and is an excellent introduction to its concept of honor."" -- Peter Kasurak, Queen's University * History: Review of New Books *
"""Scandalous Conduct surveys a wide body of previously unseen evidence on court-martialed officers in the Canadian armed forces. It is a fine piece of scholarship.""--Teresa Iacobelli, author of Death or Deliverance: Canadian Courts-Martial in the Great War"
Scandalous Conduct surveys a wide body of previously unseen evidence on court-martialed officers in the Canadian armed forces. It is a fine piece of scholarship. --Teresa Iacobelli, author of Death or Deliverance: Canadian Courts-Martial in the Great War
Author Information
Matthew Barrett is a military historian and a SSHRC postdoctoral fellow at the Canadian War Museum. His work has appeared in Canadian Military History, the Canadian Journal of History, and Histoire sociale/Social History, and he is the co-author and illustrator of a forthcoming graphic history about the First World War.
