by Daniel Krebs and Lorien Foote, editors
Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2021. Pp. xii, 330.
Illus., notes, index. $45.00. ISBN:0700630511
The Evolution of American Policy on Prisoners of War
Extending the work of a conference in 2017 , the papers collected in this work explore government policy toward and the role of prisoners-of-war in America’s wars “beyond the prison camps”, that is, the ways in which these policies developed and how these P/Ws affected America’s economy, politics, culture, and even war making, within the framework of contemporary custom and international agreement .
The eleven papers touch on topics such as captives in the Georgia-Creek war of 1770-1800, captivity and changing perceptions of manhood, political prisoners in the American Revolution, efforts to “re-educate” Japanese and German P/Ws in World War II, employment of P/Ws, enemy P/Ws during the Vietnam War, and even preservation and interpretation of former P/W camps. Several papers touch on the P/W experience of the Civil War.
Offering insights into both the P/W experience and evolving U.S. policy about prisoners-of-war, the papers in Useful Captives, a volume in the Kansas series “Modern War Studies”, open a new front in the study of this rather neglected side of military history.
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