Introduction: War and the popular foundations of the state -- pt. 1. Ideology, political culture, and state formation -- War displaces its analog -- Morale and the national moment -- Scapegoating the state -- pt. 2. Encountering the state in everyday life -- Buying our boys back -- Work or fight -- Citizen-soldiers -- Conclusion: The paradox of rights in the warfare state
Summary
Although common wisdom and much scholarship assume that "big government" gained its foothold in the United States under the auspices of the New Deal during the Great Depression, in fact it was the Second World War that accomplished this feat. Indeed, as the federal government mobilized for war it grew tenfold, quickly dwarfing the New Deal's welfare programs. Warfare State shows how the federal government vastly expanded its influence over American society during World War II. Equally important, it looks at how and why Americans adapted to this expansion of authority. Through mass pa
