When Cowboys Come Home: Veterans, Authenticity, and Manhood in Post–World War II America

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Aaron George

When Cowboys Come Home

Veterans, Authenticity, and Manhood in Post–World War II America

Aaron George

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English

Rutgers University Press
25 December 2023

History; History of the Americas; Gender studies, gender groups; Gender studies: men; Jewish studies

"When Cowboys Come Home: Veterans, Authenticity, and Manhood in Post-World War II America is a cultural and intellectual history of the 1950s that argues that World War II led to a breakdown of traditional markers of manhood and opened space for veterans to reimagine what masculinity could mean. One particularly important strand of thought, which influenced later anxieties over ""other-direction"" and ""conformity,"" argued that masculinity was not defined by traits like bravery, stoicism, and competitiveness, but instead by authenticity, shared camaraderie, and emotional honesty. To elucidate this challenge to traditional ""frontiersman"" masculinity, Aaron George presents three intellectual biographies of important veterans who became writers after the war: James Jones, the writer of the monumentally important war novel, From Here to Eternity; Stewart Stern, one of the most important screenwriters of the fifties and sixties, including for Rebel Without a Cause; and Edward Field, a bohemian poet who used poetry to explore his love for other men. Through their lives, George shows how wartime disabused men of the notion that war was inherently a brave or heroic enterprise, and how the alienation they felt upon their return led them to value the authentic connections they made with other men during the war."

By: Aaron George
Imprint: Rutgers University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 64g
ISBN: 9781978821569
ISBN 10: 1978821565
Pages: 270
Publication Date: 25 December 2023
Recommended Age: From 18 to 99 years
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

"Preface: What We Bring Home Introduction: Hemingway's Shadow Part I Cowboys on the Wartime Frontier 1 Never a Secondhand Man: James Jones and the Perils of Homecoming 2 The Big Noise: Stewart Stern's Long March to Gar Naruah 3 The ""Age of Heroes"": Edward Field and Gay Authenticity in the Midst of War Part II Coming Home 4 The Hipster, the Prophet, and the Angel: Writers on the Edge of Eternity 5 The Men Who Came Running: James Jones and the Handy Writers' Colony 6 Waiting for Peter Pan: Adulthood and How to Attain It 7 The Continuing Adventures of Icarus: Edward Field's Life in the Postwar Closet Conclusion: A Nation of Gray Flannel Men Acknowledgments Notes Index"

AARON GEORGE is an assistant professor of American history at Tarleton University in Stephenville, Texas.

Reviews for When Cowboys Come Home: Veterans, Authenticity, and Manhood in Post–World War II America

"""A fascinating story of three writers--veterans of World War II in search of authenticity."" --James B. Gilbert ""author of Men in the Middle: Searching for Masculinity in the 1950s"" ""Beautifully written and sensitively wrought, When Cowboys Come Home rejects the images of WWII veterans as pugilists or Organization Men. Through neglected figures, including James Jones and Edward Fields, Aaron George audaciously insists that vets took from their war experience a thirst for male bonding, camaraderie, and intense relationships."" --David Steigerwald ""author of The Sixties and the End of Modern America"""