News and Reviews
News
Abrey Hicks interviews Michael Messner about Unconventional Combat on the USC Bedrosian Center’s “Bedrosian Bookclub Podcast,” September 6, 2021.
Rosa Del Duca interviews Michael Messner about Unconventional Combat on “Breaking Cadence: Insights From a Modern-Day Conscientious Objector,” August 21, 2021
James McKeever interviews Michael Messner about Unconventional Combat on “Sociologists Talking Real Sh*t,” July 4, 2021
Talk World Radio, Michael Messner: Unconventional Combat, June 25, 2021
The Page 99 Test, Michael Messner's Unconventional Combat, June 24, 2021
Feminist Reflections, A diverse cohort of women deploys to the front of the veterans' peace movement, June 11, 2021
Reviews
“As military participation shifts to include more gender and sexual diversity, more persons of color and Native Americans…the issues highlighted in Unconventional Combat will impact more and more people.”
–Karen Sternheimer, Everyday Sociology
“As a member of that cohort of ‘older, heterosexual White men veterans,’ I am painfully aware that this book will be hard reading for many of my long-time friends and colleagues. But I am also convinced that it is an extremely important read, and that we should read it carefully, thoughtfully, and reflectively—continually asking ourselves, ‘Have I been more a part of the problem than I have realized, and what can I do now to make this movement more effective?’”
–Marine Corps Veteran Ken Mayers, Veterans For Peace Newsletter, Summer 2021
“Veterans of any war in any country are intersectionally gendered. Michael Messner has listened carefully to 6 American recent veterans whose experiences and ideas are rarely heard. He has thus drawn back the curtain both on today's US military's misogynist and racialized culture and on older white male veteran peace activists' difficulty in grasping its implications for them. I'll be thinking about this book for a long time.”
–Cynthia Enloe, author of "Nimo's War, Emma's War: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq War
“Michael Messner does a beautiful job of thinking deeply about the interconnectedness of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and social class as they affect the standpoint and experiences of young activists. His book offers something really substantial to the study of intersectionality and social movements, and it’s a wonderful contribution to these fields of study.”
–Mignon Moore, President, Sociologists for Women in Society, and Professor of Sociology, Barnard College and Columbia University
“A groundbreaking analysis of veterans and the peace movement, Messner focuses on a young generation outside of the heterosexual, white male norm in the military. Told through compelling narratives and an intersectional lens, this is an important book for anyone interested in the complications of serving in the military and then coming to seek an end to war.”
–Jo Reger, Professor of Sociology, Oakland University