Warhogs: a history of war profits in America

Abstract

In Warhogs, Stuart D. Brandes masterfully blends intellectual, economic, and military history into a fascinating discussion of a great moral question for generations of Americans: Can some individuals rightly profit during wartime while others sacrifice their lives to protect the nation? Drawing upon a wealth of manuscript sources, newspapers, contemporary periodicals, government reports, and other relevant literature, Brandes traces how in financing its wars each generation has endeavored to assemble resources equitably, to define the ethical questions of economic mobilization, and to manage economic sacrifice responsibly. He defines profiteering as price gouging, quality degradation, trading with the enemy, plunder, and fraud, among others, in order to examine the different guises of war profits and the degree to which they existed from one era to the next. Brandes traces the complex and evershifting issue of war profits across nearly the entire scope of American history through the four major military mobilizations (Revolution, Civil War, and World Wars I and II) and such smaller conflicts as the colonial wars, the Indian campaigns, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Spanish-American War. His even-handed discussion of wartime profit-seeking culminates with profiteering as a continuing cultural issue during the Cold War. No other study so thoroughly surveys the history of war profits in America. By examining this particular category of semi-legitimate wealth - not specifically illegal, but not entirely ethical - Brandes provides an in-depth analysis of American thought and culture as it has evolved over the past four centuries.