Personal Sympathy Research Articles

The review of the book "The Soviet health care at international arena in 1920-1940: between 'soft force' and propaganda (the Western Europe and the USA)" by P. E. Ratmanov

The review considers the book "The Soviet health care at international arena in 1920-1940: between "soft force" and propaganda (the Western Europe and the USA)" by Ratmanov P. E. The author, on the basis of rich range of historical sources for the first time introduced into scientific turnover, minutely examines phenomenon of the presentation of "The Semashko model" in the international arena. The main array of events described in the book is chronologically divided by two periods - the 1920s and the 1930s. Each of these periods is characterized not only by various forms of presentation of the Soviet health care, but also by directions of cooperation with partner countries. The monograph demonstrably shows that effectiveness of the Soviet medical propaganda was affected by composition of the audience, place and time. Besides, interest in the West to the Soviet model in many ways depended on personal sympathy and political beliefs of representatives of medical community. The author of the book considers the promotion of samples of the Soviet model of medicine as "trade of the future", i.e. demonstration of common values of the ideology of the Soviet health care, its local successes and promises of major achievements in the future. The monograph is to be recognized as an important step in the study both of the history of scientific medical diplomacy and the role of science in cultural agenda of the Soviet state.

Метареализм Алексея Парщикова и Аркадия Драгомощенко: сходство и отличие

The article aims to analyze the similarities and differences between the poetic systems of the major metarealist poets Alexey Parshchikov and Arkady Dragomoshchenko. Both poets left very favo-rable reviews about each other.Despite belonging to the same literary movement, these poets are different, though united by contact communications and typological convergences. A comparative analysis of Parsh-chikov’s and Dragomoshchenko’s poetics reveals the following differences: the verse form; the corporeality of Parshchikov’s poetry, with visualization tending toward tactility (the representation of visual images from the eye to the hand); the cinematographic nature of Parshchikov’s texts; Parshchikov’s humor as a means of reducing pathos; the principle of ‘neutralization of the word with the word’, Dragomoshchenko’s passive return of things to the world; abstract landscape in Dragomoshchenko’s poetry; the similitude of Drago-moshchenko’s lyric poem to the essay; Dragomoshchenko’s alternation of the poetic and prose;baroquepoetic thinking of Dragomoshchenko; Dragomoshchenko’s diffuse complex of Buddhist and Hindu motifs. Thecommonality of the authors’ poetics is created by: metametaphor as a constant; the manifestating nature of poetic works, their metalyricism as dominants; the poet as hearing, not voicing; ideogram; implicit con-nection of phenomena and objects; weighty value of the poem; conceptually complicated syntax; inclination toward emptiness as a space of bliss; portraying the outside as the inside.The power that determines the cor-relation of objects and phenomena and directs them to a metaphysical continuum, close to an incomprehen-sible absence, is also largely due to the corporeality of Parshchikov’s writing. The poets converge each other in terms of typological similarities (V.Zhirmunsky’s term), contact connections, and genetic relationship. Between them was personal sympathy, correspondence, and communication. Among their sources of creati-vity there also were common ones, for example, interest in the ‘American language school’ –strong for Dra-gomoshchenko, moderate for Parshchikov.

Mykola Lysenko end Borys Poznansky : intellectual dialogues

The questions of the formation of national identity and the preservation of the historical subjectivity of the Ukrainian people became decisive in the evaluation of the activities of the Ukrainian intellectual elite of the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. Prominent representatives of the Kyiv community – Mykola Lysenko and Borys Poznanskyi – belong to the ranks of intellectuals to whom Ukraine owes its historical and national legitimation. The topic of the study is determined by the polyethnic basis of the Ukrainian national movement of the second half of the 19th century, which integrated the intellectual practices of Ukrainian patriots regardless of their ethnic origin on the way to protecting national identity. The purpose of the article is to reconstruct the interpersonal intellectual communications of M. Lysenko and B. Poznanskyi, to establish their place and role in the life and work of Ukrainian ascetic scientists. The source base of the intelligence consists of memories of contemporaries, epistolary materials, life notes of citizens and internal documents of the South-Western Department of the Russian Geographical Society – meeting journals and reports on the activities of the local branch for 1873–1875. Methods: historical-genetic, logical, historical-biographical methods, complex and personalistic approaches were used in the research. Main results. The network of interpersonal relationships of prominent representatives of the Ukrainian national movement of the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries is analyzed. The duration and intensity of the flow of intellectual communications are determined. The peculiarities of the nature of the contacts, caused by an organic combination of ideological closeness and personal sympathies of intellectuals, are revealed. The main directions of their intellectual cooperation within the framework of the Kyiv community and the South-Western Department of the Russian Geographical Society are shown. The content of the written communications of Ukrainian intellectuals between 1885 and 1905 was revealed. Emphasis is placed on the cooperation of M. Lysenko and B. Poznanskyi with social and scientific organizations of Western Ukraine. Concise conclusions. The main content of the intellectual dialogues of M. Lysenko and B. Poznanskyi was not limited to purely scientific and public contacts, creating a significant layer of interpersonal contacts based on common interests, preferences and worldview orientations. They demonstrated the possibilities of creative cooperation in the service of the Ukrainian national idea, in the matter of building national identity. Practical significance: the material of the article may be of interest to scientists for an in-depth study of the figure of the Ukrainian composer. Originality: the network of intellectual communications of M. Lysenko and B. Poznanskyі is reproduced, the main thematic blocks of contacts are highlighted and characterized. Scientific novelty: an insufficiently researched segment of the intellectual connections of representatives of the Ukrainian movement of the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries is presented. Type of article: scientific, analytical.

President Ford, the ASALH, and the political origins of black history month

In 1976, the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH) expanded their observance of black history from a week to a month. This decision was made because of the fortuitous timing of America's bicentennial, which the ASALH saw as an ideal opportunity not only to spotlight African American history as a fundamental part of United States history and to highlight black contributions to the country but also to celebrate its founder, Carter G. Woodson, whose centennial anniversary fell on the same year. To honor the new observance, the ASALH asked President Gerald Ford to issue a proclamation. Ford agreed to honor the observance, but chose to do so by issuing a presidential message instead of a proclamation. In this article, we examine the Ford administration's handling of ASALH's request, arguing that the decisions made resulted from several competing factors, both personal and political. Ford's personal sympathy for the struggle of black Americans and his wish to be seen favorably by black voters were tempered by his desire to act cautiously due to the shifting political considerations surrounding the 1976 election.

Juror Decision Making and Euthanasia: Exploring the Role of Jury Nullification, Manner of Death, and Defendant-Decedent Relationship.

In cases of euthanasia, determinations of guilt may be influenced by legal and extra-legal factors. This study explores the role that nullification instructions play in juror decision making. A defendant may be viewed as less culpable if the act was done out of mercy and jury nullification may occur as a result. We anticipated that these determinations may be influenced by the manner of death and the relational distance between the defendant and the decedent. It is unknown how euthanasia is viewed when it is performed by a physician compared to a family member or friend. To answer these questions, participants acted as mock jurors in a euthanasia case. The descriptions of the case varied by the presence of nullification instructions, the manner of death, and the defendant's relationship to the decedent. The results revealed significant effects of method of euthanasia and the type of defendant on juror verdicts. Jurors were most likely to acquit in a case that provided nullification instructions and involved a spouse using lethal injection for euthanasia. This finding suggests that different circumstances of a euthanasia case will affect jurors' propensity to focus on personal sympathies and interpretations. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

INTERNATIONALIZATION AS A MODERN IMPETUS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ORGANIZATION

In today’s world entrepreneurs are forced to operate not only in the local or national market, but also internationally. Thanks to this they have a chance to develop their business and get more profit. In the context of international activities we can talk about internationalization. What does this concept mean and what does it mean for business owners themselves? Practically any activity of a company in foreign markets can be regarded as a signal of its internationalization. In addition, internationalization can be an element of a company’s development strategy related to its foreign expansion. The article reflects the internationalization, which allows expanding the scope of sales of goods. The main approaches, motives, reasons for this economic process are investigated and highlighted. International marketing, its specificity, main objectives and direct influence on the process of activity of enterprises are given and characterized. Speaking of internationalization, we must remember that this process can take different forms. Which one will be chosen depends not only on our personal sympathies, but also on what solution would be most beneficial for the company.

Turkey and NATO: the Biden’s Factor. Part 2: Afghanistan

The first part of the article examined the reasons for the deterioration of relations between Turkey and its Western partners, the European Union and the United States, which has progressed over the past four years. According to the author, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan managed to avoid aggravation of conflict situations fraught with the possibility of their solutions, including by force (for example, in the confrontation between Ankara and Nicosia and Athens). All this largely thanks to his personal relationship with the then US President Donald Trump. A priori, the arrival of Joseph Biden to the White House promised little to Erdogan and the prospects for the development of US – Turkish relations in general. In the second part of the article, the author focuses on the attempts, first of all, by the Turkish leader to normalize his country's relations with the United States and the EU – in the absence of the former factor of mutual personal sympathy between him and the head of the White House (under Trump). Erdogan made the main stake on demonstrating the usefulness of Turkey as a NATO member. The calculation partially justified itself against the background of the growing and aggravated problem of Afghanistan due to the accelerated (by August 31) withdrawal of US and NATO troops from there.

Characters’ Pilgrimage from the Canon to Fanfiction: A Gestalt Approach

Most academic circles treat fanfiction as “paraliterature” (Krauss, 1980) created by fans of a certain literary work. Fanfiction (also abbreviated to fan fic, fanfic, or fic) presents a new field of analysis not only for literature, but also for linguistic studies. The current paper aims at combining the research practices of both of them in order to disclose the literary and lingual essence of fanfics within J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter universe. For this purpose, we have made an attempt to apply the cognitive theory of Gestalt (introduced into the research world by the well-known psychologist Max Wertheimer) to the lingual analysis of fanfiction. We shall argue that in the three fanfics studied, the virtual images of Harry Potter, Hermione and Ron are preserved on the level of their individual speech Gestalts. We shall also argue that the fanfic author’s personal sympathies may change at least one of the characters’ profiles within a fanfic, while leaving the rest of them mostly unchanged so as to serve as an easily recognized background for the favorite personage. In other words, the author’s angle of vision structures not only a fanfic’s narrative, but it may also re-build the artistic and speech image(s) of one or more characters, though preserving the others’ images as given in the canon text.

Image of Muslim characters by the author of «Kazan Chronicle»

One of the features of ‟Kazan Chronicle” – the manuscript of the three hundred year history of relations between Russia and Kazan Khanate – is the unusual attitude of the author, a supporter of the policy of Ivan the Terrible, to the Kazan Tatars (the latter ones in some cases are portrayed sympathetically by him), is discussed in the article; examples of the destruction of literary etiquette in the ‟Chronicle” are given, the reasons for such descriptions, hidden in the biography of the unnamed author of ‟Kazan Chronicle”, are explained. Episodes about violation of the contract with the fugitive Crimean tsar Ulanus, about the stay of the latter at the borders of Russia, by Vasily II the Blind, the Grand Prince of Moscow (Chapter 9), about treason of Kazan Khan Muhammad Amin against Ivan III the Great and about the further repentance of the former (Chapter 12), the perfidy of Shahghali, Khan of Kazan, who was Moscow's appointee, and killing by him of Chura, son of Naryk, Kazan nobleman who had saved him (Chapter 25), are discussed in the article in this aspect. In all those episodes of ‟Kazan Chronicle”, what is reflected is not only the circumstances of the personal sympathy towards Kazan Tatars from the side of the author of the ‟Chronicle”, who had lived for twenty years as a prisoner in Kazan, but also the destruction of literary etiquette, which was a trend characteristic of the 16th century literature.

Из истории «Северного вестника». Комментарий к комментарию

The history of literary associations, including the history of any journal, is primarily the history of people's relationships with each other. In such a history, personal likes and dislikes play the most essential role. This law of personal sympathies and antipathies manifests itself very expressively in a rather short history of the journal “Severny Vestnik”, published by L.Ya. Gurevich (1891–1898). The article offers significant additions to comments to published texts on the history of the journal. A.L. Volynsky and N.K. Mikhailovsky showed equal harshness and indelicacy in their polemics, but their contemporaries almost unanimously sided with Mikhailovsky as an older and deserved writer. Volynsky acquired a reputation as an unscrupulous person and gossip begins to gather around his name. Volynsky demonstrated unacceptable immodesty towards D.S. Merezhkovsky and Z.N. Gippius and allowed himself to use of someone else's material, bordering on plagiarism. But most importantly, in the plot of the book about Leonardo da Vinci, he depicted his personal relationship with Merezhkovsky and Gippius and his interpretation of the relationship between them. In addition, he expelled Merezhkovsky from the journal “Severny Vestnik”, which closed for him the opportunity to publish his novel about Leonardo da Vinci.

ZAKAT AND THE EMPOWERMENT OF THE HARDCORE POOR IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Numerous definitions and concepts of poverty have been put forth as a result of different beliefs, cultural backgrounds, life philosophies and social norms. Individuals’ needs are also different and contingent on their social demographics. Nevertheless, the issue of poverty is tied to the definitions and concepts that refer to specific unfulfilled needs or wants. Islam is more advanced in defending the rights of the poor with the implementation of zakat (obligatory charity in the form of alms-giving) with no prior objection or request from the poor of their rights from those who are wealthy. Zakat is not only a system that relies on personal sympathy or individual’s donations, it is also a socio-economic system, in which its implementation is regulated by the government. Irrespective of this, zakat distribution system warrants effective strategy in overcoming complex poverty issues that have fettered the society today. The poverty eradication program has been considered as inefficient since the same target groups remain poor in the long run. At the same time, there is a yearly increase in the number of new poor people. This article discusses the efficiency of the management of zakat distribution scheme in the context of empowering the hardcore poor based on the measurement and standard set by the religion as well as what the poor individuals need in the 21st century. The empowerment program requires total commitment from the government, institutions of zakat and the society. In addition, individuals that are shackled by poverty have to develop their potentials and use the skills that they have to improve their lives. The success of this program will alleviate the number of the hardcore poor and minimize the burden carried by the zakat management institutions.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ СТАНОВЛЕННЯ ПРЕЗИДЕНТСЬКОЇ ВЛАДИ В УКРАЇНІ НА ПОЧАТКОВОМУ ЕТАПІ НЕЗАЛЕЖНОСТІ

The article attempts to analyse the peculiarities of the formation of the presidential power in Ukraine and the problems of its activity during the first years of independence. It is worth noting that the system of the Presidency Institute was completely new for Ukraine, although the experience of this power was already in the Soviet Union, and Mykhailo Gorbachov was elected the first USSR President. A detailed analysis of the legislative framework of that period became important, and it made possible to investigate the causes of contradictions that arose between the main branches of power – the executive and the legislative ones, to determine what position the President of Ukraine held in these relations. Attempts at the Presidential Administration to expand their influence on the system of government in the country by establishing such structures as the State Duma of Ukraine and the Institute of Presi­dential Representatives are discussed in detail. Analysed why these reforms were not successful and were quickly completed. It is interesting to give opinions on these issues of different political leaders of the period, who actually stood at the beginnings of building a new political system of Ukraine. It should be mentioned that the appearance of the State Duma was particularly negative, criticised even its name and feared that this structure would take over partially the powers of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, and its legislative activity would create significant legal conflicts, taking into account normative legal acts that were actively developed and adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. A problematic issue such as recruitment for new structures is explored separately. It is mentioned that often the preference was given not to professional and business qualities, but to political and personal sympathies, which led to the penetration of incompetent performers into the authorities. As a result of a detailed analysis of the events of that period, the author concludes that all the changes, which were made on a broad legal basis, were not successful, since the country lived under the Soviet Constitution. This document had to be adopted urgently, but given the pluralism of opinions between the branches of power and in the parliament itself, it was clear that constitutional reform would be delayed. Thus, the contradictions between the branches of power and the evolution of the presidency institute have been prolonged for a long time.

The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings, by Leland S. Person

<i>The Scarlet Letter and Other Writings</i>, by Leland S. Person

‘A Great Turkish Policy’: Winston Churchill, the Ottoman Empire and the Origins of the Dardanelles Campaign

AbstractOne of the most important players in British/Ottoman relations and the ultimate breakdown of those relations during the Edwardian period and war years was Winston Churchill. Diplomatic historians and Churchill biographers have focused on Churchill's role in the attempted naval conquest of the Dardanelles, the unsuccessful Gallipoli campaign and Churchill's wartime disdain for the Ottomans. In doing so, they tend to portray Churchill's relationship with the Ottoman empire in a negative light, assuming that he, like much of the war cabinet, based his strategies and diplomacy on ideas of European superiority and oriental weakness. However, new archival evidence has come to light which paints a much more nuanced account of Churchill's role in British/Ottoman diplomacy.Using these new sources such as Churchill's personal correspondence with Ottoman leaders such as Djavid Bey and Enver Pasha, this article will explore Churchill's relationship with the Ottoman empire and his role in shaping British/Ottoman diplomacy. Taking into account the history of Churchill's opinions, attitudes and policies, this article will reveal that Churchill was initially supportive of an Anglo‐Ottoman alliance, only to be thwarted by the First World War. It will demonstrate that Churchill's support for an Ottoman alliance owed partially to his Victorian Tory background and to a greater extent, a fear of a pan‐Islamic uprising. Ultimately this article will reveal that Churchill's relationship with the Ottoman empire was far more complex than is typically thought and was built on a unique blend of Victorian orientalism, geopolitical strategy and personal sympathies.

Global Solidarity as a Response to Our Common Humanity

In ‘Existence and Heritage,’ which was published by the State University of New York Press in 2015 as part of its series on philosophy and race, Tseney Serequeberhan sets out on what he calls hermeneutic explorations of African and Continental philosophies. It uses Hans-Georg Gadamer to reflect on different traditions; and a reading of Martin Heidegger and Karl Marx for postcolonial Africa. He concludes with a conception of thought as openness, drawn from his reading of Frantz Fanon. In it, he reveals many of his personal sympathies and antipathies; some of which, even though acceptable to some or even many, appear as assumptions or premises in the book with little or no argumentation. Overall, ‘Existence and Heritage’ is an interesting book that is worth reading. If the aim is to provoke us into debating some of the claims mentioned above or the objective of African philosophy, it does that. If, however, the aim is to convince us to embrace Serequeberhan’s own views enumerated above, then I am afraid the book falls short.

MAIN HISTORIOGRAPHICAL TRENDS IN THE STUDY OF NEO-FASCISM

The article examines the main historiographical trends in the neo-fascism studies. A brief theoretical justification for the collapse of the fascist dictatorship and the reasons for the birth of neo-fascism are proved. In the article analyses the main vectors of the historiography of neo-fascism and the causes of the opposite evaluation of this ideology. The article examines the conceptual approaches to the study of this problem in historiography. The author critically examines the various historical schools, and the most important works of their main representatives, with an emphasis on foreign historiography. The author takes into account the negative contribution that brought the cold war and total confrontation between the two systems, in which the neo-fascism acted as an instrument of anticommunist struggle. The article explains the importance of studying the main historiographical trends in the study of neo-fascism. This allows more independently investigate this political ideology. At the same time it is important to take into account the specific historical conditions and personal sympathies authors as factors influencing into the objectivity of the study. Main theoretical directions differ in methodological basis, which is precisely determined by the political sympathies of the authors. A distinctive feature of all the studies of neo-fascism is a continuity of the theoretical framework to the study of fascism, which narrows the opportunities for political analysis.

The American press about the soviet industrialization in 1920–1930s

Press releases nature about the soviet industrialization, business and political circles and intellectuals reaction to the changes in the USSR during the 1920-1930s and deciding factors of the five-year plans perception by the Americans are determined and analyzed in this work. American periodicals, diplomatic correspondence of the Peoples Commissariat for Foreign Affairs (NKID) as well as materials of soviet propaganda are of particular importance for this research. On the basis of these sources the following conclusions were drawn: the American public had different views on the Soviet industrialization. Positive estimations were based on the real progress (new plants construction, improvement of the quality of life). Negative on disparities between Soviet and American standards of labor productivity and quality, management, discipline, etc. Authors personal sympathies to the Soviet regime, artificial information selection by soviet censorship, political, social and economic environment in the USA influenced on the American public opinion. Soviet propaganda methods in order to form proper views in American society in that period were not substantial.

Institutions for Decreasing of Employee Opportunism

In manufacturing plants opportunism is appear in the form of stalling, negligence, use of official position and hiding reserves jobs by the staff, also providing managers with incomplete or distorted information about the working conditions and the existence of personal sympathies in the distribution of incentive bonus, work task, awards, etc.

Claiming the Union: Citizenship in the Post–Civil War South by Susanna Michele Lee

Reviewed by: Claiming the Union: Citizenship in the Post–Civil War South by Susanna Michele Lee Steven E. Nash (bio) Claiming the Union: Citizenship in the Post–Civil War South. By Susanna Michele Lee. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014. Pp. 270. Cloth, $95.00.) Susanna Michele Lee’s Claiming the Union sheds new light on something we thought we already knew. Lee examines the records of the Southern Claims Commission (SCC), the post–Civil War congressional commission tasked with assessing southerners’ claims for lost and damaged property, and interprets them differently from many scholars before her. The SCC records are a staple of Civil War loyalty scholarship, casting significant light on southerners marginalized or silenced by the Lost Cause’s facade of white unity. Claiming the Union is not another attempt to glean every last hint of wartime loyalty out of postwar records. Lee successfully places the wartime struggles over loyalty and citizenship in the SCC’s proper Reconstruction context. This placement of the SCC squarely within the Reconstruction era is insightful in and of itself. But Lee offers much more than that; she argues that the process embedded in the SCC’s direct engagement with southern civilians informed a “vernacular citizenship” that shaped postemancipation American citizenship (7). The overall result is a thoughtful and effective book that enriches our understanding of the complex nature of postemancipation American citizenship. In Claiming the Union, Lee carries key questions about the war (such as loyalty and African American agency) through to the postwar period. For instance, the issue of loyalty had significant postwar ramifications as Radical Republicans battled moderates within their party and Democrats over the issue of who should rule. Radicals argued that past loyalty was the crucial factor for postwar political participation, which led them to favor stringent standards for claims. Moderate Republicans and Democrats preferred a political foundation based on future loyalty that would allow former Confederates to regain their citizenship quickly. As Lee makes clear, [End Page 467] these debates had significant impact on the process of reunion by creating a vernacular citizenship. Less concerned with the formal legal definitions of citizenship, Lee layers the war’s impact on fundamental social relationships (master and slave, husband and wife, citizen and noncitizen) against the claims each group made upon the federal government. This dialogue between southern civilians and the federal government effected changes in the meaning of citizenship through practice—direct engagement with the SCC—rather than through legal reform in a postemancipation United States. Chapters on women, former slaves, and free blacks enhance Lee’s analysis of citizenship in the post–Civil War United States. The white male SCC commissioners initially looked for open opposition to secession and overt acts of Unionism in assessing the loyalty of these “noncitizens.” However, they quickly realized that their interrogatories were ill suited for southern dependents. In fact, the commissioners’ initial list of questions made no reference to people of color or women. Women’s and African Americans’ claims forced the government to wrestle with their professions of loyalty and their place within the postwar citizenry. It is here that some of the more subtle elements of Lee’s analysis shine through. In dealing with women, Lee reveals the sectional divisions between northern and southern womanhood and male perceptions of gender difference. Accustomed to elite and middle-class white women’s involvement in reform movements, the northern commissioners struggled to understand southern white women’s professed detachment from politics. The commissioners became especially incredulous when white southern women professed personal sympathies for Confederate family members while simultaneously espousing Unionist beliefs of their own. African Americans struggled to show their loyalty to white male commissioners who viewed them as inferior and incapable of citizenship. Their persistent claims to the Union, however, forced the commission to change its procedures to allow black southerners to assert their loyalty. Strategic professions that described all black men as loyal to the Union may not have fully swayed the white commissioners, but they helped foster stronger ties among former slaves and antebellum free blacks after slavery’s demise. One of the most basic and yet most useful contributions of Claiming the Union is its contextualization of the...

Steven Casey. When Soldiers Fall: How Americans Have Confronted Combat Losses from World War I to Afghanistan.

Evoking military theorist Carl von Clausewitz's famous dictum on war and politics, When Soldiers Fall: How Americans Have Confronted Combat Losses from World War I to Afghanistan proposes that wartime casualties, like war itself, have often served as a continuation of political intercourse in twentieth-century conflicts. In fact, Steven Casey proposes we should consider casualties suffered during modern American wars as narratives both constructed and managed for political purposes. Such an argument is as sobering as it is persuasive. Casey builds his structural framework around three broad themes. First, he stresses how American presidents have treaded carefully in persuading the nation to fight. Casey, the author of an earlier work on public opinion in World War II, notes that during the early years of the war Franklin D. Roosevelt “often fretted that the public remained casualty sensitive” (p. 51). Lyndon Johnson similarly approached Vietnam hoping to avoid a debate over prospective American losses in Southeast Asia. Casey reinforces this argument by highlighting Richard Nixon's “‘pointed reference’ to how much lower casualties were compared to Johnson's last year in office” (p. 183). Likewise, George W. Bush is presented as a commander-in-chief reluctant to discuss casualty issues during the Iraq war. Casey suggests that since World War I American presidents have been less concerned about the human tragedy of U.S. losses abroad than the political ramifications of those losses. Casualties enthuse far less personal sympathy than electoral anxiety.