Embattled Glory: Veterans, Military Families, and the Politics of Patriotism in China, 1949-2007

摘要

This is the first book-length scholarly work on veterans in the People's Republic of China and, therefore, a welcome addition to the limited literature on the subject. The author has two main purposes in writing this book. Firstly, the book is intended to address what the author sees as a scarcity of research on veterans as a social and political group in political science and in the social sciences generally. Greater focus on veterans and veteran concerns can provide new insights into issues such as the legitimacy of past conflicts, nationalism, and the competition between interest groups for state benefits and recognition. Second, the book is a case study of Chinese veterans and what their treatment by state and society tells us about the nature of politics in China and Chinese patriotism and nationalism.