Popular culture is important in wartime. It asserts the values of patriotism, helps to create happy warriors, and expresses people's emotions. Here, Cleveland treats war as popular culture, using service songs, folklore, and popular music as a leitmotif to explore cultural relationships between military life and society. Drawing on 20th-century lyrics, occupational folklore, and rank-and-file parodies, protests, and sexual fantasies, he shows how crises of war are mediated by popular culture and how the soldier comes to terms with boredom, discomfort, and danger. Ranging from World War I...
Popular culture is important in wartime. It asserts the values of patriotism, helps to create happy warriors, and expresses people's emotions. Here...