Over There

Over There explores the social impact of America's global network of more than 700 military bases. It does so by examining interactions between U.S. soldiers and members of host communities in the three locationsoSouth Korea, Japan/Okinawa, and West Germanyowhere more than two thirds of American overseas military bases and troops were concentrated for the past six decades. The essays in this collection highlight the role of cultural and racial assumptions in the maintenance of the American military base system, and the ways that civil-military relations play out locally. Describing how political, spatial, and social arrangements shape relations between American garrisons and surrounding communities, they emphasize factors including whether military bases are located in democratic nations or in authoritarian countries where co-operation with dictatorial regimes fuels resentment, whether bases are integrated into neighbouring communities or isolated and surrounded by "camp towns" wholly dependent on their business, and whether the United States sends single soldiers without families on one-year tours of duty or soldiers who bring their families and serve longer tours. Delving into the implications of these and other questions, the contributors address U.S. military-regulated relations between GIs and local women; the roles of American women, including military wives, abroad; local resistance to the U.S. military presence; and racial strife, sexism, and homophobia within the U.S. military. Over There is an essential analysis of the American military as a global and transnational phenomenon.