Veterans in the Age of Mass Incarceration
The United States has both the largest, most expensive, and most powerful military and the largest, most expensive, and most punitive carceral system in the history of the world. Since the American War in Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of veterans have been incarcerated after their military service.
Identifying the previously unrecognized connections between American wars and mass incarceration, Prisoners after War reaches across lines of race, class, and gender to record the untold history of incarcerated veterans over the past six decades. Having conducted dozens of oral history interviews, Jason A. Higgins traces the lifelong effects of war, inequality, disability, and mental illness, and explores why hundreds of thousands of veterans, from Vietnam to Afghanistan, were caught up in the carceral system. This original study tells an intergenerational history of state-sanctioned violence, punishment, and inequality, but its pages also resonate with stories of survival and redemption, revealing future possibilities for reform and reparative justice.
Cover design by Sally Nichols
Cover art by Paul Crudgington / EyeEm, Shadow of
a Man Behind Bars, stock.adobe.com
List of Figures
Preface
Introduction
Locating Incarcerated Veterans in American History
Chapter 1
“Less than” Veterans
Chapter 2
War, Drugs, and the War on Drugs
Chapter 3
Another War
Chapter 4
Leave No Vet Behind
Chapter 5
Generation 9/11
Chapter 6
Another
Chapter 7
“Justice for Vets”
Chapter 8
. . . And Justice for All”
Chapter 9
Conclusion
No Peace, No Justice
Notes
Index
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