Fighting for Peace: Veterans and Military Families in the Anti-Iraq War Movement

Leitz, a sociology professor at Hendrix College, describes herself as “a participant-researcher” in her area of study—the role of veterans and their families in organizing to oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The wife of a U.S. Navy aviator, Leitz actively opposed the American war in Iraq before the fighting started and continued to oppose it after it began in 2003. She interviewed dozens of veterans and active-duty personnel and mined her personal experiences for this detailed look at veterans’ roles in the latter-day antiwar movement. The book is a well-researched—albeit acronym-filled and academically presented—look at individual activists and the organizations they work with, including Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, and Veterans for Peace. These groups have not attracted large numbers of members nor media attention, and their activities have had no discernible impact on American war policy. Leitz nevertheless has put together a credible book detailing a movement that works on behalf of the needs of war veterans in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has shifted its own emphasis to speaking out against future wars. (Apr.)