WhenCowboysComeHome:Veterans,Authenticity,andManhoodinPost-WorldWarIIAmericaisaculturalandintellectualhistoryofthe1950sthatarguesthatWorldWarIIledtoabreakdownoftraditionalmarkersofmanhoodandopenedspaceforveteranstoreimaginewhatmasculinitycouldmean.Oneparticularlyimportantstrandofthought,whichinfluencedlateranxietiesover“other-direction“and“conformity,“arguedthatmasculinitywasnotdefinedbytraitslikebravery,stoicism,andcompetitivenessbutinsteadbyauthenticity,sharedcamaraderie,andemotionalhonesty.Toelucidatethischallengetotraditional“frontiersman“masculinity,AaronGeorgepresentsthreeintellectualbiographiesofimportantveteranswhobecamewritersafterthewar:JamesJones,thewriterofthemonumentallyimportantwarnovelFromHeretoEternity;StewartStern,oneofthemostimportantscreenwritersofthefiftiesandsixties,includingforRebelwithoutaCause;andEdwardField,abohemianpoetwhousedpoetrytoexplorehisloveforothermen.Throughtheirlives,Georgeshowshowwartimedisabusedmenofthenotionthatwarwasinherentlyabraveorheroicenterpriseandhowthealienationtheyfeltupontheirreturnledthemtovaluetheauthenticconnectionstheymadewithothermenduringthewar.
