I am the author of two books and the editor or co-editor of three others. Below are descriptions of each and some of the reviews that each book has received.
New York University Press, 2019
Drawing on previously unreleased documents and oral histories, Signature Wounds tells the broad and nuanced story of the Army’s efforts to understand and address these issues, challenging the popular media view that the Iraq War was mismanaged by a callous military unwilling to address the human toll of the wars. The story of mental health during this war is the story of how different groups—soldiers, veterans and their families, anti-war politicians, researchers and clinicians, and military leaders—approached these issues from different perspectives and with different agendas. It is the story of how the advancement of medical knowledge moves at a different pace than the needs of an Army at war, and it is the story of how medical conditions intersect with larger political questions about militarism and foreign policy.
“A remarkable book that warrants a wide audience, especially for anyone who seeks to understand the effect of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars on the U.S. Army and American society. ”
“This book is relevant to everyone involved in the behavioral health of service members. Signature Wounds artfully reveals the multiplicity of perspectives and priorities related to the mental health crises by meticulously outlining the vantages from the often disparate groups involved in caring for Soldiers . . . . The publication of this book could not be more timely.””
“David Kieran published a seminal book, Signature Wounds: The Untold Story of the Military’s Mental Health Crisis . . . . It is an important resource and an example of the importance of documenting this history. ”
“Because David Kieran is so fair-minded, his analysis of the mental health crisis in the U.S. military is devastating and persuasive. Signature Wounds provides a judicious, yet stunning, rebuke to a culture that incessantly reminds us to support our troops yet acquiesces to endless wars that expose them to levels of psychological trauma no mental health program could possibly prevent or adequately treat.”
“One comes away from Signature Wounds with a healthy respect for the military’s attempts to understand and manage [PTSD and TBI], and an even greater contempt for the armchair hawks most responsible for creating them.”
“Kieran’s book is a meaningful contribution to many fields. An informative read for policy makers, military leaders, historians, and those who study governmental- military policy, leadership, and organizational culture. A must-read for anyone studying the intersections of culture and the consequences of extended wars on the mental health of our military and veterans.”
“This is a very good book and deserves a wide readership. . . . Military and medical historians will find the book useful, but so will social, cultural, and political historians of contemporary America. . . . [It] will inform readers of the frustrations around, and utilization of, at least immediately, unsolvable problems in our society.”
“Kieran has performed painstakingly detailed explorations into the nature and depth of the complex elements of social pressures and cultural biases that contributed to the legacy of emotional damages seen in veterans.. . . Signature Wounds is a historical text, but also much more.”
“We are just beginning to reckon with their effects on the mental health of thousands of veterans. Signature Wounds is a strong foundation for future research and a valuable resource here and now for both scholars and non-specialist readers.” ”
““Signature Wounds . . . helps explain why certain decisions may have been made and helps one have a better understanding of the mental health crisis portrayed by popular media.”
Check out some of the media coverage of Signature Wounds!
University of Massachusetts Press, 2014
Four decades after its end, the American war in Vietnam still haunts the nation’s collective memory. Its lessons, real and imagined, continue to shape government policies and military strategies, while the divisions it spawned infect domestic politics and fuel the so-called culture wars. In Forever Vietnam, David Kieran shows how the contested memory of the Vietnam War has affected the commemoration of other events, and how those acts of remembrance have influenced postwar debates over the conduct and consequences of American foreign policy.
I focus my analysis on the recent remembrance of six events, three of which occurred before the Vietnam War and three after it ended. The first group includes the siege of the Alamo in 1836, the incarceration of Union troops at Andersonville during the Civil War, and the experience of American combat troops during World War II. The second comprises the 1993 U.S. intervention in Somalia, the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
“This argument is quite original and exceptionally well constructed. . . . Kieran’s research is meticulous and his arguments are delineated with care. Moreover, the examination of the six sites centers on specific characters and incidents, treating each in a very individual way, thereby adhering to the process of recognizing the importance of social agency and examining what specific people do to re-enact a commemorative practice and reshape memory.”
“Kieran deftly interweaves historical and literary analysis to reveal how multiple narrations of the Vietnam War have shaped ideas of the conflict and of U.S. history. . . . [T]his creative, bold, insightful book should be required reading for those interested in war, memory, militarism, and the recent history of the United States.”
Co-Edited with Rebecca A. Adelman
University of Minnesota Press, 2020
Drone warfare is now a routine, if not predominant, aspect of military engagement. Although this method of delivering violence at a distance has been a part of military arsenals for two decades, scholarly debate on remote warfare writ large has remained stuck in tired debates about practicality, efficacy, and ethics. Remote Warfare broadens the conversation, interrogating the cultural and political dimensions of distant warfare and examining how various stakeholders have responded to the reality of state-sponsored remote violence.
The essays here represent a panoply of viewpoints, revealing overlooked histories of remoteness, novel methodologies, and new intellectual challenges. From the story arc of Homeland to redefining the idea of a “warrior,” these thirteen pieces consider the new nature of surveillance, similarities between killing with drones and gaming, literature written by veterans, and much more. Timely and provocative, Remote Warfare makes significant and lasting contributions to our understanding of drones and the cultural forces that shape and sustain them.
“A timely contribution to this growing field of study. . . . It is essential reading for researchers interested in how the technologies of remote warfare have been imagined, presented, and resisted. . . . [This] much-needed contribution to remote warfare scholarship. . . . should be considered essential reading and a highly recommended addition to reading lists on courses studying war and security.”
“This book is an excellent resource for researchers intent on forming a better understanding of the methodological challenges that are reflected in researching trauma in complex environments, such as the distant battlefield, and how contemporary modes of approaching this topic have shifted over time.”
“The book excels in rethinking remote warfare through the political and cultural dimensions of violence and successfully challenges the reader to do the same. _Remote Warfare_ contains several novel contributions to the topic of remote warfare, and many of the authors offer compelling and unique insights into the
topic from their respective fields.”
Co-Edited with Edwin A. Martini
Rutgers University Press, 2018.
The country’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, its interventions around the world, and its global military presence make war, the military, and militarism defining features of contemporary American life. The armed services and the wars they fight shape all aspects of life—from the formation of racial and gendered identities to debates over environmental and immigration policy. Warfare and the military are ubiquitous in popular culture.
At War offers short, accessible essays addressing the central issues in the new military history—ranging from diplomacy and the history of imperialism to the environmental issues that war raises and the ways that war shapes and is shaped by discourses of identity, to questions of who serves in the U.S. military and why and how U.S. wars have been represented in the media and in popular culture.
“Kieran and Martini have done a truly magnificent job. The table of contents of At War is enough to make one want to immediately buy and use the book. I cannot praise highly enough the concept and the fulfilled ambition of the editors.”
“The founders anticipated that American democracy would escape the militarism of most other societies, but this compelling book shows otherwise. Ranging from law and combat to race and film, and many more topics, the authors describe how the U.S. military influences all parts of our daily lives. This book does not condemn military influences in American society; it demands that we understand them better when we make policy and renew our troubled democracy. This is a book all concerned citizens should read.”
“By highlighting culture, this fascinating collection informs the problem of how persistent war could broadly impact the United States but most contemporary American civilians are oblivious to it. Well written, deeply researched, and perfect for course use.”
“At War is an excellent collection of essays, one that could easily form the main text in an undergraduate course on war and society”
Rutgers University Press, 2015
Following the 9/11 attacks, approximately four million Americans have turned eighteen each year and more than fifty million children have been born. These members of the millennial and post-millennial generation have come of age in a moment marked by increased anxiety about terrorism, two protracted wars, and policies that have raised questions about the United States's role abroad and at home. Young people have not been shielded from the attacks or from the wars and policy debates that followed. Instead, they have been active participants—as potential military recruits and organizers for social justice amid anti-immigration policies, as students in schools learning about the attacks or readers of young adult literature about wars.
The War of My Generation is the first essay collection to focus specifically on how the terrorist attacks and their aftermath have shaped these new generations of Americans. Drawing from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, and literary studies, the essays cover a wide range of topics, from graphic war images in the classroom to computer games designed to promote military recruitment to emails from parents in the combat zone. The collection considers what cultural factors and products have shaped young people's experience of the 9/11 attacks, the wars that have followed, and their experiences as emerging citizen-subjects in that moment. Revealing how young people understand the War on Terror—and how adults understand the way young people think—The War of My Generation offers groundbreaking research on catastrophic events still fresh in our minds.
“This carefully edited volume encourages thought about the impact of war, from 9/11 to involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, on youth in the US through 11 elegant and lucid essays that variously use ethnographic methods and literary and cultural analyses, together with practical reflections on pedagogical method ... Highly recommended”
“The War of My Generation is, in some ways, a classic American studies volume, combining a range of disciplinary methods, cultural resources, and popular voices to paint a complex picture of US life at a particular historical moment. Readers with an interdisciplinary bent, who are trained to hunt for diversity where there seems uniformity, will find The War of My Generation compelling.”
“The array of approaches and resources in this well-conceived and original volume will make it the ‘go to’ book on how the war on terror has shaped a generation.”