The Soldier's Two Bodies

"In The Soldier's Two Bodies, James M. Greene investigates an overlooked genre of early American literature-the Revolutionary War veteran narrative-showing that it by turns both promotes and critiques a notion of military heroism as the source of U. S. sovereignty. Personal narratives by veterans of the American Revolution indicate that soldiers in the United States have been represented in two contrasting ways from the nation's first days: as heroic symbols of the body politic and as human beings whose sufferings are neglected by their country"-