| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 94.2

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 94.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Collateral Damage: Americans, Noncombatant Immunity, and Atrocity after World War II. By Sahr Conway-Lanz. (New York: Routledge, 2006. xiv, 280 pp. Cloth, $95.00, ISBN 0-415-97828-9. Paper, $26.95, ISBN 0-415-97829-7.)

The moral imperative to avoid harming noncombatants during war has been the subject of ethical discussion and strategic debate across the historical spectrum but even more so since the great world wars of the twentieth century. Sahr Conway-Lanz examines how American perceptions of the noncombatant issue have evolved since World War II, focusing in particular on the timely problem of collateral damage and how Americans have come to define atrocity. Americans, it seems, have become very sensitive to the unintended harming of noncombatants—this is not a recent phenomenon, as Conway-Lanz ably shows. There are few things more morally and politically offensive to the American psyche than the sight of dead children in a destroyed schoolhouse next to a crater where once stood a chemical weapons facility. Enemies of the United States have become all too aware of the impact that scenario and others have on American public opinion and political will, and they also have learned the deterrent value of locating such facilities near schools, hospitals, and the like. Prevailing strategic doctrine allows attacking such targets if a greater good comes from their destruction. The loss of life at the neighboring school or hospital is a regrettable but nonetheless acceptable side effect. Such is the dilemma of collateral damage.

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