Book description
Revelations of abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and the U. S.
detention camp at Guantánamo Bay had repercussions extending beyond the
worldwide media scandal that ensued. The controversy surrounding photos
and descriptions of inhumane treatment of enemy prisoners of war, or
EPWs, from the war on terror marked a watershed moment in the study of
modern warfare and the treatment of prisoners of war. Amid allegations
of human rights violations and war crimes, one question stands out among
the rest: Was the treatment of America's most recent prisoners of war an
isolated event or part of a troubling and complex issue that is deeply
rooted in our nation's military history? Military expert Robert C.
Doyle's The Enemy in Our Hands: America's Treatment of Prisoners of War
from the Revolution to the War on Terror draws from diverse sources to
answer this question. Historical as well as timely in its content, this
work examines America's major wars and past conflicts-among them, the
American Revolution, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and Vietnam-to
provide understanding of the United States' treatment of military and
civilian prisoners. The Enemy in Our Hands offers a new perspective of
U. S. military history on the subject of EPWs and suggests that the
tactics employed to manage prisoners of war are unique and disparate
from one conflict to the next. In addition to other vital information,
Doyle provides a cultural analysis and exploration of U. S. adherence to
international standards of conduct, including the 1929 Geneva Convention
in each war. Although wars are not won or lost on the basis of how EPWs
are treated, the treatment of prisoners is one of the measures by which
history's conquerors are judged. Robert C. Doyle, professor of history
at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, is the author of A
Prisoner's Duty: Great Escapes in U. S. Military History and Voices from
Captivity: Interpreting the American POW Narrative. He has been a
history consultant on multiple films and documentaries, including Hart's
War (2002). He lives in Steubenville, Ohio.
