PLAYING SOLDIER: A Diatribe

by Frank Getlein ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 29, 1971

An entertaining blitzkrieg on creeping or galloping militarism in America. According to journalist-commentator Getlein it began after World War II when the ""cheery and modest, honest and limited"" War Department was rebaptized the Defense Department thereby acquiring ""a permanent all-season hunting license with no place out of bounds."" The inventive Americans outdid themselves acquiring a ""nonprofit empire"" just as the colony biz was becoming obsolete. Learn how Vietnam is a spectacular success as a ""permawar"" designed not to work. Meet the paper condottieri, the ""contemplative military"" (Kahn and Kissinger) who subsist on hypotheses. (""What if the Russians or the Chinese . . . come up with the incredible new weapon of knocking off edges of the moon and so timing the knockoffs that the eastern half of the United States can be thickly covered with moondust?"") Getlein is here to show you how the Pentagon has 'gone Red' via non-competitive, no-bidding contract letting under the insufficiently vigilant nose of Reverend Carl MacIntyre, yet. But don't be fooled by the author's avowal that Vietnam is ""not moral tragedy but slapstick farce."" His true mentors are C. Wright Mills and George Orwell and the caricature, through a glass darkly, of a hardening ""crypto-military dictatorship,"" is razor-edged.

Pub Date: May 29, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION