Biographies and Bodies of Pupils of the Amsterdam Maritime Institute, 1792–1943

In this article, the authors describe and explore the dataset Pupils of the Amsterdam Maritime Institute 1792–1943, which is based on the Comportementboeken of the Amsterdam Maritime Institute. These records contain biographical information and bodily measurements of aspirant sailors between 12 and 20 years of age. The authors have linked the records (N = 5439) to enrolment records and the examinations for the military draft, which provides unique data on historical adolescent growth rates. Apart from anthropometric research, the dataset can be used for different kinds of studies into the background and early careers of Dutch sailors.

The Haredi Scholar-Society and the Military Draft in Israel

This chapter examines the phenomenon of deferments of army enlistment in Israel of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men studying in yeshivas. The author claims that counter-nationalist argument enables us to understand the progress that the haredi scholar-society has made from a sectorial entity that kept itself removed from the nation-state, and viewed the state as an undesired political fact, to an entity that maintains its own counter-nationalism. This social cultural religious entity regards itself as a symbiotic or active partner in the national endeavor, specifically through the insular haredi ethos. The author employs the term counter-nationalism to describe an approach that takes a critical view of nationalism, but has in effect adapted it to the structure of the discourse, organization, and aims of the hegemonic national ideology. This perspective raises the possibility that the ultra-Orthodox are beginning to view themselves as maintaining a complementary partnership with the Israeli culture, and to a considerable extent have even constructed a similar cultural structure, a sort of mirror-image of the militaristic one. Moreover, this study even suggests that the haredi mainstream seeks recognition for itself as the spiritual elite troops of the State of Israel.

1919–1921

A truck outfitted as a mobile clinic gave Bradley a new way to reach isolated rural families. She wrote a book, urging organizations to adopt this new healthcare delivery system. She spent a year and a half in Kentucky. She blamed poor child development and many military draft rejections upon the baneful effects of malnutrition.

Destiny and creativity of military draft writers

The attitude of front-line writers and those writers who survived the Great Patriotic War in childhood is considered. The author gives an assessment of the political and social phenomena of the post-war period from the perspective of today. The question is highlighted – the writer and ideology. The main attention is paid to the military experience of writers and their reflection in their work. The prose of the most prominent representatives of two generations of writers is analyzed. Significant for our time, works are also evaluated in terms of plots, images, styles. The work of V. Bykov is investigated in detail. The importance of the work of Belarusian front-line writers in the development of Belarusian literature is indicated.

Poking fun at heroes: American war and the death of the military comedy

Since the attacks of September 11 2001, there has been a marked decline in the number of military comedy films in American cinema. Films like Buffalo Soldiers, a film made prior to September 11 but released in 2003, show how this change first started. Whereas, prior to 2001, military comedies were generally accepted and even profitable, after 2001 the genre effectively disappeared and still to this day has not re-emerged despite military non-comedy films making a clear resurgence after 2008. In this article, the author explores how and why military comedies have declined over time by making comparisons of how popular both military comedy and non-comedy films were in prior periods and today. The purpose of this is to show how the decline of military comedies since 2001 is a symptom of a greater political trend within American political development, specifically the civil–military divide. As this divide has grown in the post-military draft period in the United States, an event like September 11 seems to have ruptured the general acceptability of laughing at the military, which remains improper in cinema to this day. Finally, he examines some of the political consequences of this lack of laughter at the military within the greater political and film studies literature, which include growing tacit support for the military and how the narratives within some of these films leave little room for American civilians to comedically view the military that defends them.

Religious Neutrality in the Early Republic

Governmental neutrality is the heart of the modern Free Exercise Clause. Mindful of this core principle, which prevents the government from treating individuals differently because of their religious convictions, the Supreme Court held in Employment Division v. Smith that a neutral law can be constitutionally applied despite any incidental burdens it might impose on an individual�s exercise of religion. Conscientious objectors such as Quakers, for instance, do not have a constitutional right to be exempt from a military draft. Thus, neutrality now forms both the core and the outer limit of constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom. Judged according to founding-era views, however, this interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause is deeply problematic. Although historical scholarship has focused on the particular issue of religious exemptions, this Article takes a different approach by reexamining early debates about neutrality itself. These neglected sources demonstrate that modern cases invert the founding-era conception of religious freedom. For the Founders, religious freedom was primarily an unalienable natural right to practice religion�not a right that depended on whether a law was neutral. This evidence illuminates not only a significant transition in constitutional meaning since the Founding but also the extent to which modern priorities often color our understanding of the past.