Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

It can be difficult for researchers from outside the military to gain access to the field. However, there is a rich source on the military that is readily available for every researcher: military memoirs. This source does provide some methodological challenges with regard to truth and (self) censorship, nevertheless. This study questions how truth and (self) censorship issues influence the content of these military autobiographies. It shows that these issues are not only a concern for researchers, but also for military writers themselves. The study provides concrete quantitative data based on military Afghanistan memoirs published between 2001 and 2010 from …

How to apply quantitative and qualitative methodoly to research egodocuments. This presentation was part of the Public Opinion 1500- present course given at the Erasmus University Rotterdam for Master Students History.

It is often said that the majority of stories written by war veterans in the 20th century are disillusionment plots. But is that still the case in the 21st century? Are young men and women still going into, for example, Afghanistan with high ideals that are shattered during their deployment, and write books about their disillusionment? In this paper, the preliminary results are presented from a study into military books. Based on Friedman’s plot theory, this study compares all 54 autobiographical books published between 2001 and 2010 by Afghanistan veterans in three different languages from five different countries (the Netherlands, …

A comparison of narratives from two distinct groups of Dutch veterans: bikers and soldier-authors.