Tank The Progress of a Monstrous War Machine

by Wright, Patrick

• ISBN13: 9780670030705
• ISBN10: 0670030708
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-04-29
• Publisher: Viking Adult

Summary

It is the embodiment of modern war. From the boxy monstrosities that clanked over trenches and broke the stalemate of World War I to the dreaded German Panzers that extended Hitler's grasp across Europe, to the burning Iraqi hulks that marked the progress of Operation Desert Storm, the tank dominated military theory and practice throughout the twentieth century. And yet it was always far more than this-a fixation in the public mind, a curious compound of fact and fantasy. In Tank, Patrick Wright offers an entertaining, insightful, even meditative account of this emblematic vehicle. A brilliant work of military history, this book also explores the tank as a social and cultural object. The author interweaves classic armored campaigns such as the blitzkrieg and Desert Storm with the stunning political impact of tanks in the streets of Prague in 1968 and in Tiananmen Square in 1989. He also explores how the tank became the symbol of technological futurism and unstoppable progress, as well as of totalitarian oppression. Patrick Wright is effortlessly witty and compelling from start to finish, from an interview with legendary Israeli warrior General Israel Tal to a tour of the high-tech armor training center at Fort Knox, to discussions of songs, movies, and television images that kept the tank at the forefront of popular imagination. "A hugely enjoyable work . . . an immensely readable, well-researched book, filled with interesting detours, unusual stories and idiosyncratic discussions relating the tank to philosophy, religion, art, politics, and even necromancy." (General Sir Michael Rose, in the Times, London)

Author Biography

Patrick Wright is Professor of Modern Cultural Studies at Nottingham Trent University, U.K. His books include Living in an Old Country, A Journey Through the Ruins, and The Village That Died for England.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
The Heaviness of an Age	1	(22)
PART I. It Was an Actual Fact
A Monster is Evolved	23	(15)
Big Joke	38	(16)
Breaking the Line (the War Artist's Dilemma)	54	(8)
Raising the Heavy Branch at Bermicourt	62	(19)
Banking on the Tank	81	(20)
Moral Victory	101	(12)
PART II. In the Church of Mechanization
Bringing it All Back Home	113	(21)
The Prophet's Creed	134	(21)
The Secret Imprint of the Great Beast	155	(27)
The Mission Overseas	182	(49)
PART III. Blitzkrieg
The Lancer and the Panzer	231	(21)
Through Sixty Years of Mist	252	(18)
Into Russia with Curzio Malaparte	270	(17)
The Tiger and the Mouse	287	(21)
Tributes: A Flag for Europe and the True Birth of punk	308	(11)
PART IV. The Coming of the Merkava
The Steeling of Zion	319	(27)
Jewish Blitzkrieg?	346	(31)
PART V. After the Cold War
Conversion: Pink Tank and Poliscar	377	(32)
Fort Knox: Cybertanks and the Army After Next	409	(38)
Notes	447	(36)
Acknowledgements	483	(4)
Index	487