Cord Scott has a doctorate in American History from Loyola University Chicago, USA. He has written for several encyclopaedias and academic journals, and has collaborated previously with Robert Weiner on the book Captain America and the Struggle of the Superhero. He teaches at several institutions in the Chicago area.
Cord Scott's finely-researched analysis of war propaganda and patriotic war-themed comic books argues that these domains were (and are) mutually constitutive. He argues that comic books are 'a delivery system that can disseminate a message to the relatively uninformed and unformed' citizenry (xii), as comics have tended to march in lock-step with the development of the United States as a military superpower post-1938. Comics and Conflict is a welcome foundation for an underserved area."--International Journal of Comic Art "The Naval Institute Press excels at publishing books covering obscure yet important and fascinating aspects of military history. This new work continues that tradition, providing a look at how comics, now widely considered an art form, have developed through the coverage and depiction of war. No doubt many readers grew up reading war comics, feeding their fledgling interests in military history. Now the reader can discover how those comics related to larger issues they likely were unaware of previously."--Military Heritage "War has been a popular theme of comic books from their beginning, yet the topic has not received adequate attention from comics researchers. Historian Scott (independent scholar) helps remedy that with his history of comic books from WW II through the Iraqi wars. Comics and Conflict is neatly organized around major wars and civilian eras, but the author discusses a variety of narrower periods and themes, such as racism, gender, patriotism, children, violence, social issues and comics, the Comics Code, and pro- and anti-war comics, and ties in with other forms of popular culture, particularly film. Scott samples a diverse range of books, reporting their content, discussing their creators, and interpreting, in a fair and balanced manner, plots and characters in the context of existing military and governmental foreign policy and societal thinking. He provides many new insights, supporting them with keen knowledge of military and comics history. All this is backed up by exhaustive notes and a bibliography that includes out-of-the-ordinary sources. Comics and Conflict is a superb chronological history of US war comics."--Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries "Comics and Conflict is a superb chronological survey of American comic book depictions of both real and imagined war and quasi-war campaigns, amazing in scope and detail. Scott's insights into the relationship between the comics and their audience in different eras are impressive, reflecting the public's increasing apprehensions about how and why the nation's military was being deployed. The work indicates an author very much at home with his subject matter."--Peter Karsten, editor in chief of Encyclopedia of War and American Society "By combining cultural history and military history, Cord Scott provides us with fresh insights into both. Readers interested in how the American public used cultural media to interpret war will learn much from this book."--Michael S. Neiberg, author of The Blood of Free Men: The Liberation of Paris, 1944 "Wars are won by both the 'hard power' of the state and the 'soft power' of its culture. In this fascinating study of the role of American military-themed comic books Cord Scott explores the way popular illustrated stories have simultaneously buttressed and critiqued the nation's military conflicts. This unique and accessible study will appeal to the layman and professional alike and is well suited for classroom adoption for survey and specialized classes." --Theodore J. Karamanski, professor of history, Loyola University Chicago "Cord Scott's Comics and Conflict demonstrates the powerful role that comic books have played in American wars from World War II through Iraqi Freedom and the central place that wars have played in American society and culture in the twentieth century."--Lewis A. Erenberg, professor emeritus, Loyola University Chicago
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