In The End of Victory Culture, Tom Engelhardt provides readers with what one reviewer labels ômemoir historyö, the ômerging of autobiography with historical eventsö (Gilbert 246). In his memoir history, Engelhardt provides an account of the nature and decline of a national narrative he labels ôvictory culture.ö Victory culture pertains to the American military ideal, one that reinforces the enemy as the evil ôOtherö and has clear-cut distinctions between Americans as the ôgood guysö and the enemy as the ôbad guysö. Reinforced by everything from childrenÆs toys to popular media, this ethos came to full fruition during WWII, a war with enemies that enabled a full expression of the ôvictory culture.ö Despite this ethos, Engelhardt contends that the lack of a clear-cut enemy in wars following WWII and social phenomenon like the Civil Rights movement eroded the ôvictory cultureö. Now, as Gilbert maintains of the culture left in its wake, ôThe result is a culture turned in and on itself, living a contradiction between conflicting expectationsö (246).
Engelhardt maintains that the roots of the narrative known as ôvictory cultureö were sewn in the colonial era. Americans believed in Manifest Destiny, that their causes were just, and that God was on their side because it was the ôrightö side in wars from the colonial era through the end of WWII. Within this narrative, certain concepts were important to help reinforce the righteousness contained within this narrative that required an evil ôOtherö as enemy to appeal to Americans. Engelhardt maintains ôcaptivity experiences of white women,ö for example, were essential in maintaining the image of the enemy as one whose intent was ôviolently intruding on a settled worldö (23).
Such a narrative came to full expression during WWII, when the Japanese fulfilled all the requirements of the ôevilö Other. As Gilbert offers in his re
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