"Some have called America a country made by war. But in this study of a military, Catherine Lutz shows how we are a country made by war preparation.".

"Lutz focused on Fayetteville, North Carolina, home to Fort Bragg, the largest U.S. Army base. The town, which has earned the nicknames Fatalville and Fayettenam, is a place both unusual and familiar where one finds miles of strip malls and strip joints, remarkably high rates of venereal disease, and a history of racial violence. Life here brings soldiers and civilians together in necessary and unexpected ways.".

"From secret training operations that use civilians as mock enemies and allies to the low-wage satellite economy of the town, Lutz's history of Fayetteville reveals the burdens that military preparedness has created for all of us throughout the twentieth century. Her portrait of the town poses the provocative question "Are we all military dependents?""--BOOK JACKET.