"A study in war rhetoric, material rhetoric, and public memory, this book explains how the aftermath of the American World War I experience led to the rhetorical production of the long-lasting and familiar icon of the modern US soldier as a virtuous, self-sacrificial, "global force for good.""--Provided by publisher.

Introduction -- 1. The "uncensored" view from afar : American perceptions of the Great War, 1914-1917 -- 2. "Body and soul and spirit" : mobilization, conscription, and mass death, 1917-1918 -- 3. A crisis of speech : addressing mass death and the trauma of war, 1918-1922 -- 4. Why they died : public memory and the birth of the modern U.S. soldier, 1922-1933 -- Conclusion.