- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (7 Jun 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 023050647X
- ISBN-13: 978-0230506473
- Product Dimensions: 22 x 14.7 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 662,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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'In an era of continuing militarism, J. Robert Lilly illuminates that even noble wars have disquieting collateral consequences. By masterfully mixing probing insight with hard data, he teaches us that historical amnesia is the pathway to a misguided, rather than an informed and healthy, patriotism. He also illuminates yet another domain in which racial injustice—the core American dilemma—has exerted its pernicious influence. Taken by Force thus is a book of many lessons—a volume that should grace the shelves of serious scholars of public affairs and that would be an enriching educational experience for our students.' - Francis T. Cullen, Distinguished Research Professor, University of Cincinnati
'A disturbing and brave book by a distinguished American criminologist. It lifts a painful lid on rape by American GIs in Europe during World War II. J. Robert Lilly asks troubling questions like why were most of the GIs executed for rape black? Why were there large numbers of executions of GIs for raping French and British women and girls, but none for raping Germans, when the German rapes tended to be more bestial? Those of us who hold the World War II generation in such affection, who had fathers who fought so bravely in it for just cause, may want to look the other way. But Taken by Force is a tour de force we must look at. Hundreds of thousands of German women and girls were raped in World War II, much more by Russian than American troops. They, and countless others from Japan to China to France, are forgotten victims of World War II, whose memory this book finally honors with serious research attention.' - John Braithwaite, Australian National University
'Lilly reveals a different side to the myth of the wholesome GI of World War II. This is a well-researched and courageous attempt to throw some light on an ugly underbelly that has remained unexamined for far too long. His harrowing descriptions of numerous rapes from official records make Taken By Force an uncomfortable read. Nevertheless, this is an important book, and one that deserves a far wider readership than just those with a scholarly interest.' - Lucy Popescu, Tribune
'Going against the trend of hagiography, this book reveals a harsher truth than many will wish to acknowledge, laid out in stark, cold, comfortless detail. Through painstaking analysis of military records, trial transcripts and interviews with soldiers, victims and their families, Lilly's work throws light on a previously overlooked consequence of the US Army's presence in Western Europe between 1942 and 1945: the rape of an estimated 14,000 civilian women.' - Jon Latimer, Times Literary Supplement
Product Description
Did American's 'greatest generation of soldiers' commit horrendous crimes against civilians in Europe during World War II? Is this an absurd idea, or something which did occur but was generally kept from the American public?
Taken by Force makes unprecedented use of military records and trial transcripts to throw light on one of the overlooked consequences of the US Army's presence in Western Europe between 1942 and 1945: the rape of an estimated 14,000 civilian women. The study makes an important and original contribution to our understanding of sexual violence in armed conflict. Using not only official military records, but also interviews with World War II soldiers, rape victims and their families, Lilly speaks as often as possible through the protagonists themselves and examines the differing social contexts prevailing in England, France and Germany. Attention is also given to the racial dimension of this issue: the disproportionate number of black GIs prosecuted and the relative harshness of their sentences when convicted.
Taken by Force makes unprecedented use of military records and trial transcripts to throw light on one of the overlooked consequences of the US Army's presence in Western Europe between 1942 and 1945: the rape of an estimated 14,000 civilian women. The study makes an important and original contribution to our understanding of sexual violence in armed conflict. Using not only official military records, but also interviews with World War II soldiers, rape victims and their families, Lilly speaks as often as possible through the protagonists themselves and examines the differing social contexts prevailing in England, France and Germany. Attention is also given to the racial dimension of this issue: the disproportionate number of black GIs prosecuted and the relative harshness of their sentences when convicted.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
No nation wants to look at it's ugly past. Especially from WWII. Stephen Ambrose has made the entire world put on pink coloured glasses and has had us all accept his version of events and that the GIs were the greatest generation, undisputed heroes. And who doesn't enjoy his books? His view? Stephen Spielberg's and Thom Hanks' views? But there is an ugly "underbelly" to Stephen Ambrose's glorified view of the war. We can not deny it or we will be no better than the revisionists that claim that the Holocaust never happened. You only need to start reading the memoirs of people in Ambrose's beloved 101st Easy Company, and you will find out that a LOT of the soldiers were no angels. They were hardly ever sober. A lot of them fooled around with women when they had wives and girlfriends waiting at home. And they had no qualms about looting people's homes.It is outright disgusting to read in this book that it could not be published basically, in the US, while Ambrose was still alive since he wanted to protect America from the truth . Everything from Eisenhower's mistress and his often sick decisions to the darker sides of sending hormone governed teenage boys to Europe and then not taking responsibility for that.
This book is no light read for several reasons. One doesn't want it to be true for one. Ambrose's view is so much nicer. It is also heavy, resembling a dissertation, not meant for the general audience. There are lots of numbers, statistics presented as well as many questions that simply can't be answered.
In a way this is a disappointing book because it shows that we will never know WHY these men raped even allied women. The rapists were tried by the military courts and they had no need for causes. The court martials were for one reason only and that was to create discipline by example.
The book can not tell how many were raped either. The dark numbers are expected to be 95%, just like they are today, and if only 5% were reported, the military did not even bother bringing those 5% to court. So in a way the book gives a warped view of things but that view also says something about what was going on. The military only tried the most gruesome of the rapes to set examples. The book in other words can only discuss the darkest rapes in other words, the ones the military bothered recording and the dark numbers are enormous.
Is it still worth reading? Absolutely. Because it shows a side of the war that we need to see. To get a full picture of the war we need to study all aspects, not just Ambrose's heroes. And Ambrose is brought up many times in this book since he has turned many historians against looking at history objectively.
The sad picture that emerges in the book is that the military brought the US segregation and racism with it to Europe. And most cases brought to trial were ones with a coloured person as rapist and coming from the supply companies. We will never know how many white rapists that got away.
The author lets us read many of the cases and we never find a reason for the rape but a picture surface that they all behaved suddenly in a manner they never would have behaved in, at home. The author does not say that coloured people committed all rapes, but those were the cases brought to court martial and as we know today, there is no difference in colour and rape frequency so there can't have been back then either.
The book studies the three countries that the GIs spent most time in and the most shocking is how many rapes took place in friendly England where they staid the longest and got to know people and customs and already knew the language. Here the military could investigate properly. That was not so in France were the front moved all the time, where they could not get to the crime scene on time or stay and investigate. The French were not all friendly and language barriers could have been part of the rape problem. The book states that veterans from WWI had spread out rumours for years that French women were without morals and gladly had sex with coloured men. All GIs knew this and they went especially crazy the closer to Paris they got which was the Mecca of sin. When they moved on to Germany, the records change somewhat and shows more white people tried and that it was no longer supply companies. Groups raping also became more common.
What stands clear after reading this book, rapes happened more often than we would like to think. The US military chose to overlook most of the crimes for various reasons. But worse of all was that there was no consistency in the harshness or leniency in punishment. Length of penalty or death penalty, was all up to different commanders. Rape could lead to 10, 20, 30 years, hanging or nothing at all. When law experts in the forces started to point out to Eisenhower that you must have one consistent punishment, he roared that the current system had no faults. It's a daunting book to read since you understand that justice was an arbitrary thing. And to find out that thousands of rapes only resulted in tears, wrecked lives and unwanted pregnancies is also depressing.The worse was that the military in their actions, told white GIs that it was all right to rape since hardly any was brought to trial.
This book is no light read for several reasons. One doesn't want it to be true for one. Ambrose's view is so much nicer. It is also heavy, resembling a dissertation, not meant for the general audience. There are lots of numbers, statistics presented as well as many questions that simply can't be answered.
In a way this is a disappointing book because it shows that we will never know WHY these men raped even allied women. The rapists were tried by the military courts and they had no need for causes. The court martials were for one reason only and that was to create discipline by example.
The book can not tell how many were raped either. The dark numbers are expected to be 95%, just like they are today, and if only 5% were reported, the military did not even bother bringing those 5% to court. So in a way the book gives a warped view of things but that view also says something about what was going on. The military only tried the most gruesome of the rapes to set examples. The book in other words can only discuss the darkest rapes in other words, the ones the military bothered recording and the dark numbers are enormous.
Is it still worth reading? Absolutely. Because it shows a side of the war that we need to see. To get a full picture of the war we need to study all aspects, not just Ambrose's heroes. And Ambrose is brought up many times in this book since he has turned many historians against looking at history objectively.
The sad picture that emerges in the book is that the military brought the US segregation and racism with it to Europe. And most cases brought to trial were ones with a coloured person as rapist and coming from the supply companies. We will never know how many white rapists that got away.
The author lets us read many of the cases and we never find a reason for the rape but a picture surface that they all behaved suddenly in a manner they never would have behaved in, at home. The author does not say that coloured people committed all rapes, but those were the cases brought to court martial and as we know today, there is no difference in colour and rape frequency so there can't have been back then either.
The book studies the three countries that the GIs spent most time in and the most shocking is how many rapes took place in friendly England where they staid the longest and got to know people and customs and already knew the language. Here the military could investigate properly. That was not so in France were the front moved all the time, where they could not get to the crime scene on time or stay and investigate. The French were not all friendly and language barriers could have been part of the rape problem. The book states that veterans from WWI had spread out rumours for years that French women were without morals and gladly had sex with coloured men. All GIs knew this and they went especially crazy the closer to Paris they got which was the Mecca of sin. When they moved on to Germany, the records change somewhat and shows more white people tried and that it was no longer supply companies. Groups raping also became more common.
What stands clear after reading this book, rapes happened more often than we would like to think. The US military chose to overlook most of the crimes for various reasons. But worse of all was that there was no consistency in the harshness or leniency in punishment. Length of penalty or death penalty, was all up to different commanders. Rape could lead to 10, 20, 30 years, hanging or nothing at all. When law experts in the forces started to point out to Eisenhower that you must have one consistent punishment, he roared that the current system had no faults. It's a daunting book to read since you understand that justice was an arbitrary thing. And to find out that thousands of rapes only resulted in tears, wrecked lives and unwanted pregnancies is also depressing.The worse was that the military in their actions, told white GIs that it was all right to rape since hardly any was brought to trial.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Sorely needed but sadly flawed research.
16 July 2011
Format:Hardcover
TAKEN BY FORCE: Rape and American GIs in Europe during World War II, by J. Robert Lilly, would have been better served with a more accurate title - one that acknowledges that this study is limited to two premises: (1) that some members of the Greatest Generation did, indeed, rape, pillage and plunder their way across the WWII European Theatre of Operations; and, (2) that, when caught, tried and convicted, African-American troops were more likely to receive harsher sentences and fewer commutations and reductions of those sentences. Based on a limited sample [c. 730 rape victims, 871 rapists, and 436 convictions], Lilly extrapolates that between 14,000-17,000 rapes were committed between 1942 with the build-up of the invasion forces in England and through the 1945 surrender and occupation of Germany.
Based on his analysis, Lilly shows that in the progressive deployment of troops in England through France to Germany, the military postings of the rapists shifted from 100% Service personnel in England to a 2 to 1 ratio of Infantry to Service personnel in Germany. The number of rapes increased progressively, as well.
In my opinion, Lilly's analyses - and possibly, his conclusions - fail in some significant areas. The first is an absence of necessary comparative data. I would have liked data on the number of rapists arrested, tried and convicted per capita, by age and race, during that period [1942-1945]: [1] in the United States; [2]across all military personnel, deployed and non-deployed; [3] by all active duty troops in the European Theatre of Operations; and [4] the standard deviation of and correlation coefficient among these populations. Such variance and dependency analyses would have allowed an adjustment for, and discussion about, the degree to which increasing numbers of men, by themselves, were a factor in the increasing number of rapes.
I would have appreciated an appendix providing details on Lilly's baseline data. He draws most of his information from JAG [Judge Advocate General] and BOR [Board of Review] records. To support his sampling, I'd have liked Tables from each source showing: total number of records for the period, total number related to rape, and the number sufficiently complete to include in his analysis. A perfect rendering would have included a breakdown of these records, and the US Crime Statistics for the period, by type of crime, so that the crime of rape could be measured against its actual and/or social predominance.
Lilly's heavy reliance on and systematic use of percentages to define very small populations created, for me, more confusion and obfuscation than clarity, and it detracted from - even left questionable - some of his conclusions. Most of his tables of percentages do not provide the base number upon which the % is computed. Percentages applied to these data are meaningless. What is needed is a straightforward numerical presentation of the numbers convicted, by sentence [execution, imprisonment, etc.], by race; and, tabulated against the number of sentences carried out, commuted and reduced, by sentence, by race.
Lastly, while Lilly asserts that one object of his study is to 'give voice to the victims', his emphasis is on exposing the practical differences in military justice as applied to African-American rapists and Caucasian rapists for the same degree of vengeance, brutality, and inhumanity committed upon the woman or child raped. Lilly seems to argue for more equally rendered commutations and reductions of sentences. To 'give voice to the victims' cries for harsher - albeit more fairly, justly and equally applied - punishment.
Based on his analysis, Lilly shows that in the progressive deployment of troops in England through France to Germany, the military postings of the rapists shifted from 100% Service personnel in England to a 2 to 1 ratio of Infantry to Service personnel in Germany. The number of rapes increased progressively, as well.
In my opinion, Lilly's analyses - and possibly, his conclusions - fail in some significant areas. The first is an absence of necessary comparative data. I would have liked data on the number of rapists arrested, tried and convicted per capita, by age and race, during that period [1942-1945]: [1] in the United States; [2]across all military personnel, deployed and non-deployed; [3] by all active duty troops in the European Theatre of Operations; and [4] the standard deviation of and correlation coefficient among these populations. Such variance and dependency analyses would have allowed an adjustment for, and discussion about, the degree to which increasing numbers of men, by themselves, were a factor in the increasing number of rapes.
I would have appreciated an appendix providing details on Lilly's baseline data. He draws most of his information from JAG [Judge Advocate General] and BOR [Board of Review] records. To support his sampling, I'd have liked Tables from each source showing: total number of records for the period, total number related to rape, and the number sufficiently complete to include in his analysis. A perfect rendering would have included a breakdown of these records, and the US Crime Statistics for the period, by type of crime, so that the crime of rape could be measured against its actual and/or social predominance.
Lilly's heavy reliance on and systematic use of percentages to define very small populations created, for me, more confusion and obfuscation than clarity, and it detracted from - even left questionable - some of his conclusions. Most of his tables of percentages do not provide the base number upon which the % is computed. Percentages applied to these data are meaningless. What is needed is a straightforward numerical presentation of the numbers convicted, by sentence [execution, imprisonment, etc.], by race; and, tabulated against the number of sentences carried out, commuted and reduced, by sentence, by race.
Lastly, while Lilly asserts that one object of his study is to 'give voice to the victims', his emphasis is on exposing the practical differences in military justice as applied to African-American rapists and Caucasian rapists for the same degree of vengeance, brutality, and inhumanity committed upon the woman or child raped. Lilly seems to argue for more equally rendered commutations and reductions of sentences. To 'give voice to the victims' cries for harsher - albeit more fairly, justly and equally applied - punishment.
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