Military Medicine and the Hidden Costs of War

Book excerpt: In Military Medicine and the Hidden Costs of War, the distinguished political scientist Tanisha M. Fazal covers the full range of American wars from the Civil War to War on Terror. A rich and engrossing account of the advances in military medicine, the book shows that over time there has been a steep increase in the wounded-to-killed ratio. That has had a major impact on the actual costs of US wars--as more soldiers survive, health care costs dramatically rise, making the costs of war much greater than politicians say they are. Yet the public is unaware of these long-term costs, which contributes to America's penchant for engaging in so-called "endless wars." All told, this is both a powerful history of American wars through the lens of injury and medicine and also a necessary corrective for how we understand the costs of war.