| This thesis argues that the unprecedented number of veteran amputees after the Civil War assumed symbolic importance in the United States and continued to play an important role in American culture for 150 years. The symbolism of the amputee linked military service and political agency to veteran amputees through their visible role as agents of honor and sacrifice to the nation.;Three critical periods in American history are examined to better understand this image. First, the thesis focuses on the Civil War and the emergence of the veteran amputee in its aftermath as a means of reconciling the unsuturable characteristics of that conflict. The second section addresses the Vietnam War and the fracturing to the heroic image of the veteran amputee that occurred in the 1960-70s. The third section explores the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars and argues that, at the beginning of the 21st century, the symbol of the veteran amputee has lost much of its vitality event as technological and medical progress improved the treatment of amputees, and as attitudes of civic engagement changed. |
