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On 13 July Christina Fishback wrote: "I understand the interest as a historian in attempting to correlate suicide with service in the military (particularly--as is perpetuated by popular film). [...] I am not sure that this is within the purview of what a historian does...I could be wrong. When one opens with a question about the mental state of a soldier--unless you rely on the data, all you are really doing is speculating. There is no way of knowing what the inner most thoughts of a soldier in their last moments might be. This is true across cultures." Suicide and desertion are indeed topics that scholars who do modern military history are interested in and they have been tackled successfully. While it is not a prerequisite the study of sociology helps a lot. 30 years ago people thought military historians would "speculate" about desertion but there are now solid studies available. The same will hold true for suicides. It is all a matter of facts and solid methodology. I warn, however, against comparing the reasons for desertion and suicides from the 18th and 19th centuries with the 21st century. I would be much interested in the cross-cultural studies about the inner thoughts of soldiers that you have done. Best regards Joerg Muth ----- For subscription help, go to: http://www.h-net.org/lists/help/ To change your subscription settings, go to http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=h-war -----
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