Less Than Victory: American Catholics and the Vietnam War (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781009627078)

The first book of its kind, Less than Victory explores both the impact the Vietnam War had on American Catholics, and the impact of the nation's largest religious group upon its most controversial war. Through the 1960s, Roman Catholics made up one-quarter of the population, and were deeply involved in all aspects of war. In this book, Steven J. Brady argues that American Catholics introduced the moral, as opposed to the prudential, argument about the war earlier and more comprehensively than other groups. The Catholic debate on morality was three cornered: some saw the war as inherently immoral, others as morally obligatory, while others focused on the morality of the means - napalm, torture, and free-fire zones - that the US and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam were employing. These debates presaged greater Catholic involvement in war and peace issues, provoking a shift away from traditional ideas of a just war across American Catholic thinking and dialogue.

Author: Steven J. Brady
ISBN-10: 1009627074
ISBN-13: 9781009627078
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 09/11/2025
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 8.70h x 5.90w x 1.30d