Tank: The Progress of a Monstrous War Machine

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On March 20, 1838, a Cornish engineer named John George submitted a petition to Parliament, informing the House of Commons of a recent invention. According to the note, George and his son were the sole inventors of a "modern steam war chariot" that they believed would make the traditional arsenal obsolete. Apparently, none of the MPs were impressed: The petition was simply filed away and forgotten. In Patrick Wright's cultural history of the tank, George's vehicle and other offbeat land cruisers make fleeting appearances, but the main thrust of this engaging chronicle is the changing roles of tanks. Perhaps the author's most frightening conclusion is that contemporary governments use tanks primarily to control their own populace: e.g., Tiananmen Square.

Booklist

A sophisticated yet highly accessible book.

Publishers Weekly

Beginning with H.G. Wells's 1903 premonitions of tanklike creatures, Wright (The Village that Died for England) traces the cultural history of a kill vehicle variously called "behemoth," "landship" and even "Mother." Wright's exhaustive research offers a treasure trove of facts usually eclipsed in conventional military or technical histories. The early attention-getting potential of the creatures ("male" or "female," depending on their armament) during WWI was used to demoralizing effect on German troops and as a successful fund-raising tool by the British, whose "tank bank" war bonds proved popular. Such potential was not lost on subsequent champions of the ungainly machine in the interwar period, from the British tactician J.F.C. Fuller to the unholy trinity of Guderian, Rommel and Hitler, simultaneously the tank's greatest and most disastrous deployers. As authoritarian regimes rose, so did Western PR campaigns showing the tank as the symbol of liberation (from fascism and bolshevism), while paradoxically, Wright argues, the tank subsequently began to appear primarily as a tool governments use to control their own people. Wright, a professor of modern cultural studies at the U.K.'s Nottingham Trent University, also covers the suicidal heroism of Soviet women tankers in WWII and talks with Israel Tal about his singular design for Israel's Merkava. While the book's scope is somewhat skewed toward Britain, ignoring Asian tank development and deployment, the WWII Pacific theater and Vietnam, Wright brings vital social and microhistorical data to military history and fleshes out the story of one of the 2oth century's most powerful, destructive and highly symbolic creations. Photos. (On sale Apr. 29) Forecast: This book's iconic subject and cultural savvy should bring in readers who don't normally pick up military history. Look for sales to grow as reviews chime in; the book got great press when published in the U.K. in 2000. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

An account of the tank's evolution as an armored war machine and a symbol of power and progress. British historian Wright (Modern Cultural Studies/Nottingham Trent Univ.; A Journey Through the Ruins, not reviewed) has previously proved adept at finding cultural significance in traditionally dry subjects, and his analytical approach works particularly well in this new analysis of the tank's place in modern history. He begins by tracing the roots of the tank to 19th-century writers like H.G. Wells, who captured the public's imagination with visions of lumbering behemoths dominating futuristic battlefields. Such speculative fiction, Wright argues, inspired remarkably diverse popular support (songs, poems, juvenile fiction) as early tankers slowly developed primitive armored tactics on WWI battlefields. He notes that by the time the Allies defeated the Kaiser's German forces, the tank had been recognized as an essential component of modern warfare by both military thinkers and the general public. While acknowledging the great appeal that armored vehicles held for British citizens, Wright also traces their role in suppressing popular revolutions and intimidating citizens, from the 1919 Irish strikes in Glasgow to the 1989 television standoff between man and machine at Tiananmen Square. These functions complicate easy interpretations of the tank's cultural significance, he contends. Instead of merely serving as a symbol of military might, the tank inspires an uneasy passion in the Western world: it paradoxically reinforces our belief in technological progress while simultaneously reminding us of its ultimately destructive purpose. Wright convincingly concludes that understanding this tensionmakes thoughtful consideration of the tank's cultural status worthwhile. Particularly delightful for readers interested in military history, but Wright's witty prose and careful cultural analysis will also appeal to general readers. (Photos and illustrations throughout)