Amy Rutenberg

In the broadest terms, my research focuses on the relationships among war, gender, militarization, and American society in the second half of the twentieth century. My first book, Rough Draft: Cold War Military Manpower Policy and the Origins of Vietnam-Era Draft Resistance (Cornell University Press, 2019), explores how the policy community’s assumptions about gender, race, class, and the Cold War led it to target working-class and minority men for the draft and middle-class, white men for deferments in the years leading up the Vietnam War. My work has appeared in Cold War History, The New York Times, and TheAtlantic.com.

I am currently working on a book project tentatively titled Mission and Condition: Peace Activism and Military Service in Post-Vietnam War America. It will look at peace activism related to military manpower from the 1970s to the early 2000s, including the reinstatement of Selective Service registration and counter-recruitment efforts.

I also co-coordinate the secondary social studies education program and am happy to answer questions from students considering the profession of teaching.