Structure

The book’s overall structure is essentially that of a collection - specifically, of what might be described as articles on various ways in which the work of science and scientists supports the work of the military and military personnel. Each chapter explores a particular aspect of the relationship between the two different fields (i.e. science and the military), with each chapter’s very different issues being tied together by core thematic and authorial perspectives. There is no overall narrative arc, per se – that is, no sense of beginning / middle / end to the book’s content. That said, as the reader reaches the book’s final chapter, which contains a relatively brief but thematically significant consideration of the meaning and value of military sacrifice, the reader might get a sense that in the book’s occasional glances at the meaning and value of heroism, both scientific...