This book uncovers the history of The Volunteers, a Spanish loyalist militia who were committed to upholding Spanish imperial interests and influence in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Santa Domingo and The Philippines as the age of empire came to a close. Unpicking the relationship between local and imperial administrations and highlighting the contribution of voluntary units to colonial warfare, Padilla Angulo shows how Spanish loyalism persevered in the colonies even as the last bastions of empire were dismantled. Revealing the complexity and diversity of The Volunteers themselves in various colonies, Volunteers of the Empire shows how thousands of young men of Spanish, African and Asian descent were united in the defence of Spanish sovereignty in times of anti-colonial struggle that were civil wars in all but name. It uncovers a fascinating history of a militia that became an essential element of Spanish imperialism and the armed wing of Spanish loyalism during the second half of the 19th century. Through their fluctuating relationship with the authorities in Spain, The Volunteers provide a fresh perspective into the global and local complexities of nation building, nationalism and citizenship.

"Among the scholars who have built the field of Korean studies are former Peace Corps volunteers who served in South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s before pursuing advanced degrees in anthropology, history, and literature. These scholars, who formed the core of the second generation of Korean Studies scholars in the US, reflect in this volume on their personal experience of serving during Korea's period of military dictatorship, on issues of gender and the Peace Corps experience, and on how random assignment to Korea sparked fascination and led to lifelong professional involvement with the country. Two chapters by Korean studies scholars who were not Peace Corps volunteers (one American and one Korean) assess how Peace Corps volunteers have influenced development of the field"--

“Riveting and morally complex, Volunteers is not only an insider’s account of war. It takes you inside the increasingly closed culture that creates our warriors.” —Elliot Ackerman, author of the National Book Award finalist Dark at the Crossing As a child, Jerad Alexander lay in bed listening to the fighter jets take off outside his window and was desperate to be airborne. As a teenager at an American base in Japan, he immersed himself in war games, war movies, and pulpy novels about Vietnam. Obsessed with all things military, he grew up playing with guns, joined the Civil Air Patrol for the uniform, and reveled in the closed and safe life “inside the castle,” within the embrace of the armed forces, the only world he knew or could imagine. Most of all, he dreamed of enlisting—like his mother, father, stepfather, and grandfather before him—and playing his part in the Great American War Story. He joined the US Marines straight out of high school, eager for action. Once in Iraq, however, he came to realize he was fighting a lost cause, enmeshed in the ongoing War on Terror that was really just a fruitless display of American might. The myths of war, the stories of violence and masculinity and heroism, the legacy of his family—everything Alexander had planned his life around—was a mirage. Alternating scenes from childhood with skirmishes in the Iraqi desert, this original, searing, and propulsive memoir introduces a powerful new voice in the literature of war. Jerad W. Alexander—not some elite warrior, but a simple volunteer—delivers a passionate and timely reckoning with the troubled and cyclical truths of the American war machine.

This book spotlights Britain's “citizen army” to show who these volunteers were, why they enlisted, how they were trained—and how they quickly became disillusioned when they found themselves committed not to the supposed glories of conventional battle but instead to a prolonged guerrilla war.

After the Second World War, Britain's overseas empire disintegrated. But over the next seventy years, empire came to define Britain and its people as never before. Drawing on a mass of new research, Riley tells a story of immigration and exclusion, social strife and cultural transformation. It is the story that best explains Britain today.