that kind of faith.rnThe question that Ryan gets at—whyrndo men sacrifice themselves?—is somethingrnmore important than jingoism,rnsomething more elemental than the oftenrnsuperficial patriotic gore of filmdom,rnand something today’s conservatives arerntrying hard to forget, which just may bernwhy we are losing our country. Thernfilm’s final, bloody sequence is reminiscentrnof Sam Peckinpah’s The WildrnBunch. Ryan’s GIs are faced with a difficultrnmoral situation—again, somethingrntoday’s conservatives often have troublernwith—as they question the sense of thernmission they are on. Why risk eightrnlives—six of which will be lost—to savernone, and why this one? (“I have a motherrntoo,” quips one of Ryan’s dogfaces.)rnUlfimately, Ryan is about redemptionrnand brotherhood. Like Peckinpah’s outlaws,rnthe men oiRyan have killed much,rnoften instinctively, without thinking.rnTom Hanks’ Captain Miller reflects thatrnhe has necessarily rationalized killing asrna means of saving lives: “Our objective isrnto win the war,” snaps Miller, and, by implication,rnto end it. But “every man I’vernkilled” takes “me further away” fromrnhome, from humanity. Ryan must bernsaved, says Tom Sizemore’s SergeantrnHorvath, because we are here and it mayrnbe “the one decent thing”—like the outlaws’rndecision to save the captured Angelrneven if they must all die trying—to comernout of this war. In the end, Ryan’s GIsrnfight for redemption (an idea that Christiansrnshould see as positive; all of us, evenrnheroes, who have taken on the deadlyrnburden of duty, are in need of grace)rnand brotherhood. Once the decision isrnmade—Ryan must be saved—they willrnfight to the end. Loyalty, friendship, kinship,rnthe bonds of shared experience —rnthese are the causes conservatives oncernrallied to, the only causes that are worthrnthe hell fire of war. Unlike stock-marketrnquotes, they cannot be rationalized orrncalculated. They have little to do withrnthe “national interests” of the state.rnThere is no cost-benefit analysis that canrnexplain the Alamo or Omaha Beach.rnIf mainstream conservatives can benefitrnfrom reflections on Ryan’s moral conundrums,rnliberals, who seem to take joyrnin spitting on Middle America, shouldrnpause a moment to reflect on the legacyrnof the Omaha Beach generation. Thernmen who stormed the beaches werernwhite, mostly Christians, from workingrnor middle class backgrounds. They defeatedrnHitler as well as the “supermen”rnfanatics of the SS, and liberated therndeath camps. Their collective consciencernreacted to blacks’ pleas for decencyrnat home. Their culture made thisrncountry prosperous, and the Constitutionrnis written in their language. If thernliberals and professional victims persistrnin calling us, the sons and daughters ofrnthat generation, “fascists” or “brownshirts”rn(as one liberal senator called PatrnBuchanan’s backers during the 1996rncampaign), then they should be forewarned:rnSome of us are not prepared tornsee the sacrifice of a generation squandered,rnnor the country they built givenrnaway without a fight. War is hell.rnWayne Allensworth, who writes fromrnPurcellville, Virginia, is the author ofrnThe Russian Question: Nationalism,rnModernization, and Post-CommunistrnRussia (Rowman & Littlefield).rnA Defender ofrnSouthern ConservatismrnM. E. Bradford and His AchievementsrnEdited with an Introductionrnby Clyde N. WilsonrnA Defender of Southern Conservatism is both a memorial and anrnintroduction to the life and career of M. E. Bradford. By examiningrnhis contributions to literary criticism, southern and Americanrnconstitutional history, rhetoric, and even his controversial writingsrnon Abraham Lincoln, the authors of these essays afford a fascinatingrnevaluation of this unique and important thinker.rn208 pages, $29.95rnContentsrnThe Education of Mel Bradford:rnThe Vanderbilt Yearsrnby Thomas H. LandessrnWalking the Levee with Mel Bradfordrnby James McClellanrnThe Man of Letters and the Faithful Heartrnby Benjamin B. AlexanderrnM. E. Bradford and the Moral Imaginationrnby Mark Royden WinchellrnM. E. Bradford’s Historical Visionrnby Elizabeth Fox-Genovesernand Eugene D. GenovesernAll the Precious Things: M. E. Bradfordrnand the Agrarian Traditionrnby Mark B. MalvasirnM. E. Bradford’s Constitutional Theory:rnA Southern Conservative’srnAffirmation of the Rule of Lawrnby Marshall L DeRosarnThe Southern Cato in an Empire of Lettersrnby Thomas FlemingrnAn M. E. Bradford Checklistrnby Alan CornettrnUniversity of Missouri Press 2910 LeMone Boulevard Columbia, MO 65201rn1-800-828-1894 http://www.system.missouri.edu/upressrn48/CHRONICLESrnrnrn