Military Base Closure: Reference Handbook, A

Description: Individual volumes shed light on key contemporary military, strategic, and security issues that are of current interest. Each book in the series is truly a 'library in a book,' including both a narrative summary treatment of the issue and reference features such as a chronology, biographies, and relevant primary sources. The series is designed expressly to provide a quick, in-depth examination and current perspectives on controversial and in-the-news military, strategic, and security issues - both at home and around the world. It is sure to stimulate critical thinking, while providing ready-reference answers, primary documents, and 'next stops' for student research and for the interested general reader. Between 1988 and 1995, the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission closed down 97 bases and realigned over 350 others. A hot button topic in the military field, base-closings is an important issue that affects not only soldiers, but ordinary citizens as well. Due to their massive economic significance for local and regional communities, military bases impact thousands of people, and thus bring into play sometimes - conflicting political interests at the local, state, and national levels. This reference work investigates the politics and key political figures involved in base-closing decisions, and considers various reasons why bases were and will be closed down. An overview of the U.S. military base infrastructure as well as primary documents are included to help students understand the BRAC Commission process between 1988-2005. This comprehensive handbook is the only complete reference guide to military base closings. Author Biography: DAVID S. SORENSON has taught national security and military affairs for over 25 years at Denison University, the Mershon Center at Ohio State University, and at the U.S. Air War College. He is the author of Shutting Down the Cold War: The Politics of Military Base Closure (1998).