In the American popular imaginary, the Second World War remains the prime example of American virtue—the country is typified by individual and collective heroism. Destructive Sublime complicates the oversimplified and commonly held view that film and video portray the war in ways that are conservative, both politically and aesthetically.  

Introduction: A Retrospective Look at the World War II Combat Genre
1    "No Faking Here": The New Authenticity of Wartime Combat Documentaries
2    The "Good War"? Style and Space in 1940s Combat Films
3    Rationalizing War: Reconstructions of World War II During the Cold War and Vietnam
4    Nostalgia for Combat: World War II at the End of Cinema
5    Simulating War on an Algorithmic Playground
Conclusion: A Bad War? The World War II Combat Genre Now 
Acknowledgments
Selected Bibliography
Index