Customer Reviews

CIV. in Peace, Soldier in War (PB) (Modern War Studies)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book is a broad and fairly comprehensive story of American citizen-soldiers -- the militia, the Minutemen, and the later National Guard -- from colonial times to 2000. The prose is quite readable -- indeed, for a work this large it's no mean feat to make this as readable as it is. The book's tone is upbeat throughout, and it works well as a military history: very clear on who they were, what their units were, where they went, what they did in battle. As a one-volume, comprehensive work, this book will serve well enough.

There are a few limitations that readers should bear in mind. The new foreword notes that the history only goes to 2000 and doesn't cover the enormous role played, post-9/11, by Reserve and Guard forces. Fair enough, since that history still isn't complete.

However, the book also doesn't provide much detail on the history of the Guard as an institution. There's not much on the Federalist Papers debates on the Militia, and the 1920 and 1933 National Defense Acts, critical to the modern Guard, need more than brief mention. Same for the 1986 Montgomery Amendment and 1990 Perpich Supreme Court case about the Amendment, a major turning point in the history of the Guard. (Note: the footnotes for the latter two cite the National Guard Association and the NGB's Annual Review, not original Congressional or Supreme Court sources). And the author could have said more about the Guard's encounters with domestic strife in Detroit in 1967 and Kent State in 1970.

Still, as a general military history of the Guard, and up to 2000, this work is a good and comprehensive introduction to a uniquely American combatant. Those who wish to go deeper into the Guard's history should go further, (see, e.g., Jerry Cooper's Rise of the National Guard: The Evolution of the American Militia, 1865-1920). Nonetheless, Civilian in Peace, Soldier in War is a good start on followers of the Guard's history, a history very critical to understanding its vital role now.