Customer Reviews

Encyclopedia of United States Army Insignia and Uniforms

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

 

 

This book would primarily appeal to collectors. It is extensive in its coverage of the history of insignias and it also is liberally illustrated. A definite must have for the collector.

As an avid collector of US Army cloth insignia from WWI to modern day,I had failed to do any research on branch insignia preferring the more colourful shoulder sleeve insignia.However as with all collecting one finds themselves the need for more information on all types of insignia worn on the uniform.This masterpiece of work fills this for all collectors of US Army insignia.This is a must have and an indispencible tool for the serious collector/historian.I personally rank William K Emerson's book along side that of Shelby L Stanton's order's of battle books for the amount of time, energy and finally the monumentous task of gathering and putting all this information together in one single volume. To this I must add the name of J Duncan Campbell listed in the preface.

I have been acquainted with the author for many years so when I heard this work was to be published I looked forward to acquiring it.
As I was scheduled to retire in January 1998, I went to the planners of my party and told them rather than perhaps giving me an inappropriate, useless or redundant gift (After all I have been collecting books for forty five years.) I would like a gift certificate from a book store. Well, I got enough to get this and a fine thing it is too.
Every place I looked where I knew somthing about the subject, especially the post Korea-pre Vietnam Cold War when I served, I had no quarrel with what Bill said. So you can depend on the nineteenth century material which is just as well researched.
This book is much improved by not just being a catalog of insignia but identifies the clothing upon which it was worn, thus facilitating its use for identification.
Every major research library should have this in its collection along with his other mighty work Chevrons.

I have to say this book has an extremely wide and indepth range of coverage in uniforms and insignia. The photos are entirely black and white but quite detailed and are well explained for each photo ( figure ) in side tabs. Most of the book is grouped by jobs or specialty such as Cavalry, Inspector General, Coastal Artillery, General Staff etc and collar brass and insiginia relating to said specialty and the changes made over the years.. There is much switching required from the index in the back to the page refered to if your looking for item specific like Rank, Badge or helmet eagles since the items are listed through out the book and chapters. The size is large and there can be nothing taken away from the enormous amounts of information that has been gathered into one Book. It Covers early militaria through modern times. If your looking for a " I dont like to read" type book and need full of color pictures but little else then this isnt for you. If you are a beginner collector, a Militaria history buff or an advanced collector... you need this book in your library collection.

This is a great reference book if you are a Militaria collector.