Political History Of America's Wars Print [Hardcover]

Regina Axelrod (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 156802956X | ISBN-13: 978-1568029566 | Publication Date: September 21, 2006 | Edition: 1

"Political History of America's Wars" is the first reference work to explore the legislative, social, and policy aspects of America's major wars, rebellions, and insurrections. This new volume weaves together important primary source documents, informative biographies, and in-depth essays to provide coverage of the political antecedents, events, and consequences of America's wars, from the American Revolution to Operation Iraqi Freedom. "Political History of America's Wars" features: chronological chapters on each of America's approximately fifty wars, rebellions, and insurrections; in-depth essays discussing America's colonial period and the Indian Wars, the imperialist era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the modern era of America as global policeman, and more; primary source documents and materials on relevant legislation and congressional resolutions, executive orders, proclamations, court cases, and constitutional amendments; and, vital coverage of war-time events and trends including elections and political parties, public opinion, propaganda, media coverage, foreign relations, diplomacy, and treaties and alliances. A helpful glossary, a comprehensive table of laws and treaties, and an index make "Political History of America's Wars" a valuable research tool that will serve researchers in political science, U.S. history, sociology, journalism, geography, and more.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up—This comprehensive reference source is based on other publications by Axelrod, including America's Wars (Wiley, 2002; o.p.); American Treaties and Alliances (CQ, 2000); Chronicle of the Indian Wars: From Colonial Times to Wounded Knee (Alpha, 1990); My Brother's Face: Portraits of the Civil War (Chronicle, 1993); and The Macmillan Dictionary of Military Biography (1997). It focuses on the legislation, social conditions, and policies that affected the major wars and smaller rebellions and insurrections, beginning with the American Revolution and ending with the War on Terrorism and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The book opens with an extensive table of contents, chronological listings of important historical documents and of the 71 biographical entries, and an author's preface. Chronological chapters discuss each war and include background information, a summary of what happened over the course of the conflict, a timetable of events, important documents, and biographies of notable people. The inclusion of political and public opinions, propaganda, media coverage, foreign relations, diplomacy, treaties and alliances, and the consequences of each conflict gives readers multiple ways to evaluate the history presented. A bibliography concludes each chapter, and an extensive index completes the volume. Conflicts can be researched individually, or the work could be used as a textbook by advanced high school students.—Ann Joslin, Fort LeBoef School District, Waterford, PA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Written by prolific historian Axelrod, this unique and well-designed reference source "provides a survey of the most significant American wars, less from the point of view of the military course of these conflicts than from that of the politics associated with them." Covering approximately 50 conflicts, the book is arranged into 48 chronological chapters, three of which ("Introduction to the Indian Wars," "Reconstruction," "The United States as Peacemaker") offer additional background, as well as the context and themes, for each particular group of conflicts. Chapters vary in size according to historical significance and range from 4 pages for small insurrections such as the Moro Wars and U.S. intervention in Somalia to 40 pages for World War II. Many Indian wars and rebellions are included, such as Little Turtle's War, the Cheyenne-Arapaho War, the Boxer Rebellion, and the Whiskey Rebellion, as well as interventions in Lebanon, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Each chapter begins with a concise "at issue" statement followed by a military overview and an excellent chronology. Chapters include numerous sidebars containing pertinent legislation, court decisions, congressional resolutions, executive orders, proclamations, biographies, and more. The book contains few illustrations and no maps.

As an example, the chapter on "The American Revolution" is 40 concisely organized double-column pages including sidebar biographies of George Washington, Charles Cornwallis, and George III as well as sidebars referencing primary documents such as the Proclamation of 1763, the Virginia Resolves of 1765, and many others. All information in sidebars is indexed. The chapter's simple and readable narrative leaves few pertinent topics unexplored. The book is appealing, well indexed, and easily accessible.The only comprehensive chronological survey of its type available, it is recommended for academic and public libraries. Charles Becker
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: CQ Press; 1 edition (September 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156802956X
• ISBN-13: 978-1568029566
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,956,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Details over 200 years of America's involvement, June 17, 2007

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Political History Of America's Wars Print (Hardcover)

Political History of America's Wars details over 200 years of America's involvement in major wars and rebellions from the American Revolution to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Having the entire history under one cover allows for a fine narrative coverage blending primary source documents and biographies with political antecedents, events, and conflict consequences. Legislation, congressional resolutions, executive orders, court cases and more provide fine details on each conflict, biographies of notable individuals, and more. College-level collections strong in American history and political science need this: the political references are invaluable to have under one cover.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch