Customer Reviews

The United States Marines: A History

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

 

 

This is the 3rd edition of General Simmons' classic account of the United States Marine Corps. It is very readable and traces the complete history of the Corps. This edition brings his general history up-to-date and covers the Persian Gulf War and other recent conflicts. I highly recommended it.

BGen Simmons' excellent general history of the Marine Corps is just that a general history. I note with distain the comments from the Alexandria reader. Clearly they don't understand the book's purpose and intended audience. It tells the tale. It doesn't twist tails with analyis.

I knew Ed Simmons for more than 30 years. We moved from Philadelphia, to Virginia so we didn't get to see Ed much more than once or twice a year. When this book cqme out, I bought it-but never got Ed to autograph it...then he died. He was a great guy. When my daughter's book came out, Ed had her sign his copy at a bookstore. My grandson wants to join the Corps and I wanted him to read of the rich traditions in the words of Ed Simmons, but I wanted a signed copy! Amazon had one. It was signed but not to me or Jake. Nonetheless, Jake has a book that Ed held.

I used this book for a report I wrote on the Marine Corps and it truly gives a detailed account of the Marine Corps and provides an interesting way of giving you the information. Everything is clearly written and the book is also broken into subtopics, which is very useful.

Not a good historical book at all. It jumps from fact to fact without detail. Boring boring boring. Better to read bios or books on specific events.

Gen Simmons has written a good, but very superficial history of the Marine Corps. If you know nothing of the service's history, this provides a good overview. But if you are interested in anything but a generic overview, based solely on secondary sources, and lacking any critical analysis, than move on to something else.