Customer Reviews

West Point: Two Centuries of Honor and Tradition

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After paying a lot of money for this, I found it unremarkable, considering the names involved. And, to me, it represents something wrong -- too many people using a national icon's celebrations for personal profit. I wish this book had been done by people truly celebrating West Point by volunteering their time and talents. It probably would have been better. Because of that, along with its being a little too big, boring, glitzy, and [costly], I came away with mixed feelings about it.

Really didn't grab me. Maybe its just me, but, considering all the hype, the essays never captivated me. I was disappointed. And, it is expensive. I have to say, I would not recommend this book.

In my opinion, this was little more than a glorified admissions department catalogue. A big public relations brochure for West Point, only you have to pay for it. Not what I expected. Sorry, I do not recommend it. I was disappointed.

There were more than enough books like this even before, so the "makers of leaders" story gets a bit tiresome, even if there are good reasons to learn about West Point. I have the impression they utilized well-known "names", who are not all that interested in West Point, to write what I thought were boring essays (except for Schwartzkopf's). But, the biggest impression I carry away from this book is that it has pretty pictures, and is colorful. If they were the goals, then they succeeded. Among the great piles of books and videos that have been produced to observe West Point's bicentennial, I'm sure this picture book will be popular, especially because they used H. Norman Schwarzkopf's name, even though he had little to do with the book. I hope all the colorful books and videos do well, but I suspect this book and the others will mean more to people who didn't themselves attend the Academy. Those of us who did, and those who have been friends of the Academy, will find little that's new. And, despite the Academy's official cooperation with this production, those who attended and the faithful friends may find the book a bit too, well let me just say, "glossy" for their tastes.

For West Point fans interested in its bicentennial, I recommend "West Point: Two Centuries.." by Robert Cowley. It is like the other lovely books, "West Point: The First 200 Years", "West Point: The Bicentennial Book", and "The Spirit of West Point" in that it is a coffee table book with great pictures, except it has a collection of essays written by well-known highly paid writers. For both the general population and West Point fans, I also recommend "West Point: Character Leadership Education...Thomas Jefferson" by Norman Thomas Remick. It is an easy historical and philosophical cosmology of the USA and West Point that everyone would do well to know, including the world of Islam.

This coffee table book was okay, no better or no worse than the others that were put together for West Point's bicentennial. But, I think pictures, whether beautiful or just okay, are substantially empty momentos -- not momentos at all -- with little in the way of meaning or value. There is no substitute for the real thing. I recommend that you personally visit West Point and take the tour --- and take pictures with you in them.

Collaboratively compiled by Robert Cowley and Thomas Guinzburg, featuring an introduction by General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, and superbly enhanced with contributions from a number of noted historians and writers including Stephen Ambrose, William F. Buckley Jr., David Halberstam, Arthur Miller, George Plimpton, Tom Wicker, and Cecilia Holland, West Point: Two Centuries Of Honor And Tradition is an illustrated bicentennial celebration of the endurance and legacy of the United States Military Academy of West Point. Full-color photographs on nearly every page embellish this fascinating, informative, and very highly recommended history of America's oldest (and arguably most prestigious) military academy.

As a graduate, I found this book compelling and entertaining. It should be issued to all cadets upon graduation. I have so many people ask me about my experiences at West Point and its history. I now have a tool to help in my explanantion. How did all these writers come together? Do we have to wait another 200 years for the next issue? I hope not.

This book captures the spirit of this unique American institution, and tells stories of the many men and women who have passed through West Point's granite halls over the past two centuries. It includes compelling profiles of George Armstrong Custer, Edgar Allen Poe, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, George S. Patton, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, Norman Schwartzkopf and many other military figures great and small.

This is much more than a coffee-table book. The writing is comprehensive, incisive and personal. Chapters and essays are provided by Stephen E. Ambrose, David Halberstam, Arthur Miller, George Plimpton, Tom Wicker and other distinguished writers. They provide illuminating perspectives about the West Point which are fresh and unvarnished. The book includes hundreds of beautiful color images - photographs, paintings, posters, magazine covers, pop culture icons and historical objects - which vividly bring to life the events and people of "The Long Grey Line."

A great deal of effort has gone into this book. It clearly shows how the U.S. Military Academy has had a profound impact on America, not only by providing leaders for its wars. Perhaps surprisingly, the school's graduates have gone on to leadership roles in every corner of American life, including government, business, sports, engineering, architecture, space exploration and the arts.

This is a great book to own and a real treasure. I'll read in it large and small doses for many years to come.

In other times, "duty,honor,country" may have seemed a cliche from an era long past, but those qualities are to be highly valued, and praised, in our current circumstances. The fine writers, and the people they profile, remind us that we really do owe our freedom to genuinely brave people who sincerely live by this code.

Cliche or not, it is a welcome message in a troubled time. I recommend the book.