The Modern American Military 1st Edition

by David M. Kennedy (Editor)

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ISBN-13: 978-0199895946

ISBN-10: 0199895945

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The advent of the all-volunteer force and the evolving nature of modern warfare have transformed our military, changing it in serious if subtle ways that few Americans are aware of. Edited by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David M. Kennedy, this stimulating volume brings together insights
from a remarkable group of scholars, who shed important new light on the changes effecting today's armed forces.

Beginning with a Foreword by former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry, the contributors take an historical approach as they explore the ever-changing strategic, political, and fiscal contexts in which the armed forces are trained and deployed, and the constantly shifting objectives that they are
tasked to achieve in the post-9/11 environment. They also offer strong points of view. Lawrence Freedman, for instance, takes the leadership to task for uncritically embracing the high-tech Revolution in Military Affairs when "conventional" warfare seems increasingly unlikely. And eminent
psychiatrist Jonathan Shay warns that the post-battle effects of what he terms "moral wounds" currently receive inadequate attention from the military and the medical profession. Perhaps most troubling, Karl Eikenberry raises the issue of the "political ownership" of the military in an era of
all-volunteer service, citing the argument that, absent the political protest common to the draft era, government decision-makers felt free to carry out military operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Andrew Bacevich goes further, writing that "it's no longer our army; it hasn't been for years;
it's theirs [the government's] and they intend to keep it."

Looking at such issues as who serves and why, the impact of non-uniformed "contractors" in the war zone, and the growing role of women in combat, this volume brings together leading thinkers who illuminate the American military at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Academic yet accessible, this volume offers thoughtful and occasionally disturbing insights into the workings of the world's most powerful war machine." --Publishers Weekly

"The world has changed dramatically for the American military in recent years. The volunteer army, re-examined in this book, has seen increased media scrutiny, questions arising from the use of contractors in war zones, and-of course-new technologies like remotely piloted aircraft that have
dramatically changed the nature of warfare. And yet there are few scholarly works that look comprehensively at the challenges that the armed forces face and the responses that are required. The thoughtful essays in David Kennedy's new book explore this uniquely American institution both through
the lens of history and current circumstances. We owe it to our servicemen and women and to those who command them to examine critically and debate the state of military affairs. This book is a significant contribution to that cause."-Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State

"The Modern American Military is essential reading. It brightly illuminates how profoundly the armed services have changed with the advent of new enemies, new weapons, new doctrines and a new generation of volunteer forces. Equally important, it insightfully shows how those changes are reshaping the
critical relationship between the American military and American society."-Philip Taubman, former New York Times Washington bureau chief, consulting professor at Stanford University and author of The Partnership, Five Cold Warriors and Their Quest to Ban the Bomb

"A collection of incisive and controversial essays covering matters as diverse - and essential - as military culture and technology, contracting and doctrine, this is a book for anyone interested in the armed forces of what remains the most powerful country on earth."-Eliot A. Cohen, Robert E.
Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

About the Author

David M. Kennedy is the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History at Stanford University and the Director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West. He won the Bancroft Prize for Birth Control in America: The Career of Margaret Sanger, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Over Here: The
First World War and American Society, and won the Pulitzer Prize for History for Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945. He is also the editor of the renowned Oxford History of the United States.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (June 7, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199895945
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199895946
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.4 x 1 x 6.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #158,909 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #55 in Political History (Books)
- #76 in Military History (Books)
- #319 in National & International Security (Books)

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James McKenna

Uneven

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2013

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I chose this book for an undergraduate seminar on the relationship between the military and civilian society. Perry's Foreword is a bit too soft, the chapter on Casualties could have been longer. The chapter on contractors left out some key issues. All in all, though, I'm happy with the choice.

4 people found this helpful

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James O. Clifford

Book Fires a Blank

Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2013

Not what I expected. Kennedy is a respected historian so I thought he wrote the book, which turned out to be a collection of essays, mainly by professors. I think there was one veteran in the lot. Some of the contributions, particularly the one on women in the military, are so politically correct they struck me as being written by commissars.
Have all the good military writers gone over the hill? There is Bing West, but he is a military writer's writer. Ricks? Seems to me, he,like many of the authors here, is most concerned about a military subculture, a subject dealt with much better in a 1970s book called "The Straw Giant." Even Rachel Maddow's "The Drift" was superior on that matter.
Like Ricks and Maddow, the contributors to "The Modern American Military" are uneasy about the armed forces not reflecting America's wider culture. True enough and thank God for that. None of them seem to be very concerned about Americans inability to view their shoes or stay committed to any ideal. They never ask key questions, such as wondering if a country that can't have a draft is worth defending.

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