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A People's History of the U.S. Military
In A People's History of the U.S. Military, historian Michael A. Bellesiles draws from three centuries of soldiers' personal encounters with combat―through fascinating excerpts from letters, diaries, and memoirs, as well as audio recordings, film, and blogs―to capture the essence of the American military experience firsthand, from the American Revolution to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Military service can shatter and give meaning to lives; it is rarely a neutral encounter, and has contributed to a rich outpouring of personal testimony from the men and women who have literally placed their lives on the line. The often dramatic and always richly textured first-person accounts collected in this book cover a wide range of perspectives, from ardent patriots to disillusioned cynics; barely literate farm boys to urbane college graduates; scions of founding families to recent immigrants, enthusiasts, and dissenters; women disguising themselves as men in order to serve their country to African Americans fighting for their freedom through military service.
A work of great relevance and immediacy―as the nation grapples with the return of thousands of men and women from active military duty― A People's History of the U.S. Military will become a major new touchstone for our understanding of American military service.
Military service can shatter and give meaning to lives; it is rarely a neutral encounter, and has contributed to a rich outpouring of personal testimony from the men and women who have literally placed their lives on the line. The often dramatic and always richly textured first-person accounts collected in this book cover a wide range of perspectives, from ardent patriots to disillusioned cynics; barely literate farm boys to urbane college graduates; scions of founding families to recent immigrants, enthusiasts, and dissenters; women disguising themselves as men in order to serve their country to African Americans fighting for their freedom through military service.
A work of great relevance and immediacy―as the nation grapples with the return of thousands of men and women from active military duty― A People's History of the U.S. Military will become a major new touchstone for our understanding of American military service.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published September 11, 2012
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137 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 20, 2015
A different perspective on daily life in the front lines and camps. Journal entries and letters home show the misery and death, and the regret felt by the common soldier about war in general. Shows that disregard for the sacrifices of soldiers is nothing new in American history. Worth reading.
November 29, 2019
As an Army veteran, I found Michael A. Bellesiles' "A People's History of the U.S. Military" an interesting and informative read. Drawing on letters, diaries, and memoirs, the recollections of individual members of the military tell a story not only of their service experiences, but of the state of the country as well. The one thing that struck me while reading the book was the camaraderie that developed, the desire to do one's duty and not let the rest of one's unit down. If you have any interest in American military history, this is a book to seek out.
March 18, 2013
I actually found Mr. Bellesiles' narratives of historical context more compelling than some of the service members' writings. He did a splendid job of unearthing some geopolitical and social influences on US history that are rarely presented in traditional texts. Very enlightening.
July 7, 2021
amazon review
Bellesiles finally ends his pantomime of being a real historian
At least Bellesiles decided to drop any pretense of being a credible historian with this piece of agitprop. Like most pieces of revisionist history, this is a train wreck.
While he has learned to actually document his sources and ensure any crticial reading of his work will stand up to a superficial kind of scrutiny, he repeats the time honored tradition of revisionist by informing the reader of the bare minimum required to support his preferred narrative.
Take Bellesiles presentation of the demolition of the bridges in Tukson during the early days of the Korean war:
"Major General Gay ordered the Tuksong-dong bridge blown up despite the steady flow of refugees, leading to the date of hundreds of civilians... Gay felt no remorse for these deaths."
First the destruction of the bridges around the Naktong river were required for the staging of the defenses of the Pusan perimeter, the Naktong being a large physical obstacle to advancing North Korean Forces.
General Gay order that he alone had the final decision on the demolition of the bridges knowing the responsibility should be on him alone.
He ordered his forces to clear the bridge of refugees on three separate occasions and immediately after they were cleared by the 8th Cav, the refugees returned to the bridge to escape the oncoming KPA.
With night coming and seeing the advancing KPA forces Gay personally gave the order to demolish the bridge.
Gay’s decision has been described my most historians as wrenching and his demeanor as pale, solemn and remorseful.
That’s the kind of history you get from people like Bellesiles, devoid of context and any detail that doesn’t conform to his narrative and when the documented details of an event are present in the historical accounts of the events, like Gay’s decision to demolish the packed bridge and the emotional turmoil he felt, Bellesiles decides to just invent a key piece of information to suit his inventions.
Mike
----
much more troubling, was his book from 2000
Arming America - wikipedia
Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture is a discredited 2000 book by historian Michael A. Bellesiles about American gun culture, an expansion of a 1996 article he published in the Journal of American History.
Bellesiles, then a professor at Emory University, used fabricated research to argue that during the early period of US history, guns were uncommon during peacetime and that a culture of gun ownership did not arise until the mid-nineteenth century.
Although the book was initially awarded the prestigious Bancroft Prize, it later became the first work for which the prize was rescinded following a decision of Columbia University's Board of Trustees.
---
Emory investigation and resignation
As criticism increased and charges of scholarly misconduct were made, Emory University conducted an internal inquiry into Bellesiles's integrity, appointing an independent investigative committee composed of three leading academic historians from outside Emory.
Bellesiles failed to provide investigators with his research notes, claiming the notes were destroyed in a flood.
In the initial hardcover edition of the book, Bellesiles did not give the total number of probate records which he had investigated, but the following year, after the "flood," Bellesiles included in the paperback edition the claim that he had investigated 11,170 probate records.
"By his own account," writes Hoffer, "the flood had destroyed all but a few loose papers of his data. It was a mystery how supposedly lost original data could reappear to enable him to add the number of cases to the 2001 paperback edition, then disappear once again when the committee of inquiry sought the data from him."
One critic tried, unsuccessfully, to destroy penciled notes on yellow pads by submerging them in his bathtub, in order to prove that water damage would not have destroyed Bellesiles' notes.
The scholarly investigation confirmed that Bellesiles' work had serious flaws, calling into question both its quality and veracity.
The external report on Bellesiles concluded that "every aspect of his work in the probate records is deeply flawed" and called his statements in self-defense "prolix, confusing, evasive, and occasionally contradictory." It concluded that "his scholarly integrity is seriously in question."
Bellesiles disputed these findings, claiming to have followed all scholarly standards and to have corrected all errors of fact known to him.
Nevertheless, with his "reputation in tatters," Bellesiles issued a statement on October 25, 2002, announcing the resignation of his professorship at Emory by year's end.
In 2012 Bellesiles was working as a bartender while continuing to write history.
Bellesiles finally ends his pantomime of being a real historian
At least Bellesiles decided to drop any pretense of being a credible historian with this piece of agitprop. Like most pieces of revisionist history, this is a train wreck.
While he has learned to actually document his sources and ensure any crticial reading of his work will stand up to a superficial kind of scrutiny, he repeats the time honored tradition of revisionist by informing the reader of the bare minimum required to support his preferred narrative.
Take Bellesiles presentation of the demolition of the bridges in Tukson during the early days of the Korean war:
"Major General Gay ordered the Tuksong-dong bridge blown up despite the steady flow of refugees, leading to the date of hundreds of civilians... Gay felt no remorse for these deaths."
First the destruction of the bridges around the Naktong river were required for the staging of the defenses of the Pusan perimeter, the Naktong being a large physical obstacle to advancing North Korean Forces.
General Gay order that he alone had the final decision on the demolition of the bridges knowing the responsibility should be on him alone.
He ordered his forces to clear the bridge of refugees on three separate occasions and immediately after they were cleared by the 8th Cav, the refugees returned to the bridge to escape the oncoming KPA.
With night coming and seeing the advancing KPA forces Gay personally gave the order to demolish the bridge.
Gay’s decision has been described my most historians as wrenching and his demeanor as pale, solemn and remorseful.
That’s the kind of history you get from people like Bellesiles, devoid of context and any detail that doesn’t conform to his narrative and when the documented details of an event are present in the historical accounts of the events, like Gay’s decision to demolish the packed bridge and the emotional turmoil he felt, Bellesiles decides to just invent a key piece of information to suit his inventions.
Mike
----
much more troubling, was his book from 2000
Arming America - wikipedia
Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture is a discredited 2000 book by historian Michael A. Bellesiles about American gun culture, an expansion of a 1996 article he published in the Journal of American History.
Bellesiles, then a professor at Emory University, used fabricated research to argue that during the early period of US history, guns were uncommon during peacetime and that a culture of gun ownership did not arise until the mid-nineteenth century.
Although the book was initially awarded the prestigious Bancroft Prize, it later became the first work for which the prize was rescinded following a decision of Columbia University's Board of Trustees.
---
Emory investigation and resignation
As criticism increased and charges of scholarly misconduct were made, Emory University conducted an internal inquiry into Bellesiles's integrity, appointing an independent investigative committee composed of three leading academic historians from outside Emory.
Bellesiles failed to provide investigators with his research notes, claiming the notes were destroyed in a flood.
In the initial hardcover edition of the book, Bellesiles did not give the total number of probate records which he had investigated, but the following year, after the "flood," Bellesiles included in the paperback edition the claim that he had investigated 11,170 probate records.
"By his own account," writes Hoffer, "the flood had destroyed all but a few loose papers of his data. It was a mystery how supposedly lost original data could reappear to enable him to add the number of cases to the 2001 paperback edition, then disappear once again when the committee of inquiry sought the data from him."
One critic tried, unsuccessfully, to destroy penciled notes on yellow pads by submerging them in his bathtub, in order to prove that water damage would not have destroyed Bellesiles' notes.
The scholarly investigation confirmed that Bellesiles' work had serious flaws, calling into question both its quality and veracity.
The external report on Bellesiles concluded that "every aspect of his work in the probate records is deeply flawed" and called his statements in self-defense "prolix, confusing, evasive, and occasionally contradictory." It concluded that "his scholarly integrity is seriously in question."
Bellesiles disputed these findings, claiming to have followed all scholarly standards and to have corrected all errors of fact known to him.
Nevertheless, with his "reputation in tatters," Bellesiles issued a statement on October 25, 2002, announcing the resignation of his professorship at Emory by year's end.
In 2012 Bellesiles was working as a bartender while continuing to write history.
January 8, 2018
Mr. Bellesiles presents the history of the United States military through the eyes of the men and women who served their country. While the purpose of this book is noble, Bellesiles has a bad habit of injecting his own political opinions into the work, a habit that extends to all his other works and a trait not appreciated in supposedly unbiased historical reporting. Valuable for the primary source relating to personal military service, the book does not entirely conform to the standards of scholarly historical research. Interesting read nonetheless.
December 3, 2024
I've been impressed with this series so far, and this volume is quite good. Not to say that it's enjoyable. Much of it is horrific. A common theme of discarding the veterans (with one glaring exception) as soon as they come home.
February 22, 2019
Way more interesting than what the generals were up to.
November 23, 2021
the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Anyone who has actually served and been down range will really appreciate this book. It tells the real story. Read it and weep.
Anyone who has actually served and been down range will really appreciate this book. It tells the real story. Read it and weep.
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November 15, 2013355.00973 B442 2012
August 26, 2016
A great read for "uninitiated" military history readers.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews