A Country Made by War: From the Revolution to Vietnam--The Story of America's Rise to Power

by Geoffrey Perret

Covering every major conflict since the Revolutionary War, the author of "America in the Twenties" explores how American society was shaped by war and how these conflicts were an integral part of America's technological development.

Genres: History, American History, Military Fiction, Military History, American Revolutionary War, Nonfiction

629 pages, Hardcover

Published May 13, 1989

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this years ago. It is still fresh on my mind. I look at money, transportation and our very landscape different now thanks to this book.

A very good read.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid history that strips away a lot of traditional whitewash; if the reader didn't already wonder what people were talking about when they called America a peace-loving nation, he/she will wonder just that after reading this.

Presented not in a spirit of judgment but rather a simple just-the-facts, "Look, this is how it is and this is what really happened" manner. An eye-opener that should be in the library of any serious student of American history or of geopolitics.

[Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great history of the United States. I read it several years ago but it is one of my favorites and on my list to read again.

[B. Gilani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perret's history of U.S. Presidents fulfilling Pentagon needs clearly demonstrates how USA's two major parties are simply two sides of the same coin.

Democrats and Republicans, many since the 1950s as ex-CIA, share one consistent principle: allegiance to U.S.-powered global empire. Both major parties march lockstep when the Pentagon wants to drop bombs on USA's global neighbors.

Perret well illustrates how there is no meaningful difference between the major parties when the war drums beat.

Today's pretext of Iran’s alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons is one more familiar lie. Just like Vietnam and many previous wars, hoodwinked Yanks are being dragged into war based on deliberate deception.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A history of the United States as told through conflicts and war from its founding through Vietnam. It's a bit dated but there's some interesting history in here, especially for the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Overall pretty meh and forgettable.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive account of the military history of the United States from 1789 to the mid-1980s. It's a bit unfortunate that it was published when it was, about a year before the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union: it'd be fascinating to see what Perret would make of the subsequent twenty years of American military history, which entailed a (difficult) transformation of the armed forces with further emphasis on special forces and the electronic battlefield, while further supporting Perret's view that the Uptonian unpreparedness hypothesis is wrong.

[Ian James]

Another list of imperial military and political failures disguised as modern day intellectualism...