A People's History of the U.S. Military: Ordinary Soldiers Reflect on Their Experience of War, from the American Revolution to Afghanistan

By Michael A. Bellesiles

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1595586288
• ISBN13: 9781595586285
• Release Date: September 2012
• Publisher: New Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.3"