Document Created: 24 August 2007
Air & Space Power Journal Fall 2007
Warriors and Scholars: A Modern War Reader edited by Peter B. Lane and Ronald E. Marcello, eds. University of North Texas Press (http://www
.unt.edu/untpress), P.O. Box 311336, Denton, Texas 76203-1336, 2005, 320 pages, $24.95 (hardcover).
Coeditors Peter Lane and Ronald Marcello, history professors at the University of North Texas, have compiled presentations made at eight of the university’s 24 annual Military History Seminars, held since 1983 to feed the interest of the north Texas community in military history. The scope of coverage loosely ranges from World War II to the current war in Iraq. The contributors include both professionals—including three historians and a psychologist—and war veterans, the latter authoring nine of the 13 articles. The veterans range from a corporal to a four-star general and an ambassador, so the personal perspectives are quite diverse.
The book is divided into sections of one to three articles. Because Europe and the Pacific receive separate treatment, over one-third of the book (five articles) deals with World War II. Other sections include, naturally, the early Cold War, the Korean War, Vietnam, the late Cold War, and terrorism. As with most compilations, the quality of the articles ranges from excellent to interesting—happily, not one is a dog. Little of the material is groundbreaking, but most of it is informative and interesting, particularly the personal presentations.
The piece by Robert Divine, the most prominent of the historians among the contributors and a giant in the profession for half a century, addresses the decision to use the bomb to end World War II. It is disappointing only because it mostly recapitulates standard material from a consensus-history perspective. It downplays the New Left in terpretation that became common in the late 1960s after hanging around the fringes since the onset of the Cold War.
My favorite among the participants, Col Henry Cole, uses a light touch to deal with his time as a rifleman in Korea. The perfect presenter, Cole is a draftee who left the service, got his education, rejoined the Army as an officer, earned a PhD, and published historical studies while serving as an adjunct professor at the Army War College. He also epitomizes the American warrior, at least in this article, taking it all as it comes with a touch of grace and an abundance of humor. Other articles are more serious but not necessarily less effective.
Because the book ranges through so many conflicts, cold and hot, coverage of any era is limited to only two or three articles. Rather than a survey of the topic, Warriors and Scholars works more as a collection of conference sessions, defining the conference topic in such a way as to encompass whatever papers are available. On a positive note, each article can stand alone, so the browsing reader need not worry about losing an overarching message.
Lest I seem overly negative, I should stress that this collection contains much that is interesting, even insightful. No matter how much we think we know, we can always learn more from those who were there. Each lived his own war, and each tale can only add to our knowledge of what it was like, a knowledge that can never reach a point of saturation. Those who approach the topic as professionals—detached and scholarly—also enhance our knowledge of the American military experience.
Warriors and Scholars is nicely put together, and the editors have invested a great deal of time and energy in making sure that all necessary explanatory footnotes are in place. The result is a satisfactory work if not one that heads every must-read list.
Dr. John H. Barnhill
Houston, Texas
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