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From the end of World War II to the conclusion of the Cold War and dissolution of the Soviet Union, over 2,300 emperors, kings, presidents, prime ministers, premiers, emirs, and other heads of states and governments have served their nations. All are included in this exhaustive reference work. Biographical information is provided for each leader along with an overview of his or her term in office. The data provide a thorough and exacting summary of the contributions of the men and women who have helped shape postwar history. ... Read more

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These five volumes concern one of the most important institutions in human history, the military, and the interactions of that institution with the greater society. Military systems "serve" nations; they may also "reflect" them. Soldiers are "enlisted"; they may also be said to "self-select." Military units have "missions"; they also have "interests". In an older, more traditional military history, while the second reflects a newer approach. Although each statement in the pairs may be said to be true, the former speak from the framework of the military sciences; the latter, from the framework of the social and behavioralsciences.
The military systems of our past differ from one another over time, in political origins, size, missions, and technological and tactical fashions, but to a great extent their historical experiences have been more noticeably similar than they were different. When we ask questions about the recruiting, training, or motivating of military systems, or of those systems' interactionswith civilian governments and with the greater society, as do the essays in these five volumes of reading on "The Military and Society" we are struck by the almost timeless patterns of continuity and similarity of experience.
In each of these volumes approximately half of the essays selected deal with the experience in the United States; the other half, with the experiences of other states and times, enabling the reader to engage in comparative analysis.

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Despite their insistence that the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops was the condition for the release of prisoners of war, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam took little action to account for American POWs at the end of the Vietnam War. Almost two decades would pass following the end of the war before significant internal political changes, shifting regional alignments, changing Western interests, Sino-Soviet rapprochement, a nonmilitary settlement of the Cambodian conflict, and the collapse of the Soviet Union would bring Hanoi to the point of recognizing the importance of mending its relationship with the West. From the Paris peace talks to the U.S. government's decision in 1994 to lift the trade embargo against Vietnam, Hanoi's policy on American MIAs and POWs is examined, with particular focus on the influence of individual decision-makers on the process and the ways the Vietnamese leadership arrived at their negotiating strategies. ... Read more

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A maximum reading experience for those involved with the War
This book unlocked hidden truths and falsehoods for me and broadened my knowledge of the Vietnamese policy concerning the American M.I.As.It was widely thought-provoking and educational.Anyone interested in the aftermath of the war will be glad they choose to read this book.It helps to illustrate the relationship between these two countries and the growth both have endured since that catastrophic era. ... Read more

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Ten original essays place the current debate over homosexual military service in its historical, theoretical, political, and policy context. They discuss parallels between policies on race on sexuality, the effects of Bill Clinton's 1994 Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, the threat of gay men to militar ... Read more

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An important scholarly contribution to this ongoing debate
"Gay Rights, Military Wrongs: Political Perspectives on Lesbians and Gays in the Military" is edited by Craig Rimmerman and features a preface by Margarethe Cammermeyer.This is a collection of articles that explore various facets of the issue of gay people serving in the armed forces.The titles of the ten articles give a good sense of the book's contents: "Race-ing and Gendering the Military Closet," by Francine D'Amico; "Echoes of Prejudice: The Debates Over Race and Sexuality in the Armed Forces," by David Ari Bianco; "Military Women: Casualties of the Armed Forces' War on Lesbians and Gay Men," by Michelle M. Benecke and Kirstin S. Dodge; "Promise Unfulfilled: Clinton's Failure to Overturn the Military Ban on Lesbians and Gays," by Craig A. Rimmerman; "President Clinton, Public Opinion, and Gays in the Military," by Clyde Wilcox and Robin M. Wolpert; "The Perils of Congressional Politics," by David M. Rayside; "Seeking Another Forum: The Courts and Lesbian and Gay Rights," by Richard Pacelle; "The Spectacle of Life and Death: Feminist and Lesbian/Gay Politics in the Military," by Mary Fainsod Katzenstein; "Conduct Unbecoming Continues: The First Year Under 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue,'" by C. Dixon Osburn and Michelle M. Benecke; and finally "Constructing the 'Other' Soldier: Gay Identity's Military Threat," by Gary L. Lehring.

This collection, which has a publication date of 1996, is full of noteworthy material.In her article, D'Amico looks at foreign militaries that have dropped the gay ban.Benecke and Dodge discuss some specific cases where "witch-hunt" tactics were used against suspected military lesbians.Also interesting is Pacelle's article, which looks at the role of the ACLU in gay rights cases and considers the significance of sodomy laws.Katzenstein considers the role of such individuals as Joseph Steffan and Margarethe Cammermeyer, both of whom challenged the ban on gay people in the military, as public figures.Lehring draws attention to such controversial suppressed studies as the 1957 Crittenden Report.But by far I found the most fascinating and powerful article to be David Ari Bianco's contribution.Using extensive, well-documented quotes, he explores the parallels between arguments used to justify the military's homosexual ban and past arguments used to justify racial segregation in the military.This article offers a particularly shocking look at old racist attitudes.Overall, I found the book to be interesting and still very relevant.The endnotes and bibliography offer interested readers further lines of investigation. ... Read more

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The Vietnam War remains one of the most contentious events in American history. This book is a collection of essays that seeks to examine the current state of scholarship on the war and its aftermath. It is divided into five sections which address American presidents and the war, the conduct of the war in the field, the impact of the Tet Offensive, the meaning of the war and its lasting legacies. The purpose of the collection is to present the most recent contributions to the continuing academic and scholarly dialogue about one of the most momentous historical events of the twentieth century. ... Read more

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2009 Reprint,updated,printed ""on demand""- Africa Para-Military Groups Handbook ... Read more

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US ""War on Terror"" Military Strategy Handbook ... Read more

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EU Defense and Military Cooperation Handbook ... Read more

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NATO-Russia Glossary of Contemporary Political and Military Terms Handbook ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

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An examination of the Roman armies of the late Republic and early Empire which looks at the logistical and operational techniques which made the armies' successes possible. First published in 1994. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Depends on what you want it for
Except for the fact I couldn't read this book at night because it put me to sleep, it actually was a good, informative book.Some of the information wasn't relevant to my search for answers, but that same information might be exactly what others are looking for.For example, some reviewers have complained that the book focuses too much time on modern British WWII examples of the same problems the Romans faced, but I found that interesting since I'm making a study of war, not just Roman war.

What I absolutely loved about this book is the details it went into: it had charts about how far did the various missile weapons reached, talked about how signals were passed along, how much food would need to be brought along, how many baggage carts, wagons, or mules needed to carry it, and the 'why' that's always stumped me: why an army could only move about 10-12 miles a day.The answer?The column was so long (when baggage carts, etc, were included) that the first part of the column would be reaching the new camp and starting to set up before the last of the column was even leaving the old camp!He crunches the numbers to 'prove' it.These were just the types of numbers I was looking for, so I consider this book a jewel since I haven't found them elsewhere (in my admittedly small research done so far).

Missing Marius?
Mr. Peddie knows his subject, the sources he sites and the detail are good. But, after a short time you start wondering if this book is about the Romans or the English?The first chapter on generalship and the last on siege warfare were the best. However, neglecting an innovative Roman commander like Marius left a whole in what could have been a fine line of continuity. Why was there no mention of the latters triumphs over the Cimbri, and Teutones? Had Marius lost Roman Civ. would have been swamped by the Germans five centuries earlier. Thus, the careers of Julius Caeser and Octavius Augustus would not have happened stunting the growth and possible existence of Western Civilization. I deduct one star for this illogical omission.

Is this about the British Army or the Roman Army?
Although this book has a great deal of valuable information about the nuts and bolts that held the Roman Army together, Peddie spends altogether too much time discussing the exploits of the British Army in WWII (particularly Field-Marshals Slim and Montgomery).As I read the book, I continually asked myself, "Is this about Slim and Montgomery or the Romans?"

Peddie made clear that the reason he discussed these problems was to show that the fundamental problems military commanders face have not changed in over 2000 years.However, as this book is geared towards readers with an interest in classical civilization, it should have focused on classical civilization and avoided the many needless references to the British Army in WWII.Perhaps in the United Kingdom this was useful but to a wider audience many of the examples were obscure at best.

Peddie would have been better served to compare and contrast the problems faced by the Roman Army during the various periods of Roman Civilization.For example, the Roman Army faced completely different problems during the Punic Wars than it did in the conquest of Gaul.

By nearly completely ignoring the Roman Army of the republican period, Peddie allows Julius Caeser to cast far too great of a shadow over the book.He would have been better served spending more time on Scipio Africanus and the founding of the Roman Army to show the reader how the army was built into a ruthlessly efficient war machine.

Also, a detailed discussion of some of the many Roman civil wars (such as 69 c.e. or Diocletian's reconquest) would have provided a great example of logistical, tactical and strategic problems faced by experienced and inexperienced Roman leaders alike.

This book was a great idea but it just didn't hit the mark.I would not recommend it to a serious student of Roman history.

A Clear Description of the Roman Army
It is some time since I read the book so my memory will be playing up,hence this will be rather vague. Essentially Peddie (a retired officer inthe British Army) illuminates one aspect of the Roman Army in each chapter.This ranges from the Roman equivalent of staff officers, battlefieldcommunications, marching camp techniques, siege warfare, equipment andother points. Some of the more interesting contents are his rebuffs of whatmany other military historians have perceived as weaknesses or want in theRoman Army. He clearly points out how everything served a valuable purposein the Roman Army and what many have assumed were missing were actuallythere in one form or another. He also draws surprising similarities betweenthe British campaign in Burma during WWII and the Roman way of war.All inall a most satisfying and clear read, though perhaps he digresses a bit toomuch on some occassions. ... Read more

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Painstaking Reconstruction of Jefferson's Library CatalogueSold to the Library of Congress in 1815 to replace volumes burned by the British during their occupation of Washington, Jefferson's library, comprising 6,700, volumes was one of the finest in the United States. The taxonomically arranged catalogue that accompanied these books was a remarkable work, one that offered great insight into the broad and systematic nature of Jefferson's mind. Unfortunately, it was lost. Using Jefferson's notes and the first edition of the Library of Congress catalogue, Gilreath and Wilson recreated Jefferson's original compilation. It contains an extensive collection of legal books arranged under the general heading "Philosophy." Beginning with the broad designations of "Ethics," "Moral Philosophy," "Law of Nature and Nations" and "Religion" Jefferson proceeds to such topics as "Common Law," "Maritime Law and "Foreign Law." It is valuable both for its insights into Jefferson's legal mind and as a guide to the titles one would want to include in a first-class American law library of the period.James Gilreath was an American history specialist at the Library of Congress rare book and special collections division.Douglas L. Wilson is George A. Lawrence Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus; Co-director, Lincoln Studies Center, Knox College Galesburg, Illinois.CONTENTSForewordIntroduction Selected Reading List Editorial NoteCatalogueI. Memory1. Antient History2. Modern History. Foreign3. Modern History. British4. Modern History. American5. History-Ecclesiastical6. Natural Philosophy7. Agriculture8. Chemistry9. Surgery10. Medicine 11. Animals. Anatomy12. Animals. Zoology13. Botany14. Mineralogy15. Occupations of Man. Technical ArtsII. Philosophy16. Ethics Moral Philosophy Law of Nature and Nations17. Religion18. Jurisprudence. Equity19. Jurisprudence. Common Law20. Jurisprudence. Law-Merchant21. Jurisprudence. Law-Maritime22. Jurisprudence. Law- Ecclesiastical23. Jurisprudence. Foreign Law24. Politics25. Mathematics. Pure. Arithematic26. Mathematics. Pure. Geometry27. Physico-Mathematics. Mechanics, Statics, Dynamics, Pneumatics, Phonics, Optics28. Astronomy29. GeographyIII. Fine Arts30. Architecture31. Gardening, Painting, Sculpture32. Music33. Poetry. Epic34. Romance, Tales-Fables35. Pastorals, Odes, Elegies36. Didactic37. Tragedy38. Comedy39. Dialogue-Epistolary40. Logic, Rhetoric, Orations41. Criticism. Theory42. Criticism. Bibliography43. Criticism. Languages44. PolygraphicalAppendixSome pages from the printed catalogue of 1815 ... Read more