Adrian R. Lewis
is Associate Professor of History and Department Chair at the
University of North Texas, Denton. He has taught at the
Naval War College and at West Point, and is a retired United
States Army Major. He is the author of Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory.
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Description:
The American Culture of War presents a sweeping critical examination of every major American
war since 1941: World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the first and second Persian Gulf wars. As he carefully
considers the myriad cultural forces that surrounded each military engagement, Adrian R. Lewis offers an
original, provocative look at the motives people and governments used to wage war, the discord among military
personnel, the flawed political policies that guided military strategy, and the civilian perceptions that
characterized each conflict. With each chapter similarly structured to allow the reader to draw
parallels between
wars, Lewis deftly traces the evolution of U.S. military strategy since the Second World War. Timely, incisive,
and comprehensive, The American Culture of War is a unique and invaluable survey of over sixty years
of American military History.
"The American Culture of War is a first-rate study that asks big questions and provides answers
that are of value to American and non-American scholars alike. It makes a major contribution to the developing
cultural approach to military history."
-Jeremy Black, Professor of History, University of Exeter
"Lewis combines a powerful argument with a detailed critique
of U.S. strategy since World War II as overly dependent on
technology, and shows how these have eroded two traditional
American moral concepts: the equal value of every human
life and the universal civic responsibility to defend the
country."
-Dennis Showalter, Professor of History, Colorado College
"The American Culture of War is a striking and magisterial tour de force. Combining the hard-headed
realism and moral indignation of a professional soldier with the keen analytical outlook of a trained historian, Adrian
Lewis exposes the political in-fighting, intellectual follies, cultural arrogance, media ignorance, inter-service rivalries,
and changes in the national mood that have repeatedly caused the United States to ware its most recent wars in ways that play
to its weaknesses rather than to its strengths. The American Culture of War should be mandatory reading for policy
makers, military leaders, students of military history, and all Americans with the slightest interest in national security."
-Gregory J.W. Urwin, Professor of History and Associate Director, Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy,
Temple University
Available in the UNT Bookstore,
along with all faculty publications.
(940) 565-3185
Also Available from Amazon
ISBN# 0-415-97975-7 |
