With Shield and Sword: American Military Affairs, Colonial Times to the Present

by Warren W. Hassler Jr.

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813816270
• ISBN13: 9780813816272
• Release Date: December 1982
• Publisher: Iowa State Press
• Length: 462 Pages

Customer Reviews

A First Class Overview of American Military Policy

While over 25 years old now, Warren Hassler's With Shield and Sword is still a valuable and excellent look at United States military policies from Colonial Times through the Vietnam War. While this may seem like a dry and totally difficult read, nothing could be further from the truth, for even the person with only a casual interest in US military history will enjoy reading this work. Each chapter reads easily. The discussions are both lively and highly informative. The work was written late in Warren Hassler's career at Penn State University as a supplement to course lectures. Reading this work will give you an incite into the interesting lectures you would have received had you signed up for this advanced history course. Warren Hassler takes you through military policy by looking at all sides: the military, Congress, the Executive, and the various departments of the government and is thoroughly documented with notes and 25 pages of bibliographical source materials. While a work of this type could easily get bogged down in the myriad of details, this work doesn't. It gives you a good snapshot concise overview of the situation, politics and people of the times. I have both known and worked with Warren Hassler closely and was privileged to have received a personalized copy of this work. If you are interested in the bigger picture, more than just the same old generals and battles, then reading this work will be time well spent. Hopefully you will be able to find it in a local university library with a strong history department or purchase a copy for your collection. It is well worth the new book price.