Edward M. Coffman (1929–2020)

Examining the army during peacetime is an unusual subject for a military history, as they tend to focus exclusively on times of war. And this book has some very interesting facts about the American army in it's first century plus; unfortunately, it's exceedingly dry. There are a few basic points made about the army in each chapter, and then the author uses first hand accounts to illustrate those points. Some of the first hand accounts are interesting, but there are a lot of them, and the show more prose around those accounts is very workmanlike. There's great information here, but it's a little bit of a slog to get through it. show less

Another outstanding book by Dr. Coffman. A good read for those interested in the history of the U. S. Army.