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Title: Maverick Marine: General Smedley D. Butler and the Contradictions of American Military History by Hans Schmidt ISBN: 0-8131-0957-4 Publisher: University Press of Kentucky Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Smedley Butler - All American
Comment: This book is about an American patriot and career Marine Corps officer who had the ability to see through the motivation of many of the U.S. military adventures in which he played a leading role. It would be interesting if he were still living and able to share his insights and convictions about our current military entanglements beyond our nation's borders. His views are reminiscent of the warnings our first President, George Washington, gave in his Farewell Address.
Rating: 4
Summary: Pros and Cons of Military Use
Comment:
It's somewhat ironic that someone as plain-spoken and hard-headed as Old Gimlet Eye would have a book written about him by an intellectual like Dr. Schmidt, but it says a lot about the relevance of Butler, his life in the Marines and in politics.
The book displays how Butler served as both a Marine in endless campaigns for the United States, and how he later came, not to renounce the military or the Marines, but the use of US Military forces overseas as, what he believed them to be, tools of Big Business, and not serving in either the interest of the United States Constitution or its citizens.
This book lead me to Butler's own small book "War is a Racket," which was highly influential in my own opinions about use of military force outside our country's borders. Butler would never consider himself an intellectual, but he had heaps of common sense - a quality which is sometimes lacking from those with sky-high IQs. Marines are sworn to the duty of protecting the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic, and they take this duty to heart. Once Butler realized that some of his fighting may not have served this interest, he became a very politically charged and controversial figure and speaker. How the hell could the former Commandant of the United States Marine Corps declare himself against war? Well, he didn't go against war, but advocated the prudent use of our military strength in the defense of the homeland. Sometimes he went a little far in supporting his points, but his intentions - to look out for both our country and those who serve it - are admirable traits in any career politician or general (there's little difference between the two once someone picks up that first star).
The other things you'll pick up from this book are that Butler was one tough son-of-a-gun. He's one of the most fearless fighting men this country has ever had. I hope they kept some DNA from this guy so we can clone him enough times to fill the manpower requirements of at least one Marine Expeditionary Unit.
I get the feeling that the author admired Butler's political career more than his military one. But, he successfully shows how Butler's intellect benefits from civilian life. In Butler's own book he said that, as a military man, he didn't have the capacity to question the ethics or motivations of his missions overseas. This is true, as the military's communal, self-sufficient environment isn't good for expanding one's intellectual sphere. Anyway, this is a good book about an American legend.
-- JJ Timmins
Rating: 4
Summary: Maverick Marine
Comment: The book has a scholarly flavor and is well researched. I felt the author, at times, utilized a somewhat stilted approach to describe the life of a plain spoken Marine. One who "set himself apart from his better-educated peers and aligned instead with uneducated, roughneck tendencies within the marines." We read on as the author qualifies General Butler as "a ranking major general manque'." He next challenges the reader with such descriptive terms as "unctious Babbitry," and "presidential apotheosis." Still, the book is informative, and will appeal to the serious reader of military history.
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Title: General Smedley Darlington Butler: The Letters of a Leatherneck, 1898-1931 by Anne Cipriano Venzon ISBN: 0275941418 Publisher: Praeger Publishers Pub. Date: 30 June, 1992 List Price(USD): $99.95 |
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Title: The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic by Chalmers Johnson ISBN: 0805070044 Publisher: Metropolitan Books Pub. Date: 13 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Full Spectrum Disorder: The Military in the New American Century by Stan Goff ISBN: 1932360123 Publisher: Soft Skull Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Once a Legend: Red Mike Edson of the Marine Raiders by Jon T. Hoffman ISBN: 089141732X Publisher: Presidio Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush by Kevin Phillips ISBN: 0670032646 Publisher: Viking Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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