Product Description

From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror, the American military has consistently beaten the odds. It's not luck.

America's armed services are under attack. From college campuses to the floor of the Senate, the Iraq war is portrayed as a quagmire, the Army is described as "broken," and our men and women in uniform are maligned as torturers. Hollywood keeps producing anti-war films, and the media celebrates liberal anti-military activists such as Cindy Sheehan.

These critics fail to understand the real nature of the American military. By seeing everything through the distorted lens of Vietnam — a war shrouded in harmful myths —they have lost sight of our country's real military record, and the factors that have enabled us to win with remarkable consistency, in situations even more dire than Iraq.

In America's Victories, Professor Larry Schweikart restores the truth about our amazing military heritage. Just as he did in his acclaimed previous book, A Patriot's History of the United States, Professor Schweikart cuts through the distortions passed along by academia and the media.

Why do Americans win wars, and why is it all but certain we will win the War on Terror? The biggest answer is that, far from being a cruel, bloodthirsty nation, eager to acquire other people's resources, we value the sanctity of life more than any military culture in history. This fundamental trait has led, over the last two centuries, to more humane treatment of prisoners, more daring POW rescues, and more effective operations than any comparable power.

The American military has also benefited from a combination of other virtues: the ability to learn from losses and mistakes; the unique autonomy entrusted to our troops; and, ironically, the constant improvements forced by anti-war protestors. When coupled with an unmatched free-market economy, America's fighting forces are fearsome.

America's Victories explains how this culture of victory has endured through the darkest moments of World War II, Korean, and Vietnam, and how it has helped our troops prove their critics wrong over and over, from the Battle of New Orleans under Andrew Jackson to the war in Afghanistan under Tommy Franks. Among the book's many revelations, you'll learn:

* How the military since the time of the Revolution has constituted an incredible "melting pot" of ethnicities and social classes, creating a culture blind to origins, but open to talent and desire.

* How the Higgins Boat (key to the success of D-Day) and the Jeep (the backbone vehicle of World War II) were created by American entrepreneurs, not central planners, and how our economic capacity buried the Axis powers.

* Why Abu Ghraib does NOT contradict our respect for individual human life, including our exceedingly humane treatment of prisoners of war, and how a better example of Americans' view of prisoners is the POW rescue at Canabantuan.

* How anti-war protestors, by emphasizing "body bags," have led our military inexorably toward more efficient operations that minimize casualties.

* How Americans (not the French) put into practice Napoleon's maxim that "every soldier carries a Marshal's baton in his knapsack," and made our front line troops the most autonomous fighters in history.

Professor Schweikart acknowledges America's blemishes and weak moments, but also exposes the deep-seated anti-American bias of the Left. Based on the lessons of history, he concludes that we will win the War on Terror, through a weapon more powerful than any bomb or rocket: our unique military culture.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #618110 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

National Review Online
Schweikart dares to tell the truth about America’s military heritage, showing why it can deservedly be called nothing short of glorious.

About the Author
Larry Schweikart is the co-author of A Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus's Great Discovery to the War on Terror, and is a professor of history at the University of Dayton. He has written more than 20 books on national defense, business, and financial history.

Customer Reviews

Another Excellent Book from Prof. Schweikart.
In tune with "A Patriot's History", this book covers a lot of revisionist history, socialist views, and takes on the media portrayal of how America conducts wars. It shows, point for point, exactly how the United States military has become the most lethal, yet most careful and humanitarian force the planet has ever seen and how the US military will continue to dominate the battlefield.

I'd recommend this book to anyone with even a cursory interest in US History.

I would also like to comment on some of the other reviews that claims the author seems to jump around or that the book lacks cohesion: The book appears to have been written with the idea that the reader already has a pretty good understanding of US History. While the novice scholar might have trouble seeing how the author's examples fit together, people that have studied history, have paid attention in the last 20 years, or at least read "Patriot's History" shouldn't have very much trouble in linking the examples and seeing the main points/arguments.

See: A Patriot's History of the United States : From Columbus's Great Discovery to the War on Terror

Interesting and intriguing premise marred by typos and factual errors
I purchased America's Victories: 'Why the U.S. Wins Wars and Will Win the War on Terror' by Larry Schweikart at the Hudson News outlet at the Continental terminal at Los Angeles International Airport just before my flight back to Houston from a brief vacation. I had been looking for Bill O'Reilley's 'Culture Warrior,' when I found this book. It was my perception that the positive nature (read pro-military and pro-Bush if you like) of the title and description that caused me to buy it.

Having now established myself as what many of you, including my mother, would call a militaristic right-winger who believes that Bush knows what he is doing, let me tell you why I think this book is one of the better discussions on why a) our military is the best in the world and b) why are country at its core is the same.

Reading this book and thinking it is nothing more than a neo-con manifesto is selling it short. True, it comes across a bit rah-rah cheerleading, but, if you have ever had the opportunity to watch and listen to the US military in garrison, this tone very much mimics them (or at least it mimics my son who is in his 13th year in the US Army). I do not know if the author set out to do that, but it came out that way.

The core concept in this book is that free-enterprise and personal freedoms are what makes our country succesful in wartime. This book does not set out to justify any war. Instead, it shows why ythe American military is good at what it does.

In eight, somewhat convulated and not of equal vailidity, treatises, Mr. Schweikart points out what allows a group of break-away colonies to avoid a centralized economy with a large standing military and become the major defender of freedom in the mid 20th Century. He then pushed those concepts forward to explain why military success will continue to accrue to our armed forces. Included in this doctrine is the notion of limiting casualties by equipping our forces with the best equipment - admittedly, this is sometimes after the opening of hostiliites - to ultimately win the conflict.

This capitalist, libertarian approach does not address the "rightness" of a conflict. In fact, I will stipulate the author's views are skewed toward a "my country, right or wrong" approach. But, I do not think the book should be ignored becasue oft hat.

One of the more interesting concepts was the author's comparison between what I will call "militant Shintoism" and "militant Islam," thus showing that WWII kamakazi attacks and the attacks of 9-11 were carried out by people of more-or-less the same mind set.

Other analyses - as mentioned - are a bit weak. His comment that one of the greater impacts of the US bomber offensive in 1942/1943 was that it kept German aircraft away from the Eastern Front, thus assuring Russian victory is a bit lame in my opinion. The aircraft were fighter interceptors and would not have been of great value in the east where fighter-bombers were needed.

The book also has - in my opinion - too many mis-spellings and factual mis-statements. I found this annoying, rather than damaging to the premise of this book. In fact, the trend towards these two problems seemed to accelerate as the book went on. For example, the multi-wheeled armored car used by the Army is the Stryker, not the Striker. To me, this indicates the author is either uniformed or left the spell- and fact-checking to a novice.

A Patriot speaks up about American Military History
Are you tired of Liberal professors telling you how bad America is, or are you tired of only hearing of our troops being shot on the news. Then this book is for you. It is a well written and researched book, as an examination of the notes will clearly show. However it lacks the boring read of a college text book, and on the contrary, it is actually fun to read. The maps are detailed and helpful, and the author does a great job of explaining just what the title says, "Why America Wins Wars." If you are interested in learning about American Military History, this is one of the best one volume books out there for you.