Table of Contents

Introduction

1. War, Culture, and Genes

2. Traditional American Thinking About the Conduct of War

3. The Legacy of World War II

4. Truman and the Evolution of National Military Strategy and Doctrine

5. The Korean War

6. The Korean War: The Final Phases, 1951–1953

7. Eisenhower and Massive Retaliation

8. Civil-Military Relations and the National Military Command Structure

9. Limited War

10. The Vietnam War

11. The Vietnam War: The Final Phases, 1967–1975

12. The Persian Gulf War

13. The Persian Gulf War: Military Victory and Political Failure

14. The Second Persian Gulf War and the New American Way of War

15. The Second Persian Gulf War: The Unnecessary War

16. The New American Citizenship

About the Author

Adrian Lewis is Associate Professor of History and Department Chair at the University of North Texas. 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.

Reviews

'An outstanding volume that is sure to be of interest to faculty and cadets, as well as historians and national security professionals far and wide.' – Lance Betros, Colonel, US Army '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, University of Exeter, UK 'Lewis combines a powerful argument with a detailed critique of U.S. strategy since World War II as overly dependant 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, Colorado College, USA '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 wage its most recent wars in ways that play to its weaknesses rather than 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, Temple University, USA