For the Common Defense

Now fully updated and totally revised, this highly regarded classic remains the most comprehensive study available of Americas military history.Called the preeminent survey of American military history by Russell F. Weigley, Americas foremost military historian, For the Common Defense is an essential contribution to the field of military history. This carefully researched third edition provides the most complete and current history of United States defense policy and military institutions and the conduct of Americas wars. Without diminishing the value of its earlier editions, authors Allan R. Millett, Peter Maslowski, and William B. Feis provide a fresh perspective on the continuing issues that characterize national security policy. They have updated the work with new material covering nearly twenty years of scholarship, including the history of the American military experience in the Balkans and Somalia, analyzing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2001 to 2012, and providing two new chapters on the Vietnam War. For the Common Defense examines the nations pluralistic military institutions in both peace and war, the tangled civil-military relations that created the countrys commitment to civilian control of the military, the armed forces increasing nationalization and professionalization, and Americas growing reliance on sophisticated technologies spawned by the Industrial Revolution and the Computer and Information Ages. This edition is also a timely reminder that vigilance is indeed the price of liberty but that vigilance has always beenand continues to bea costly, complex, and contentious undertaking in a world that continually tests Americas willingness and ability to provide for the common defense.