Duty, Honor, Country: A History of West Point
by Stephen E. Ambrose
List Price:
Our Price: $13.39
You Save: $11.61 (46%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.25 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Stephen E. AmbroseEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-12-01
ISBN: 0801862930
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Book Reviews of Duty, Honor, Country: A History of West Point
Book Review: Great Book
Summary: 5 Stars
Ambrose complied a great deal of information into a concise, readable, text that will give the reader a deeper insight into the country's most important military institution.
Summary of Duty, Honor, Country: A History of West Point
This new paperback edition of Stephen E. Ambrose's highly regarded history of the United States Military Academy features the original foreword by Dwight D. Eisenhower and a new afterword by former West Point superintendent Andrew J. Goodpaster.
Duty, Honor, Country: the motto of the United States Military Academy has resounded for more than 200 years. Stephen Ambrose charts the history of West Point from its origins in the Revolutionary War--when students attached to engineering and artillery regiments studied the rudiments of strategy, but mostly came and went as they pleased--to the academy's time of crisis during the Vietnam War. Ambrose's narrative centers on West Point's superintendents, the Army officers who emphasized both tradition and innovation over the years--men such as Sylvanus Thayer, who commanded from 1817 to 1833 and who introduced customs that are still observed today; and Douglas MacArthur, who joined personal flamboyance with a deep-seated commitment to martial, academic, and athletic excellence. (Among MacArthur's other contributions was his codification of the "honor system," a set of self-policing regulations that distinguishes West Point from any other nation's military colleges.) Ambrose does not gloss over the academy's less exalted moments, especially the frictions brought on by the Civil War, when many Northerners accused West Point as a whole of being proslavery. Writing in an afterword that brings the history of the academy to the present, former superintendent Andrew Goodpaster confronts such matters as the honor code scandal of 1976 and the cultural changes brought on by the admission of women to the academy in the same year. Yet this book is a fitting celebration of an institution that has been of central importance to the American military. Originally published in 1966, at the start of his career, Duty, Honor, Country shows Stephen Ambrose's skills as researcher and popularizer, skills that he would go on to develop in such later books as Undaunted Courage and Citizen Soldiers. --Gregory McNamee
United States Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in United States Books
The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depressionby Amity Shlaes
HarperAudio; Published: 2007-06-12; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $15.88
Price in other shops:
Profiles in Courage (slipcased edition): Decisive Moments in the Lives of Celebrated Americansby John F. Kennedy
Harper; Published: 2006-10-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
Going Rogue: An American Lifeby Sarah Palin
Broadside Books; Published: 2010-08-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Dreamland: A Novelby Kevin Baker
Harper Perennial; Published: 2002-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
April 1865: The Month That Saved America (P.S.)by Jay Winik
Harper Perennial; Published: 2006-08-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.79
Price in other shops:
And You Know You Should Be Glad: A True Story of Lifelong Friendshipby Bob Greene
William Morrow; Published: 2006-05-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.30
Price in other shops:
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Mealby Eric Schlosser
PBS; Harper Perennial; Published: 2005-07-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.95
Price in other shops:
Thomas Jefferson: A Lifeby Willard Sterne Randall
Harper Perennial; Published: 1994-06-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.19
Price in other shops:
Winning Local and State Electionsby Ann Beaudry
Free Press; Published: 1986-05-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.44
Price in other shops:
Stonewall Jacksonby James Robertson
Macmillan Pub.; Published: 1997-02-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $47.66
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
D Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War IIby Stephen E. Ambrose
Simon & Schuster; Published: 1995-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.92
Price in other shops:
Last in Their Class: Custer, Pickett and the Goats of West Pointby James S. Robbins
Encounter Books; Published: 2006-03-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.59
Price in other shops:
The Long Gray Line: The American Journey of West Point's Class of 1966by Rick Atkinson
Holt Paperbacks; Published: 2009-10-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Building Leaders the West Point Way: Ten Principles from the Nation's Most Powerful Leadership Labby Joseph P. Franklin
Thomas Nelson; Published: 2007-05-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.78
Price in other shops:
Understanding West Point: What Cadets Must Do at West Point, and Whyby Norman Thomas Remick
Rpr; Published: 2001; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.95
Price in other shops:
West Point - The First 200 YearsParamount; Release date: 2005-05-17; DVD
Best price: $9.90
Price in other shops:
The West Point Candidate Book: How to Prepare, How to Get In, How to Surviveby Sue Ross, Randy Lee
Silver Horn Books; Published: 2009-05-27; Perfect Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.95
Artist Not Provided - National Geographic - Surviving West PointWarner Brothers; Release date: 2003-05-20; DVD
Best price: $25.80
Price in other shops:
Absolutely American: Four Years at West Pointby David Lipsky
Vintage; Published: 2004-05-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.40
Price in other shops:
The Diary of a West Point Cadet: Captivating and Hilarious Stories for Developing the Leader Within Youby Preston George Pysh
Pylon Publishing; Published: 2011-08-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops: