The Citizen Soldier His Part In War And Peace

This is a study of the legal and historical role of the warrior who is, first of all a citizen employed in any of a vast number of civilian occupations and professions, and who is, secondarily, a soldier prepared to defend his homeland. The concept is essentially as old as recorded history and as modern as national guards in contemporary nations. Citizen-soldiers constitute a reservoir upon which a nation can draw for defense, for civic action, or for a multitude of other duties. What began as an obligation that all males owed to their sovereigns also developed into a right to keep and bear arms.

"The citizen soldier is a concept as old as, and certainly predating, recorded history. Since Plato's time many political theorists have concluded that the best way to insure that there will be open and honest government is to guarantee the right of the people to keep and bear arms as an unorganized militia. In this book the authors trace the evolution of the citizen soldier through time and place, describing along the way its purpose and justification, both politically and philosophically"--

The Citizen Soldier in War and Peace is a is a short historical look at the use of firearms in America and throughout the world this book appeals to anybody who believes in the Second Amendment or who is interested in the historical use of firearms. It begins with the use of guns for hunting and self-protection ad well as personal property and of course national defense early in our country‘s early history . It also analyzes the philosophical standpoint of the idea of the armed citizen and its relationship to freedom. A freeman with a gun, an armed citizenry means a free country The book also does a thorough job of examining other countries and other philosophical aspects of arming the citizenry. This book clearly defines the Militias in other countries. It touches on China and the Soviet Union and their philosophy as well. The book is extremely readable and would be advised reading for anyone from high school to grad school. Those interested in history political science or current events will find this book a must for their personal library.

In Sing Not War, James Marten explores how the nineteenth century's "Greatest Generation" attempted to blend back into society and how their experiences were treated by non-veterans. --from publisher description

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History Winner of the Gov. John Andrew Award (Union Club of Boston) An acclaimed, groundbreaking, and “powerful exploration” (Washington Post) of the fate of Union veterans, who won the war but couldn’t bear the peace. For well over a century, traditional Civil War histories have concluded in 1865, with a bitterly won peace and Union soldiers returning triumphantly home. In a landmark work that challenges sterilized portraits accepted for generations, Civil War historian Brian Matthew Jordan creates an entirely new narrative. These veterans— tending rotting wounds, battling alcoholism, campaigning for paltry pensions— tragically realized that they stood as unwelcome reminders to a new America eager to heal, forget, and embrace the freewheeling bounty of the Gilded Age. Mining previously untapped archives, Jordan uncovers anguished letters and diaries, essays by amputees, and gruesome medical reports, all deeply revealing of the American psyche. In the model of twenty-first-century histories like Drew Gilpin Faust’s This Republic of Suffering or Maya Jasanoff ’s Liberty’s Exiles that illuminate the plight of the common man, Marching Home makes almost unbearably personal the rage and regret of Union veterans. Their untold stories are critically relevant today.