by David J.
Fitzpatrick
Emory Upton (1839–1881) is widely recognized as one of
America’s most influential military thinkers. His works—The Armies of Asia
and Europe and The Military Policy of the United States—fueled the
army’s intellectual ferment in the late nineteenth century and guided Secretary
of War Elihu Root’s reforms in the early 1900s. Yet as David J. Fitzpatrick
contends, Upton is also widely misunderstood as an antidemocratic militaristic
zealot whose ideas were “too Prussian” for America. In this first full
biography in nearly half a century, Fitzpatrick, the leading authority on
Upton, radically revises our view of this important figure in American military
thought.
A devout Methodist farm boy from upstate New York, Upton attended the United
States Military Academy at West Point and served in the Civil War. His use of a
mass infantry attack to break the Confederate lines at Spotsylvania Courthouse
in 1864 identified him as a rising figure in the U.S. Army. Upton’s subsequent
work on military organizations in Asia and Europe, commissioned by Commanding
General William T. Sherman, influenced the army’s turn toward a European,
largely German ideal of soldiering as a profession. Yet it was this same text,
along with Upton’s Military Policy of the United States, that also
propelled the misinterpretations of Upton—first by some contemporaries, and
more recently by noted historians Stephen Ambrose and Russell Weigley. By
showing Upton’s dedication to the ideal of the citizen-soldier and placing him
within the context of contemporary military, political, and intellectual
discourse, Fitzpatrick shows how Upton’s ideas clearly grew out of an American
military-political tradition.
Emory Upton: Misunderstood Reformer clarifies Upton’s influence on the
army by offering a new and necessary understanding of the military’s
intellectual direction at a critical juncture in American history.
About the Author
David J. Fitzpatrick is Professor of History at
Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His articles have been
published in the Journal of Military History.
ISBN 978-0806157207, University of Oklahoma Press, © 2017,
Hardcover, 344 pages, 12 Color Maps, Photographs & Illustrations, End Notes,
Bibliography & Index. $39.95. To Purchase the book click HERE.
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