Guardians of Empire: The U.S. Army and the Pacific, 1902-1940

by Brian McAllister Linn

Overview

In a comprehensive study of four decades of military policy, Brian McAllister Linn offers the first detailed history of the U.S. Army in Hawaii and the Philippines between 1902 and 1940. Most accounts focus on the months preceding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. By examining the years prior to the outbreak of war, Linn provides a new perspective on the complex evolution of events in the Pacific. Exhaustively researched, Guardians of Empire traces the development of U.S. defense policy in the region, concentrating on strategy, tactics, internal security, relations with local communities, and military technology.
Linn challenges earlier studies which argue that army officers either ignored or denigrated the Japanese threat and remained unprepared for war. He demonstrates instead that from 1907 onward military commanders in both Washington and the Pacific were vividly aware of the danger, that they developed a series of plans to avert it, and that they in fact identified--even if they could not solve--many of the problems that would become tragically apparent on 7 December 1941.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807863015
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	11/09/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	360
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Brian McAllister Linn, who was born and raised in Hawaii, is associate professor of history at Texas A & M University. He is author of The U.S. Army and Counterinsurgency in the Philippine War, 1899-1902.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Deeply grounded in primary sources and engagingly written. . . . The definitive work on the interwar US Army in the western Pacific.—Journal of Southeast Asian Studies



Pioneering. . . . Fills the void and adds depth and understanding to American military history, Philippine history, and the story of Hawaii.—Philippine Studies



A meticulously researched and well-written military history of a subject that has not been extensively explored. . . . Linn conveys effectively a sense of how the army at various levels understood its political, social, and military obligations and how the soldiers attempted to solve, bury, or otherwise reconcile problems inherent in policing and defending large, populous, and distant territories."American Historical Review



A first-class piece of research; it is what is professes to be - a survey and a pioneering work, which will remain in use in libraries, staff colleges, and universities, and on the shelves of military buffs, for years to come.—War in History



Superbly grounded in the sources, Linn offers thoroughly researched descriptions of the principal strategic and tactical issues—including their naval dimensions—character sketches of the antagonists, and an enriched understanding of interwar army planning.—Journal of Military History



In this magnificently researched study, Linn puts forth a compelling argument that, contrary to popular interpretation, the U.S. Army was not caught unaware by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines in 1941.—Choice



Linn's study, based on painstaking and thorough research in many collections, has much to offer those interested in 'lessons learned' in the post-Cold War era.—Western Historical Quarterly



A brilliant example of the new military history. . . . Guardians of Empire is one of the most sophisticated and accessible accounts of the role of the U.S. military in peacetime. . . . It clearly establishes Linn as one of the leading military historians in the country.—Military History of the West



A brilliantly constructed narrative, Guardians of Empire is the definitive work on the U.S. Army in the Pacific from the Philippine wars to World War II and will be the standard for years to come.—History: Reviews of New Books



In this masterly study, Brian Linn develops the Army's experience to include social history as well as the evolution of strategic policy and tactical planning in the Philippines and Hawaii over the decades leading up to World War II. This fascinating book answers questions as to the difference between theories and realities, which was the foundation for the debacle in 1941 and 1942.—Edward M. Coffman, author of The Old Army: A Portrait of the American Army in Peacetime, 1784-1898

Editorial Reviews

Fills the void and adds depth and understanding to American military history, Philippine history, and the story of Hawaii.

"Philippine Studies"

Superbly grounded in the sources, Linn offers thoroughly researched descriptions of the principal strategic and tactical issues.

"Journal of Military History"

"Fills the void and adds depth and understanding to American military history, Philippine history, and the story of Hawaii.

"Philippine Studies""

"Superbly grounded in the sources, Linn offers thoroughly researched descriptions of the principal strategic and tactical issues.

"Journal of Military History""

A first-class piece of research.

"War in History"

A meticulously researched and well-written military history of a subject that has not been extensively explored.

"American Historical Review"

The definitive work on the interwar US Army in the western Pacific.

"Journal of Southeast Asian Studies"

From the Publisher