Books and the British Army in the Age of the American Revolution
Historians have long understood that books were important to the British army in defining the duties of its officers, regulating tactics, developing the art of war, and recording the history of campaigns and commanders. Now, in this groundbreaking analysis, Ira D. Gruber identifies which among over nine hundred books on war were considered most important by British officers and how those books might have affected the army from one era to another. By examining the preferences of some forty-two officers who served between the War of the Spanish Succession and the French Revolution, Gruber shows that by the middle of the eighteenth century British officers were discriminating in their choices of books on war and, further, that their emerging preference for Continental books affected their understanding of warfare and their conduct of operations in the American Revolution. In their increasing enthusiasm for books on war, Gruber concludes, British officers were laying the foundation for the nineteenth-century professionalization of their nation’s officer corps. Gruber’s analysis is enhanced with detailed and comprehensive bibliographies and tables.
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Books and the British Army in the Age of the American Revolution
Historians have long understood that books were important to the British army in defining the duties of its officers, regulating tactics, developing the art of war, and recording the history of campaigns and commanders. Now, in this groundbreaking analysis, Ira D. Gruber identifies which among over nine hundred books on war were considered most important by British officers and how those books might have affected the army from one era to another. By examining the preferences of some forty-two officers who served between the War of the Spanish Succession and the French Revolution, Gruber shows that by the middle of the eighteenth century British officers were discriminating in their choices of books on war and, further, that their emerging preference for Continental books affected their understanding of warfare and their conduct of operations in the American Revolution. In their increasing enthusiasm for books on war, Gruber concludes, British officers were laying the foundation for the nineteenth-century professionalization of their nation’s officer corps. Gruber’s analysis is enhanced with detailed and comprehensive bibliographies and tables.
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Books and the British Army in the Age of the American Revolution

Books and the British Army in the Age of the American Revolution

by Ira D. Gruber
Books and the British Army in the Age of the American Revolution
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Books and the British Army in the Age of the American Revolution

Books and the British Army in the Age of the American Revolution

by Ira D. Gruber

Overview

Historians have long understood that books were important to the British army in defining the duties of its officers, regulating tactics, developing the art of war, and recording the history of campaigns and commanders. Now, in this groundbreaking analysis, Ira D. Gruber identifies which among over nine hundred books on war were considered most important by British officers and how those books might have affected the army from one era to another. By examining the preferences of some forty-two officers who served between the War of the Spanish Succession and the French Revolution, Gruber shows that by the middle of the eighteenth century British officers were discriminating in their choices of books on war and, further, that their emerging preference for Continental books affected their understanding of warfare and their conduct of operations in the American Revolution. In their increasing enthusiasm for books on war, Gruber concludes, British officers were laying the foundation for the nineteenth-century professionalization of their nation’s officer corps. Gruber’s analysis is enhanced with detailed and comprehensive bibliographies and tables.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781469622156
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date: 12/01/2014
Pages: 344
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Ira D. Gruber is Harris Masterson Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at Rice University. From 1966 to 2009 he taught courses in early American and military history at Rice, the U.S. Military Academy, and the U.S. Army Staff College.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“There is no better way to get inside the heads of the most important British military leaders of the Revolutionary era than to read what they read. This book will be an invaluable research and reference aid for all future writers on the topic. A deft, masterful, and thought-provoking work, written with Ira Gruber’s accustomed grace and skill.” — Fred Anderson, University of Colorado, Boulder

“Ira Gruber’s valuable compilation shows how eighteenth-century British officers' book preferences may reveal that cadre’s mentalité (for while it is hard to get into the officers' minds, we can at least get into their books) as well as their professional development. This work will be extremely important to readers of Early Modern military history in particular and students of Early Modern intellectual and publishing developments in general.” — Holly Mayer, Duquesne University

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History
Military History
General & Miscellaneous Military History
History
Military History
General & Miscellaneous Military History

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