Barbarians and Brothers by Wayne E Lee

Barbarians and Brothers by Wayne E Lee

The most important conflicts in the founding of the English colonies and the American republic were fought against enemies either totally outside of their society or within it: barbarians or brothers. In Barbarians and Brothers, historian Wayne Lee presents a searching exploration of early modern English and American warfare, looking at such conflicts as the sixteenth-century wars in Ireland, the English Civil War, the colonial Anglo-Indian wars, the American Revolution, and the American Civil War. Lee discusses these conflicts through compelling campaign narratives, exploring the lives and fears of soldiers as well as the strategies of their commanders, while showing how their collective choices determined the nature of wartime violence. In the end, the repeated experience of wars with barbarians or brothers created an American culture of war that demands absolute solutions: enemies are either to be incorporated or rejected, included or excluded. And that determination plays a major role in defining the violence used against them. Even within such absolute goals, however, Lee points to the ways that war continued to be defined by both violence and restraint. He offers a multi-faceted account of three centuries of Anglo-American warfare, revealing how a variety of factors either fueled or curbed the violence directed towards an enemy.

In Barbarians and Brothers, Wayne Lee has taken on a daunting challenge -- nothing less than a history of over three and a hald centuries of Anglo-American warfareHe succeeds admirably, and the resulting work makes significant contributions, especially in the fields of early American and military history... Lee's work is informed by the larger overall trend toward anthropological, ethnographical approaches to violence. The conclusions rest on sound research conducted in archives on both sides of the Atlantic, and the extensive notes demonstrate Lee's familiarity with wide-ranging literature on violence and warfare in divergent cultural contexts... The book excels are connecting military affairs to larger societal concerns at almost every point... Lee has produced a fine work that should receive wide scholarship. * The North Carolina Historical Review *
Wayne Lee satisfies a long-overdue need in military history, by imposing an Atlanticist rationale to the conduct of warfare in the English Old and New Worlds. Renaissance and early modernists will rightly marvel at his fluency in the primary record. * Renaissance Quarterly *
Readers with a wide range of interests--including the cultural aspects of warfare and the debates about the value of the concepts 'limited' and 'total' war, the military revolution, and the 'American way of war'--will find Barbarians and Brothers rewarding reading. * Journal of Interdisciplinary History *
Engaging and rewarding . Lee's framework for the study of war and culture, and his original exploration of the idea of restraint, will inform and enrich all future discussions. * Journal of British Studies *
An insightful book...Wayne E. Lee has produced a sound study bolstered by solid statistical and colorful anecdotal evidence, a skillful blend of old-fashioned narrative with nuanced analysis. * Journal of American History *

Wayne E. Lee is Associate Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lee served in the U.S. Army from 1987 to 1992.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780199737918
ISBN 10	0199737916
Title	Barbarians and Brothers
Author	Wayne E Lee
Condition	Unavailable
Publisher	Oxford University Press Inc
Year published	2011-04-21
Number of pages	352
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.