| Long Gray Lines: The Southern Military School Tradition, 1839-1915 Contributor(s): Andrew, Rod (Author) |
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ISBN: 0807855413 ISBN-13: 9780807855416 Publisher: University of North Carolina Press OUR PRICE: $40.38 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: February 2004 Annotation: Military training was a prominent feature of higher education across the nineteenth-century South. Virginia Military Institute and the Citadel, as well as land-grant schools such as Texas A&M, Auburn, and Clemson, organized themselves on a military basis, requiring their male students to wear uniforms, join a corps of cadets, and subject themselves to constant military discipline. Several southern black colleges also adopted a military approach. Challenging assumptions about a distinctive "southern military tradition," Rod Andrew demonstrates that southern military schools were less concerned with preparing young men for actual combat than with instilling in their students broader values of honor, patriotism, civic duty, and virtue. Southerners had a remarkable tendency to reconcile militarism with republicanism, Andrew says, and following the Civil War, the Lost Cause legend further strengthened the link in southerners' minds between military and civic virtue. Though traditionally black colleges faced struggles that white schools did not, notes Andrew, they were motivated by the same conviction that powered white military schools--the belief that a good soldier was by definition a good citizen. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Military - United States - History | United States - 19th Century - Education | Elementary |
| Dewey: 355.007 |
| LCCN: 00060723 |
| Lexile Measure: 1570 |
| Physical Information: 0.45" H x 5.98" W x 8.9" (0.55 lbs) 169 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Chronological Period - 20th Century - Cultural Region - South |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Military training was a prominent feature of higher education across the nineteenth-century South. Virginia Military Institute and the Citadel, as well as land-grant schools such as Texas A&M, Auburn, and Clemson, organized themselves on a military basis, requiring their male students to wear uniforms, join a corps of cadets, and subject themselves to constant military discipline. Several southern black colleges also adopted a military approach. Challenging assumptions about a distinctive "southern military tradition," Rod Andrew demonstrates that southern military schools were less concerned with preparing young men for actual combat than with instilling in their students broader values of honor, patriotism, civic duty, and virtue. Southerners had a remarkable tendency to reconcile militarism with republicanism, Andrew says, and following the Civil War, the Lost Cause legend further strengthened the link in southerners' minds between military and civic virtue. Though traditionally black colleges faced struggles that white schools did not, notes Andrew, they were motivated by the same conviction that powered white military schools--the belief that a good soldier was by definition a good citizen. "[Long Gray Lines] is a valuable resource. It is well researched, well argued and thought provoking. . . . A useful work with important insights into a significant southern tradition.--Civil War Book Review "An important work that engages larger historical questions.--Journal of Military History "This provocative, highly original, and thoughtfully illustrated study is grounded in impressive research. . . . It invites us to rethink the southern military tradition.--Journal of Southern History Challenging assumptions about a distinctive "southern military tradition," Rod Andrew demonstrates that southern military schools were less concerned with preparing young men for actual combat than with instilling in their students broader values of honor, patriotism, civic duty, and virtue. Southerners had a remarkable tendency to reconcile militarism with republicanism, Andrew says, and following the Civil War, the Lost Cause legend further strengthened the link in southerners' minds between military and civic virtue. |
Contributor Bio(s): Andrew, Rod: - Rod Andrew Jr. formerly taught history at The Citadel and is now assistant professor of history at Clemson University. He has served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and is currently a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve. |