Beating Plowshares into Swords: Political Economy of American Warfare, 1606-1865 (Modern War Studies) - Hardcover

Paul A.C. Koistinen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0700607919 ISBN 13: 9780700607914

Publisher: University Press of Kansas, 1996

Synopsis

This work attempts to present a comprehensive and wide-ranging study on the economics of American warfare, from 1606 to 1865. It focuses on the means used to make and sustain armies and navies that fought during this period.

About this title

Review:

"This volume lays the foundation for what promises to be a major contribution to military scholarship."Journal of Military History

"Sure to become a classic."Parameters

"There is no single-volume comprehensive history of the economic foundations of American war-making, let alone a multi-volume work on the monumental scale proposed by Koistinen. Based on his initial offering, this ambitious project seems certain to set the standard for all future work on this subject."Russell F. Weigley, author of The American Way of War

"Koistinens ambitious, daring, and provocative work is unique to the literature and advances our understanding of the relationship between war, the military, and society to a new level. Historians for years to come will be grateful for his work."Richard H. Kohn, author of Eagle and Sword: The Beginnings of the Military Establishment in America

"Koistinen blends incisive description and perceptive analysis in the first of a projected five-volume study that will likely become a classic."Edward M. Coffman, author of The War to End All Wars

"Koistinen has succeeded admirably in a work that will provoke a great deal of discussion."Mark Lender, coauthor of A Respectable Army: The Military Origins of the Republic, 17631789

From the Back Cover:

Koistinen describes how an undeveloped "preindustrial" economy forced Americans to fight defensive wars of attrition like the Revolution and the War of 1812. By the time of the Mexican War, however, a gradually maturing economy allowed the United States to use a much more offensive-minded strategy to achieve its goals. The book concludes with an exhaustive examination of the Civil War, a conflict that both anticipated and differed from the total wars of the industrialized era. Koistinen demonstrates that the North relied upon its enormous economic might to overwhelm the Confederacy through a strategy of annihilation while the South bungled its own strategy of attrition by failing to mobilize effectively a much less developed economy.

About this edition

• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0700607919
• ISBN 13: 9780700607914
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 386