West Point: Two Centuries And Beyond

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: Founded in 1802, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point is one of America's oldest and most respected military institutions which has prepared young men (and recently, young women) for careers as officers in the United States Army. In 2002 West Point celebrated its bicentennial. In honor of this milestone, the USMA Department of History hosted a multi-disciplinary conference focused on the Academy and its place in American society. The topics ranged from the Academy's role in developing officer professionalism, to its influence on the careers of distinguished graduates, to institutional challenges and changes, to the experiences of women and minorities at West Point, to the evolution of the Academy's academic curriculum. A highly recommended and scholarly contribution to American Military History collections, the twenty-four chapters comprising West Point: Two Centuries And Beyond shares the richly informed and informative scholarship of that bicentennial conference.



Rating:
Summary: One Foot in the Past, Another Solidly in the Future
Review: From its founding in 1802 the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point has been preparing young Americans for careers as officers in the Army (and sometimes the Air Force) of the United States. Not as old as some universities (Harvard was founded in 1636), certainly not as big (City University of New York - CUNY with some 450,000 students is about a hundred times bigger). The USMA has produced a series of graduates that have achieved fame far beyond the size or age of the school: Eisenhower, Grant and Lee, and many, many more. Read any history of the United States, and numerous references.

As part of the 200 year celebration, the invited a series of essays to be written covering a broad range of topics including the Academy's role in developing officer professionalism, its influence on the careers of distinguished graduates, institutional challenges and changes, the experiences of women and minorities at West Point, and the evolution of the academic curriculum. These have been collected together in this volume that points equally to the past and the future.