Annotation "From Rat Pants to Eagle and Tweeds is James Morrison's firsthand account of experience growing up in the segregated South, his attitudes and approaches to the military as a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute, and his years as a history teacher at York College in Pennsylvania." "Morrison attended several army service schools; served as a midshipman before and after World War II completed several overseas tours, including service is an American adviser to a Vietnamese Infantry division, 1964-65; obtained an M.A. in history from the University of Virginia and a doctorate from Columbia University; and served on the history faculty at the United States Military Academy at West Point for eleven years." "Morrison shares his critique of the army, West Point, and teaching, along with his assessment of the present status of American life and his attitudes toward the quality and effectiveness of army officer education and training. He analyzes some of the pitfalls and the strengths of preparing U.S. military organizations for service now and in the future, and he furnishes the reader with insights into how history is taught at a typical American college." "It is a significant contribution to the study of American military history and will be of interest to military officers, military educators and historians, and alumni of the Virginia Military Institute and West-Point."--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Since the founding of the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1802, more than eight hundred military schools have existed in this country. The vast majority have closed their doors, been absorbed into other educational institutions, or otherwise faded away, but others soldier on, adapting to changing times and changing educational needs. While many individual institutions have had their histories written or their stories told, to date no single book has attempted to explore the full scope of the military school in American history. Cadets on Campus is the first book to cover the origin, history, and culture of the nation’s military schools—secondary and collegiate—and this breadth of coverage will appeal to historians and alumni alike. Author John Alfred Coulter identifies several key figures who were pivotal to the formation of military education, including Sylvanus Thayer, the “father of West Point,” and Alden Partridge, the founder of the school later known as Norwich University, the first private military school in the country. He also reveals that military schools were present across the nation, despite the conventional wisdom that most military schools, and, indeed, the culture that surrounds them, were limited to the South. Coulter addresses the shuttering of military schools in the era after the Vietnam War and then notes a curious resurgence of interest in military education since the turn of the century.

Article abstracts and citations of reviews and dissertations covering the United States and Canada.