Books Received

General

America’s Defense Meltdown: Pentagon Reform for President Obama and the New Congress. Edited by Winslow T. Wheeler. Stanford, Cal.: Stanford University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-8047-6931-0. Tables. Figures. Notes. Pp. xxiii, 241. Paper. $19.95. This Center for Defense Information Book launches a no-holds-barred, across-the-board attack on defense doctrine, procurement, training, rising militarism and the “President’s Own Army”—in short, everything—in an attempt to stimulate the debate which should have occurred after the end of the Cold War but never really did.

Mounted Warriors: From Alexander the Great and Cromwell to Stuart, Sheridan, and Custer. By Gene Smith. San Francisco, Cal.: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. ISBN 978-0-471-78332-9. Illustrations. Bibliography. Index. Pp. vii, 328. $27.95. This is very much a Western, and especially American, survey of cavalry forces and action, with brief coverage from the first chariots through Medieval Europe to a focus on the American Revolution, Civil War and on to the very last U.S. Army cavalry charge during the retreat on Bataan on January 16, 1942.

The PSI Handbook of Virtual Environments for Training and Education: Developments for the Military and Beyond. Volume 1: Learning, Requirements, and Metrics. Edited by Dylan Schmorrow, Joseph Cohn, and Denise Nicholson. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Security International, 2009. ISBN 978-0-313-35167-9. Photographs. Tables. Figures. References. Index. Pp. xvi, 424. Volume 2: VE Components and Training Technologies. Edited by Denise Nicholson, Dylan Schmorrow, and Joseph Cohn. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Security International, 2009. ISBN 978-0-313-35169-3. Photographs. Figures. Tables. References. Index. Pp. ix, 458. Volume 3: Integrated Systems, Training Evaluations, and Future Directions. Edited by Joseph Cohn, Denise Nicholson, and Dylan Schmorrow. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Security International, 2009. ISBN 978-0-313-35171-6. Photographs. Tables. References. Index. Pp. xviii, 504. For the set: ISBN 978-0-313-35165-5, $425.00. “The intention of this three-volume handbook is to provide comprehensive coverage of the emerging theories, technologies, and integrated demonstrations of the state-of-the-art in virtual environments for training and education” and it sure does.

Sea Service Medals: Military Awards and Decorations of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. By Fred L. Borch and Charles P. McDowell. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2009. ISBN 978-1-59114-089-4. Photographs. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. 216. $34.95. This is the story of how the various medals for valor and achievement in the Sea Services came into being.

Six-Legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War. By Jeffrey A. Lockwood. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-19-533305-3. Photographs. Notes. Index. Pp. xx, 377. $27.95. Bugs have been used as agents of torture, vectors of disease and wreakers of economic sabotage for millennia, but, thanks to modern science, the potential for future entomological warfare is even more frightening.

The US Army and the Interagency Process: Historical Perspectives. The Proceedings of the Combat Studies Institute 2008 Military History Symposium. Edited by Kendall D. Gott and Michael G. Brooks. Fort Leavenworth, Kan.: Combat Studies Institute Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-9801236-6-1. Figures. Notes. Pp. 428. Paper. A variety of scholars and experts offer views on interagency operations including numerous case studies from Vietnam to Grenada to Iraq.

United States Marine Corps Medal of Honor Recipients. Edited by George B. Clark. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2005. ISBN 978-0-7864-2271-5. Photographs. Appendixes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. 208. $45.00. A catalogue of all 296 U.S. Marine and 21 attached Navy medical and chaplain personnel who received the medal from 1861 to the present.

Before 1800

The Guns of Independence: The Siege of Yorktown, 1781. By Jerome A. Greene. New York: Savas Beatie, 2009. ISBN 978-1-932714-68-5. Maps. Photographs. Appendixes. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. 528. Paper. $22.95. This comprehensive account of the decisive battle of the American Revolution appeared in hardcover in 2005.

Ships and Shipping in Medieval Manuscripts. By Joe Flatman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-7123-4960-4. Color plates. Notes. Index. Pp. 144. $55...