How the Few Became the Proud
Crafting the Marine Corps Mystique, 1874-1918
Published on 15. December 2019
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-1-68247-468-6 (ISBN)
Description
For more than half of its existence, members of the Marine Corps largely self-identified as soldiers. It did not yet mean something distinct to be a Marine, either to themselves or to the public at large. As neither a land-based organisation like the Army nor an entirely sea-based one like the Navy, the Corps' missions overlapped with both institutions.
This work argues that the Marine Corps could not and would not settle on a mission, and therefore it turned to an image to ensure its institutional survival. The process by which a maligned group of nineteenth-century naval policemen began to consider themselves to be elite warriors benefited from the active engagement of Marine officers with the Corps' historical record as justification for its very being. Rather than look forward and actively seek out a mission that could secure their existence, late nineteenth-century Marines looked backward and embraced the past. They began to justify their existence by invoking their institutional traditions, their many martial engagements, and their claim to be the nation's oldest and proudest military institution. This led them to celebrate themselves as superior to soldiers and sailors.
Although there are countless works on this hallowed fighting force, How the Few Became the Proud is the first to explore how the Marine Corps crafted such powerful myths.
This work argues that the Marine Corps could not and would not settle on a mission, and therefore it turned to an image to ensure its institutional survival. The process by which a maligned group of nineteenth-century naval policemen began to consider themselves to be elite warriors benefited from the active engagement of Marine officers with the Corps' historical record as justification for its very being. Rather than look forward and actively seek out a mission that could secure their existence, late nineteenth-century Marines looked backward and embraced the past. They began to justify their existence by invoking their institutional traditions, their many martial engagements, and their claim to be the nation's oldest and proudest military institution. This led them to celebrate themselves as superior to soldiers and sailors.
Although there are countless works on this hallowed fighting force, How the Few Became the Proud is the first to explore how the Marine Corps crafted such powerful myths.
Reviews / Votes
Heather Venable has written a well-researched cultural history on the evolution of the Marine Corps from being an outmoded 19th century anachronism to its inception in the early 20th century as one of the nation's elite fighting forces. Venable's research demonstrates that not only did the Corps have to convince the American public they had changed, but they also had to convince themselves. A must read for all students of Marine Corps history." - Charles P. Neimeyer, Ph.D., Author of War in the Chesapeake, Fleet Support Program, Naval War College"Well balanced and thoroughly researched, Heather Venable's study offers crucial new insight into how the United States Marine Corps truly shaped its institutional identity and made itself a permanent fixture in the nation's defense and the loyalty of its citizens." - Bradford A. Wineman, Professor of Military History, Marine Corps University
"How the Few Became the Proud fills an important void in Marine Corps histories. Historians have tended to overlook the period between the Civil War and the First World War as a time of retrenchment in thought and a lack of innovation, with the Corps suddenly emerging on the military scene just in time for World War I. Venable adroitly illustrates how the Corps used this period to define its mission its image as an elite fighting force, often in spite of political and social obstacles. Her work serves as important contribution to the story of how the Marine Corps has continued to evolve." - Chipp Reid, USMC historian, author of Intrepid Sailors, Walls of Derne and co-author Lion in the Bay
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Annopolis
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
20 b-w illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
656 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-68247-468-6 (9781682474686)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
11/2019
Naval Institute Press
€38.99
Available for download
Person
Heather Venable is an assistant professor of military and security studies in the Department of Airpower at the United States Air Force's Air Command and Staff College. As a visiting professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, she taught naval and Marine Corps history. She received her Ph.D. in military history from Duke University.