The Wars of America--By Robert Leckie

[WizarDru]

Re: my hijack continues..

Phew- ok, Malvern.

I was only there for training, so I might have missed the sights, but it seemed to be a community revolving around the few corporations there. The place had a pretty sterile feel to it (and no good place to eat outside of that super-mall nearby).

The people were very nice.

Which makes it all the more odd and suspiscous....

FD

Sounds like you were actually in King of Prussia, not Malvern. Unless, of course, you were at Microsoft's offices in Malvern...in which case your soul was drained regardless (been there several times, unfortunately). Technically, though, that's Great Valley, not Malvern. Malvern proper is actually a classic red-brick colonial town, full of historic revolutionary battlefield sites and lots of small shops and parks.

King of Prussia is home to the largest mall on the East Coast, so I'm pretty sure you meant that, and not Malvern. The closest mall to Malvern is the Exton mall, and while it's large...it's not even in KOP's league. Folks round these parts avoid KOP come Christmas-time, as I'm sure you can imagine.

 

[WizarDru]

Perhaps he has it confused with Manayunk?

Heh, Manayunk's not a town...it's a neighborhood of Philadelphia with delusions of grandeur. Lots of nightclubs, lots of yuppie shops...and ZERO PARKING.

 

[jgbrowning]

book

it may just be me, but i do think there will be a discernable authorial bias (intended or unintended) in a book by an ex-marine author. read the book with that in mind.

joe b.

 

[mmadsen]

His analysis of things like why some animals can be domesticated (versus tamed...an important distinction that is covered at length) and why some plants are better for food production than others.

That's exactly the kind of thing we want to ignore in a fantasy game though; otherwise our heroes and villains can't all ride exotic animals.

 

[mmadsen]

Even before the New World was colonized, the Spanish had revolutionized war by introducing an improved matchlock musket and fielding units of professional foot soldiers called infantry. (The name derives from the custom of adopting Spanish princes, or infantes, as the honorary colonels of various formations.)

I'm surprised no one has commented on this. I assumed that the word "infantry" went back as far as "cavalry", not just to the introduction of firearms.

 

[starwolf]

I personally consider this book almost required reading for an DM who wants to create their game world from the ground up...it's very enlightening, or at least throught provoking. I especially intend to steal the one writing system for a d20 modern game at one point...I can't remember which Native American tribe it was, but one man (a blacksmith by trade) noted that the Europeans all used a written language, and benefited from it. Therefore, he set out to make his own written version of his tribes language...but used the roman alphabet and his own additions to make a language the looked like English...but was spoken NOTHING LIKE IT. The book is full of stuff like that. Great, great stuff.

That fellow would be Chief Sequoyah, a Cherokee BTW.
His english name IIRC was George Gist (or Giest).

and the Cherokee syllabary is still in use today.

 

[mmadsen]

Re: book

it may just be me, but i do think there will be a discernable authorial bias (intended or unintended) in a book by an ex-marine author. read the book with that in mind.

A Catholic US Marine, no less! Gasp!

 

[mmadsen]

The author certainly isn't politically correct, freely using terms like savage, redskin, etc.

Nevertheless, the were savages, and if some well-manicured moderns may be able to rationalize their cruelty as being nothing but the ungentle customs of primitive peoples, those who suffered under it had a different explanation.

"They are not men, they are wolves!" a Frenchwoman sobbed, after describing how her baby was burned before her eyes.

 

[SHARK]

Greetings!

Indeed, I would say that the fact that the author is a U.S. Marine veteran, is a distinct advantage, and a great asset, as he is personally well-aquainted with much of the subject and ideas that he discusses throughout the book. It is precisely his experienced, knowledgeable, and expert analysis that makes the book such an excellent work. I find his writing refreshing, bold, and honest, which is to a large degree lost in many contemporary authors.

A good, Catholic Marine indeed.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[sword-dancer]

Salutations,

I suspect so- I got into trouble in high school and especially college by quoting sources that said it was the native americans that introduced the concept of scalping to the western world- and not the other way around.

Besides historical texts about that era- I don't recall reading of the western settlers doing that to other areas of the world.

Respectfully submitted
FD

IIRC the US Cav introduced the scalping to the plains or prairie tribes, giving bloodprice for scalps.
OTOH taking parts of the body of an enemy as ritual trophy had a long trdition.
The celts did it, with the heads of worthy enemies.
Timur lenk Tamerlans forces build pyramids with the head of their massacred victims.
Eating an emeies heart or drinking his blood is related to eating the heart of an dangerous animal, which had be hunted.