Greetings!
Hah! Indeed, Daniel, bibliographies are important in academia.
I have in my personal library many, many scholarly books, with a particular emphasis on ancient history and World War II. I have read several of Robert Leckie's other books, including The Wars of America. In past books, I can say that Mr. Leckie included bibliographies. In my own considerable studies, particularly of World War II, I have not found anything in Mr. Leckie's books where the essential historical narrative has differed or been inconsistent with any other scholarly work on the subject at hand. I would also add that Mr. Leckie's writing style is not only clean, bold, and vigorous, but he has a spledid gift for writing history in such a manner far superior to many other scholars--most of whom put most readers to sleep inside of twenty pages!
Again, I have read the book, and have found it informative, as well as interesting and evocative. I would gladly recommend that you might pick it up and read it as well, and really get into the book, down in the trenches, so to speak. Minor discrepancies aside, I have found Mr. Leckie to be generally very accurate. I have read many scholarly books--including college text books written by entire staffs of scholars--that had similar, if not more significant and glaring errors!
However, I do find your own theory quite entertaining! Fellow Marines indeed!
Semper Veritas? What branch have you served in Daniel?
I suppose it may be interesting to read some of Mr. Leckie's words from the preface to
The Wars of America , that I shall quote from directly:
____________________________________________________
Quote:
"Space limitations in a book of this scope have precluded the listing of a bibliography. A comprehensive one was simply out of the question, while a selected bibliography could well have run to another forty or fifty pages. In its place, I have included a list of recommended books and would refer the reader to Colonel Vincent J. Esposito’s excellent and longer list in The West Point Atlas of American Wars, two volumes, New York: Praeger, 1959. Much of the research for this book was based upon that list.
It should go without saying that, apart from World War II, Korea and Vietnam, in which I had a personal interest, this work depends upon published sources. Nor do I pretend to have read everything published about every American war. When it is considered that one may collect more than 25,000 volumes and articles on the Civil War alone, it may be seen that the problem was not one of finding material but of choosing from it. Therefore, to have gone over ground already spaded by abler men before me would have been not only impossibly time-consuming but also pretentious.
Space limitations have also compelled me to confine reference notes to direct quotations. To footnote every statistic or observation would have been to number every third or fourth sentence. In the interest of smoother reading, all spelling and punctuation has been modernized, except where a certain echo from the past seemed appropriate. All dates are for the Time Zone in which the event occurred, and, to avoid the impression so rare in warfare, figures for casualties, the size of armies or the number of their arms, as well as the distances they have marched or sailed to battle, are usually rounded off to the nearest zero.
Finally, let me acknowledge my great debt to my editors: to the late Cass Canfield and to Norbert Slepyan for their kindly assistance on the original edition of this work published in 1968; to Corona Machemer for the same reasons on the revised and updated edition of 1981; and to M.S. (“Buz”) Wyeth and Daniel Bial for their suggestions, patience and tact on this new, updated revision of 1992—to Mrs. Clarice Browne, librarian at Roxbury (New Jersey) High School, who kindly lent me copies of news magazines I was unable to obtain—and, of course, to my dear wife, who actually runs this lash-up as top kick and mess sergeant, for typing the manuscript while wearing her third hat of company clerk.
Robert Leckie
Polliwog Pond
Byram Township, N.J.
September 23, 1991"
____________________________________________________
End Quote.
It would seem to me that Mr. Leckie makes a fair explanation, and I must confess that I have seen other scholars employ such different organizational choices on occasion. I also think that Mr. Leckie's bold style of writing is certainly not politically correct, and his entire writing style is more like that of a story-teller than that of a dry academic. Strangely, my own university history professors used to explain that the Historians, essentially, are "Story-tellers." Truly brilliant and gifted history professors will seek to become "story-tellers" rather than lecturing academics!
Well, at any rate, it seems certain that Mr. Leckie has done an excellent job of making history interesting. I would recommend the fine book for anyone--scholar or layman alike--as an excellent addition to one's personal library. The book is huge--1200+ pages!--and rich in detail. By all means, don't be content to merely read excerpts--buy the book, and read it thoroughly for yourself. At the end of the day, I think anyone who reads the entire book will have a greatly enjoyable experience, and be quite well-informed about the wars of America. That is my best recommendation.
Semper Fidelis,
SHARK
