Military Review English Edition July-August 2014 | Page 89

MR BOOK REVIEWS
ENDURING BATTLE:
American Soldiers in Three Wars, 1776-1945
Christopher H. Hamner, University of Kansas Press,
Lawrence, 2012, 281 pages, $29.95

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FEATURED REVIEW

hristopher
Hamner’s
Enduring Battle:
American Soldiers in Three
Wars, 1776-1945 tackles
the age-old question of
why men put themselves
in harms’ way despite
their natural inclination to survive. Hamner
explores this question
through battles in three
American wars: Cowpens, Shiloh, and the Huertgen
Forest. He describes the impact that technology, weaponry, equipment, military doctrine, leadership, and the
nature of war had on the individual soldier. He shares
the individual soldier’s experiences to aid the reader in
understanding the ever-evolving nature of war.
Military historians and psychologists have offered
theories about the changing aspects of the battlefield, the
most popular being group cohesion theory (the bonds
linking individuals together). Hamner challenges this
theory using Omer Bartov’s Hitler’s Army, which says
the savage fighting on the Eastern Front rendered unit
cohesion an impossibility because of personnel attrition.
He challenges conventional thinking that men fight only
for their comrades. Hamner argues that the actual answer is far too complex. He says that self preservation is
the ultimate reason for survival and that forming bonds
with those around increases the likelihood.
Hamner links Cowpens, Shiloh, and the Huertgen
Forest to give the reader an appreciation for how war
evolved from 1776 to 1945. He provides a rational understanding of why each battle was fought in a particular manner.
MILITARY REVIEW  July-August 2014

Hamner suggests altruism as a potential area for
the future study of men in combat. He argues that
combat medics are renowned for leaving places of
safety to aid wounded comrades and using their own
bodies to shield the wounded. Such behavior goes
beyond the simple explanation of comradeship or
survival, especially in light of the prohibition against
medical personnel carrying weapons.
Christopher Hamner’s Enduring Battle is a must
read for those interested in the psychology of war.
Jesse McIntyre III, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

NO TURNING POINT:
The Saratoga Campaign in Perspective
Theodore Corbett, University of Oklahoma Press,
Norman, 2012, 416 pages, $39.95

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he battles of Saratoga were crucial turning
points in the War of American Independence.
The rebel victory convinced the French government to grant diplomatic recognition and extend
military aid to the cause of colonial independence. The
ultimate insurgent victory resulted from the combination of French military aid, rebel leadership, increasing
military proficiency, and the British government’s loss
of will to continue the war. However, the rebel cause
was not unified. Rivalries pitted the colonies against
each other, making it difficult to form a united front.
As contemporaries understood, it was a civil war,
with minorities supporting rebellion and loyalty, while
most people wished to survive with their lives and
property intact or fight their own local disputes. The
war divided families and pitted neighbors against one
another. Ethnic and religious strife marked relations
among the colonists from the outset.
Internal struggle occurred within the southern
colonies, but it also occurred in the northern Hudson
River-Champlain region. With the frontier on the
Hudson, its possession by either side would have
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