The Battle History of the U.S. Marines: A Fellowship of Valor

Marines have fought and died for the United States since the Revolutionary War. "There is a fellowship of valor that links all U.S. Marines, past, present, and future," observes Joseph Alexander, through more than two centuries of battles in the air, on land, and at sea, from their inauspicious genesis as an unimpressive gang of seagoing musketeers to their present standing as the deadliest amphibious force in the world. This common virtue of uncommon valor links proud generations of warriors who have earned the right to wear the eagle, globe, and anchor on their collars and over their hearts: from Captain Samuel Nicholas, the first senior officer of the Continental marines, to Captain Randolph Guzman, killed in the terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City; from Lieutenant Alfred A. Cunningham, the first marine aviator, to Opha Johnson, the first "Lady Leatherneck."

As Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons writes in his foreword, "Marines are not noted for their modesty." The same sentiment was also phrased in less diplomatic terms by President Harry S. Truman: "They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's," the commander in chief remarked during the Korean War. Marines are smug about their collective accomplishments, to be sure: esprit de corps, they call it. They are quick to educate the ignorant that the history of the United States would be much different if not for the United States Marine Corps. Alexander, a 28-year veteran of the corps, is no exception. The retired colonel takes obvious and unapologetic pride in the legendary mystique of "the Few and the Proud." His narrative is not a dry textbook compilation of footnoted factoids so much as a gung ho war story--drenched in blood and sweat and delivered with swagger for the transcendent glory of the corps--whose chapters read like a night of beers at the local VFW. Though incurably biased, the award-winning military historian has created a thoroughly researched and meticulously detailed account of the battles fought by those who are proud to claim the title of United States Marine. --Tim Hogan