When authors James Kirby Martin and Mark Edward Lender were preparing A Respectful Army: The Military Origins of the Republic 1763-1798, they wanted to include the “new” military history. The authors had an objective of going beyond the traditional views of the military studies- combat, arms flow, tactics. They wanted to examine and explain historical contexts which included soldiers, societies, warfare, to further explain the shaping of human history. Lender and Martin received a handful of assistance from historians, graduate students, and editors to provide the most engaging and accurate facts and judgment when writing the book.
James Kirby Martin graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts from Hiram College in 1965. In 1967, he finished with his Master of Arts at the University of Wisconsin. Martin furthered his education and got his Ph.D. in 1969 (Contemporary Authors Online). American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, Society for Military History, Arnold Expedition Historical Society, Phi Beta Kappa, Texas State Historical Association are just a few of the societies and associations he was a member of. He began his teaching career at Rutgers University, as an assistant professor and is currently a history professor at the University of Houston. For his distinguished achievements an advanced knowledge and understanding of American history, James Kirby Martin received several awards and recognitions (Contemporary Authors Online). He has written several books on the topic of American history, some with the help of Mark Edward Lender. Mark Edward Lender is the co-author of A Respectful Army: The Military Origins of the Republic 1763-1798. He is a history professor at Kean University and writes about social and early American history. The collaborations between James Kirby Martin and Martin Edward Lender have brought them several awards and recognitions.
The authors began with the hostile conflicts at Lexington and Concord where the British were sent to confiscate weapons and destroy military stores at the countryside. Using Lexington and Concord, it was examined by the authors that historical evidence should not only be evaluated but given a right place in the construction of the American Revolution. Many historians saw the war as “guns-and-battles” but never linked the war to other conflicts that happened in America (Martin and Lender 4). Chapter Two dug deeper into the political ideologies of the American colonists. Martin and Lender wrote of the feelings that the colonists had on a republic government and why it was so valued and important. The actions within Chapter Two sprouted the making of the Continental Army, and in Chapter Three, the emerging of the Continental Army was explained. Martin and Lender start Chapter Four with an introduction of the happenings at Valley Forge. A majority of Washington’s troops died during that winter due to gruesome circumstances such like disease and malnutrition. The events in Chapter Four reestablished Washington’s leadership of his troops and they marked America’s independence. Chapter Five focused moreover on the battles happening in the South and the conflicts of the British and their influence towards the Native Americans. In the last chapter of the book, the authors detailed the personal limitations of Cornwallis, in which were seen as a catalyst for his failures towards the end of the Revolutionary War.
James Kirby Martin and Mark Edward Lender had a goal of informing their readers on the historical contexts of America, in a way of going beyond the basic knowing of the military and wars. As early as the first chapter, it was seen they had a well-developed thesis. The authors had a purpose of “separating popular mythology, aspects of which professional historians have too often enshrined in their writings” (Martin and Lender 4). For example, they started the book of with Lexington and Concord because the ideological roots of the American rebellion reflected off the experience of Lexington and Concord (Martin and Lender 5).
The intended audience of A Respectful Army: The Military Origins of the Republic 1763-1798 was geared towards young adults enjoying military history and/or historical text. This book failed to intrigue as it was written as a purely factual and statistical account of the Revolutionary War, rather than a more personal take on the everyday lives, struggles, and personal views of the soldiers, officers, and family members who lived through the conflict. They bring upon statistics like the “trading operation collected an estimated 30,000 muskets, 100,000 rounds of shot, 200 cannons with full train, 300,000 rounds of powder…and clothing for 30,000 troops” (Martin and Lender 116).
The authors were very balanced in the information they used to approach their subject. They used a sufficient amount of primary and secondary sources that added to the book. In Chapter Two they used quotes from Thoughts on Government, by John Adams, “there is no good government but what is republican” (Martin and Lender 29). This quote and others gave detailed information that backed up the facts that Martin and Lender stated throughout the book. At the end of Chapter Four, the authors included several pictures to illustrate the events as well as key people they mentioned in the chapter. Each picture included either a detailed explanation of the event or a small biography about a significant person. They used a majority of their pictures from North Wind Pictures Archives- such like the picture of Molly Pitcher firing a cannon, which belonged to her dead husband, at the Battle of Monmouth (Martin and Lender 137). This was at the time when Washington accepted women being in the army.
Sylvia R. Frey wrote a book review on A Respectful Army: The Military Origins of the Republic 1763-1798 in the “North Carolina Historical Review”. She states that Martin and Lender reflect the findings of “new” military historians who have written in the recent years and their discussion between the relationship between the military and society (Frey, “North Carolina Historical Review”). It is agreed upon with Sylvia R. Frey that the book reviews the major campaigns of the American Revolutionary War. The book reminds every one of Washington’s contributions to the “new modeling” of the army and the establishment of military authority (Frey, “North Carolina Historical Review”). This is a point of agreeance with Sylvia because it is apparent very early on in the book and throughout the whole book of Washington’s actions and contributions during the events in history. A Respectable Army is a “compact, readable volume”, making the book highly accessible to a wide audience (Frey, “North Carolina Historical Review”). Her say on the book being geared to a wide audience is agreed because with a majority of events in history happening between 1763-1798, the authors were able to compact all the information into a 200-page book sufficiently.
Overall, A Respectful Army: The Military Origins of the Republic 1763-1798 aided in understanding topics with which it dealt with. The authors had a great amount of evidence to support their judgments and facts. They included the works of others (publications, books, articles), pictures from North Wind Pictures Archives, and maps as well. The book was very informal and descriptive at the same time. Personal opinion, the book would have been more enjoyable if there were perspectives of the soldiers, family of the soldiers, and leaders during the setting of the book. It would add a deeper personal connection, for example, to the point where the reader can be put into a soldier’s shoes. Recommendations for this book would be to those who enjoy history or want to learn about history without reading a textbook. Personally, this would not be a book to recommend to my friends, we are just so drawn into our biology degree that we would chose study of life over the study of historical events.