Review
A superb cultural history of the modern U.S. Marine Corps. This book makes a significant and original contribution to both the military history of the Cold War and the ongoing conversation about the militarization of American culture. (Beth Bailey, author of America's Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force)
A brilliant synthesis of military and cultural history. Underdogs will do for Marine Corps history what Peter Karsten's The Naval Aristocracy did for naval history. (Ronald H. Spector, author of In the Ruins of Empire: The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar Asia)
Underdogs is a probing history of one of the most storied institutions in American life: the United States Marine Corps. Aaron O'Connell takes readers inside the culture of the Corps to explore its strengths, its weaknesses, and the lessons it can teach to us all. (Nathaniel Fick, author of One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer)
This fascinating and sometimes frightening cultural history highlights the Marines' exceptional agility in catering to and cultivating the changing needs of American power, and the costs of doing so. (Michael S. Sherry, author of The Rise of American Air Power: The Creation of Armageddon)
O'Connell offers an excellent analysis of how the marines became the Marines. (Publishers Weekly 2012-08-13)
Unlike the other branches of the armed forces, writes O'Connell, the Marines did not rush into nuclear technology after World War II. Instead, he argues, the Corps built on its combat record, especially in the Pacific island-hopping campaign, to re-orient itself as an elite, naval or helicopter-borne, quick-reaction force, able to provide various combinations of unit strength on very short notice. Using an equipment and technology budget line from the Navy, the Marines expanded in size and technical capability to meet this adopted objective. The real eye-opener here is O'Connell's account of the behind-the-scenes lobbying and PR work conducted by the Chowder Society, "an unofficial organization of...well-connected officers' dedicated to protecting the Corps from postwar defense reorganizations. According to the author, this went beyond lobbying and included spying, leaking classified documents and smearing opponents. The group made full use of the Marine's press networks, building especially on the wartime centralization of news distribution. Headquarters had developed tactics for dealing with the press, such as preparing "Joe Blow" stories of hometown combat troops. O'Connell shows how Hollywood transformed the image of the Marines, who sustained a casualty rate double that of the Army, by crafting stories that depicted them as military heroes. Then, to support peacetime political combat, those stories were tweaked to portray them as gentle protectors of families and motherhood. The author contrasts the stories with the reality...A powerful account of the relationship between fighting war and preserving peace, viewed through the lens of the stories that built support for both. (Kirkus Reviews 2012-09-15)
[O'Connell] attributes the rise of the Marines from a tiny, unpopular 1941 corps to preeminent armed service in 1965 to the success of the Marine Corps' public relations campaign...This insightful cultural history is recommended for those interested in U.S. military history and modern U.S. history. (Library Journal 2012-10-01)
O'Connell's depth offers military professionals, serious history enthusiasts and ordinary armchair buffs enlightening insights via easy-to-understand explanations of why the Corps always has considered itself unique and superior to the other U.S. Armed Forces...O'Connell patiently cuts through the origins of the USMC's cultural power, delineating its maneuvers, contradictions and effects on mid-20th-century American life...[Underdogs] deserves high honor and distinction. (Don DeNevi Leatherneck 2012-10-01)
O'Connell [separates myth from reality] with brio in his absorbing account of the Marines between 1941 and 1965. (Max Boot Wall Street Journal 2012-12-18)
[A] thoroughly researched and splendidly written book. (John R. Coyne, Jr. Washington Times 2012-12-21)
O'Connell, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, analyzes the development of the corps' culture from World War II to the Vietnam era. The Marine ethos was defined by a commitment to toughness ingrained at boot camp and a willingness to suffer reinforced by the high casualties the corps experienced in World War II and the Korean War. O'Connell does not shrink from describing the physical and mental toll this culture takes on individual marines and the violent behavior, drunkenness, and domestic abuse that represent its dark side. He also details the organization's relentless self-promotion, which helped turn it from the least to the most admired of the services and guaranteed its independence. The corps has a deserved reputation for assiduously cultivating politicians, journalists, and filmmakers to help burnish its public image and win bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. This is an honest, but not unsympathetic, take on the Marines and a fine contribution to the study of military culture. (Lawrence D. Freedman Foreign Affairs 2013-01-01)
As well as detailing the inner psychological effects of front-line fighting on Marines, O'Connell describes how war turns public opinion, and how the Corps employed the media, movies, and Congressional support to build a positive public relations network. (C. D. Quyn Sacramento Book Review 2013-02-15)
O'Connell has penned an important, extraordinary volume--wonderfully descriptive, copiously referenced, and richly punctuated by anecdotal presentations...A wonderful book, but more importantly, a significant addition to military historical literature. (J. Stanley Choice 2013-04-01)
About the Author
Aaron B. O’Connell is Associate Professor of History at the United States Naval Academy and a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve.
