For the Common Defense - 3rd Edition by Allan R Millett & Peter Maslowski (Paperback)

For the Common Defense is a comprehensive and fully revised study of America's military history, providing the most complete and current history of United States defense policy and military institutions.

This third edition has been updated with new material covering nearly twenty years of scholarship, including the history of the American military experience in the Balkans and Somalia, analyzing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2001 to 2012, and providing two new chapters on the Vietnam War.

The book examines the nation's pluralistic military institutions in both peace and war, the tangled civil-military relations that created the country's commitment to civilian control of the military, the armed forces' increasing nationalization and professionalization, and America's growing reliance on sophisticated technologies spawned by the Industrial Revolution and the Computer and Information Ages.

This edition is a timely reminder that vigilance is indeed the price of liberty but that vigilance has always been--and continues to be--a costly, complex, and contentious undertaking in a world that continually tests America's military might.

Whether you are a history buff, a military enthusiast, or simply someone interested in understanding the complexities of American defense policy, For the Common Defense is an essential read.