The Historian and the Army

New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1954. Hardcover. vi, [2], 93 p. Brown & Haley Lectures, 1953. Footnotes. Biographical note posted on-line: "Kent Roberts Greenfield, Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, and chief architect of the official United States Army history of World War II, was born in 1893 in Chestertown, Maryland. He received his bachelor's degree from Western Maryland College in 1911 and his Ph. D in history from Johns Hopkins University (1915). He taught at Delaware College, now the University of Delaware, from 1915 to 1920, and was an assistant professor of history at Yale University from 1920 to 1930. In 1930, he came to The Johns Hopkins University as professor of modern European history and chairman of the History Department. He was a leading authority in the field of Italian history, particularly the Risorgimento, the movement for political unity in late 19th century Italy. His best know work on the subject was Economics and Liberalism in the Risorgimento: A Study of Nationalism in Lombard, 1814-1848, published in 1934 and later translated into Italian. The work was reissued in 1966 by the Johns Hopkins Press. In 1960 Greenfield was knighted by the Italian government for his work in Italian history and for his "important scientific and historical studies of Italy." Greenfield was chairman of the History Department from 1930-1946. During this time, he took a leave of absence (1942-1945) to serve as the assistant to the Historical Officer in the Army Ground Forces. This laid the groundwork for his being named to the position of Chief Historian of the Department of the Army in 1946. This involved directing the writing of the history of World War II which became a series of 80 volumes. Professor Greenfield was largely responsible for selecting numerous historians to work on the project, and before his retirement he edited 51 of the volumes. The monumental project covered every aspect of the second world war--planning, strategy and tactics, complex activities of the staff and technical services, as well as the command at all levels and the campaigns and battles themselves. Greenfield, in collaboration with others, wrote the first two volumes, but confined himself to editing and guiding the staff writers in the later volumes. In 1958 after his retirement as Chief Historian of the Department of the Army, Greenfiled returned to Baltimore to write American Strategy in World War II: A Reconsideration, which was published by The Johns Hopkins Press in 1963. Kent Roberts Greenfield died suddenly on July 25, 1967." Condition: Good in good dust jacket. Copy of mimeographed farewell letter from author laid in. DJ has some wear and soiling.

Keywords: Official History, Dornot, Coalition Strategy, Unites States Army, Battle Study, Operational Planning, Military Training, Selective Service, Ground Forces

[Book #68915]

Price: $37.50

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