Guardians of Empire - by Brian McAllister Linn (Paperback)

About the Book

Guardians of Empire: The U.S. Army and the Pacific, 1902-1940

Book Synopsis

In a comprehensive study of four decades of military policy, Brian McAllister Linn offers the first detailed history of the U.S. Army in Hawaii and the Philippines between 1902 and 1940. Most accounts focus on the months preceding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. By examining the years prior to the outbreak of war, Linn provides a new perspective on the complex evolution of events in the Pacific. Exhaustively researched, Guardians of Empire traces the development of U.S. defense policy in the region, concentrating on strategy, tactics, internal security, relations with local communities, and military technology.
Linn challenges earlier studies which argue that army officers either ignored or denigrated the Japanese threat and remained unprepared for war. He demonstrates instead that from 1907 onward military commanders in both Washington and the Pacific were vividly aware of the danger, that they developed a series of plans to avert it, and that they in fact identified--even if they could not solve--many of the problems that would become tragically apparent on 7 December 1941.

Review Quotes

Fills the void and adds depth and understanding to American military history, Philippine history, and the story of Hawaii.

"Philippine Studies"

Superbly grounded in the sources, Linn offers thoroughly researched descriptions of the principal strategic and tactical issues.

"Journal of Military History"

"Fills the void and adds depth and understanding to American military history, Philippine history, and the story of Hawaii.

"Philippine Studies""

"Superbly grounded in the sources, Linn offers thoroughly researched descriptions of the principal strategic and tactical issues.

"Journal of Military History""

A first-class piece of research.

"War in History"

A meticulously researched and well-written military history of a subject that has not been extensively explored.

"American Historical Review"

The definitive work on the interwar US Army in the western Pacific.

"Journal of Southeast Asian Studies"

About the Author

Brian McAllister Linn, who was born and raised in Hawaii, is associate professor of history at Texas A & M University. He is author of "The U.S. Army and Counterinsurgency in the Philippine War, 1899-1902."