Overview

For more than half its existence, the U.S. Marine Corps and its members largely self-identified as soldiers. In the early decades, being a Marine did not yet mean something distinct, either to Marines or to the public at large. The Corps' peculiar position resulted in a sort of identity crisis: Being neither a land-based organization like the Army nor an entirely sea-based one like the Navy, the Corps' role overlapped with both institutions. While the Army and Navy easily could define their respective domains, Marines inherently shouldered a more varied array of land-and-sea responsibilities. Author Heather Venable argues that, since the Marine Corps could not readily rally around a sole defining mission, it turned instead to an image to ensure its institutional survival. As Marine officers immersed themselves in the Corps' historical records, they initiated a process by which a maligned group of nineteenth-century naval policemen eventually would come to be regarded as elite warriors. Embracing their storied past, fin-de-siecle Marines began to justify their existence by invoking their traditions, celebrating their many martial engagements, and claiming to be the nation's oldest and proudest military branch. A new and enduring institutional persona emerged-that of a fighting force ultimately superior to soldiers and sailors. Although there are countless works on the Marine Corps, How the Few Became the Proud is the first to explore the origin of the myths behind the mystique.

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9781682479193

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Reviews

""Authoritatively researched, gracefully written, and persuasively argued, How the Few Became the Proud recounts how the qualities that set Marines apart from other Americans in uniform coalesced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. How the Few Became the Proud is a field-changing book that should be considered a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the Marine Corps as an institution and the cult-like culture that turns its motto, Semper Fidelis, into something more than mere words."" -Marine Corps History ""How the Few Became the Proud offers a well written and deeply researched study of how 'the Corps made it mean something to be a Marine.' Readers interested in the history of the Corps will find much to enjoy in this book."" -The Journal of America's Military Past ""Heather Venable's new book, How the Few Became the Proud, is a prime example of a book that uses gender effectively as a tool to better understand military culture.... Venable's book teaches that what has kept the Marine Corps in existence is winning on the battlefield and developing and maintaining positive relationships with the society it serves through advertising and public relations. The Marine Corps needs leadership that can do both, and it needs educators who can and are not afraid to use analytical tools like gender to teach them how. How the Few Became the Proud should be considered a standard source from which to learn."" -War on the Rocks ""This book makes a compelling case for nineteenth-century origins to contemporary Marine Corps image and identity. It fits within military and Marine Corps history, as well as gender history, and provides an important contribution to these fields."" -H-War ""How the Few Became the Proud is a welcome addition to the historiography of marines and, more widely, the US military."" -Global Maritime History ""The year 2025 will mark the 250th birthday of the United States Marine Corps, so a close look at how this service developed its distinctive elite identity offers a fascinating lens through which to view two and a half centuries of American military history. Heather P. Venable's How the Few Became the Proud: Crafting the Marine Corps Mystique, 1874-1918 does a fantastic job of spotlighting the conception of this unique image during the tumultuous decades that followed the American Civil War and continued through the First World War.... Military historians and Marine Corps history buffs will gain much from reading How the Few Became the Proud.... [It} will undoubtedly serve the military history community well."" -The Strategy Bridge ""Venable's book is filled with myriad details about the Corps' operational history that taken alone make it an exceptional read."" -War on the Rocks ""Well balanced and thoroughly researched, Heather Venable's study offers crucial new insight into how the United States Marine Corps truly shaped its institutional identity and made itself a permanent fixture in the nation's defense and the loyalty of its citizens."" -Bradford A. Wineman, Professor of Military History, Marine Corps University ""How the Few Became the Proud concerns hitherto neglected aspects of the evolution of the US Marine Corps and its culture. By focusing on identity, culture, and recruitment in her target period, Heather Venable clarifies their crucial relevance to today's Corps as well.""-Michigan War Studies Review

Author Information

Heather Venable is an associate professor of military and security studies and the Course Director for the Airpower Strategy and Operations Course at the United States Air Force Air Command and Staff College. As a visiting professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, she taught naval and Marine Corps history. She graduated with a BA in history from Texas A&M University and received an MA in American history from the University of Hawai'i. She earned her PhD in military history from Duke University.

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