America Arms for a New Century: The Making of a Great Military Power

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By James L. Abrahamson

Free Press, 1981

Reviewed by E.M.  Coffman

Originally Presented in the Journal of American History, March 1982

This author traces the modernization of America's armed forces between the Civil War and World War I, and focuses on technological and administrative innovations  In keeping with the American anti-military tradition, there is a stereotype of military men as self-interested, warmongering, altogether dangerous, and perhaps not quite sane people. They are, in a sense, aliens among us.  Another stereotype, much more rare these days, is that military leaders are heroes, towering on pedestals, impervious of the hopes and fears that make the rest of us normal. Both stereotypes enable their holders to avoid any serious effort to understand professional officers and their place in society.  While there are books written to sustain such beliefs, other writers have recognized military men as individuals who were not immune to the currents of their time. 

In America Arms for a New Century, James L. Abrahamson attempts to place the professional officers of the crucial 1880–1920 era in their proper context. Others have dealt with parts of this subject, but this scholarly soldier's approach is more comprehensive as he encompasses both the army and navy throughout the entire period in his study.

Elihu Root—Civilian Reformer of America's Military

During those four decades, the end of the frontier, the accelerating population shift from the farm and village to the city, and ventures into imperialism and European affairs brought about momentous changes in the American scene. Abrahamson argues that articulate officers were aware of what was going on and sought to change their institutions in order to meet properly the demands of these new situations. The reforms they recommended, he believes, were modest and based on realistic analyses of the circumstances until the very end of this period. 

Immediately after World War I, military leaders, caught up in the euphoria of victory, tried to float large, ambitious programs. They failed (deservedly so, the author says) because they misread not only the political temper but also the military situation of the nation.

General Emory Upton—Early Military Reformer

James L. Abrahamson (1937–2020) was an army colonel and professor of history at West Point.  As one might expect this book is sympathetic to the military, though it is by no means an apology.

E.M. Coffman