West Point: Two Centuries of Honor and Tradition

Collaboratively compiled by Robert Cowley and Thomas Guinzburg, featuring an introduction by General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, and superbly enhanced with contributions from a number of noted historians and writers including Stephen Ambrose, William F. Buckley Jr., David Halberstam, Arthur Miller, George Plimpton, Tom Wicker, and Cecilia Holland, West Point: Two Centuries Of Honor And Tradition is an illustrated bicentennial celebration of the endurance and legacy of the United States Military Academy of West Point. Full-color photographs on nearly every page embellish this fascinating, informative, and very highly recommended history of America's oldest (and arguably most prestigious) military academy.

West Point vividly comes alive in this 304 page book, chronicling the history of the renowned institution. The illustrations are superb. And articles scattered throughout by Arthur Miller, Stephen Ambrose, William F. Buckley, Jr. and David Halberstram, to name a few, add brilliance to the otherwise scintillating texts of Tom Wicker, Thomas Fleming and others. With an introduction by General H. Norman Schwartzkopf, it is an engaging and comprehensive look at the school, and a glorious 200th Happy Birthday present to the nation that created the great institution. I recommend it highly -- five stars ***** -- like a top General.

As a graduate, I found this book compelling and entertaining. It should be issued to all cadets upon graduation. I have so many people ask me about my experiences at West Point and its history. I now have a tool to help in my explanantion. How did all these writers come together? Do we have to wait another 200 years for the next issue? I hope not.

This book captures the spirit of this unique American institution, and tells stories of the many men and women who have passed through West Point's granite halls over the past two centuries. It includes compelling profiles of George Armstrong Custer, Edgar Allen Poe, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, George S. Patton, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, Norman Schwartzkopf and many other military figures great and small. This is much more than a coffee-table book. The writing is comprehensive, incisive and personal. Chapters and essays are provided by Stephen E. Ambrose, David Halberstam, Arthur Miller, George Plimpton, Tom Wicker and other distinguished writers. They provide illuminating perspectives about the West Point which are fresh and unvarnished. The book includes hundreds of beautiful color images - photographs, paintings, posters, magazine covers, pop culture icons and historical objects - which vividly bring to life the events and people of "The Long Grey Line." A great deal of effort has gone into this book. It clearly shows how the U.S. Military Academy has had a profound impact on America, not only by providing leaders for its wars. Perhaps surprisingly, the school's graduates have gone on to leadership roles in every corner of American life, including government, business, sports, engineering, architecture, space exploration and the arts. This is a great book to own and a real treasure. I'll read in it large and small doses for many years to come.

For West Point fans interested in its bicentennial, I recommend "West Point: Two Centuries.." by Robert Cowley. It is like the other lovely books, "West Point: The First 200 Years", "West Point: The Bicentennial Book", and "The Spirit of West Point" in that it is a coffee table book with great pictures, except it has a collection of essays written by well-known highly paid writers. For both the general population and West Point fans, I also recommend "West Point: Character Leadership Education...Thomas Jefferson" by Norman Thomas Remick. It is an easy historical and philosophical cosmology of the USA and West Point that everyone would do well to know, including the world of Islam.