William A. Taylor, assistant professor in the Department of Security Studies at Angelo State University, is a former Marine Corps officer who held posts in III Marine Expeditionary Force, Expeditionary Force Development Center, and Marine Corps Combat Development Command. He is the author of Every Citizen a Soldier: The Campaign for Universal Military Training after World War II, which won a 2015 Crader Family Book Prize Honorable Mention.
"Should be considered essential reading for those interested in
understanding the modern American military. Any serious scholar of
U.S. military history from 1900 forward should include this in
their must-read list. Any student of African American or women's
history would also find Taylor's analysis of the roles of both
groups in military and civilian sectors insightful."--Marine Corps
University Journal"A well-researched and discerning examination of
the historical context of current debates about the nature of
military service and civil-military relations as a framework for
larger discussions about service, citizenship, and democracy.
William Taylor's principal achievement here is to have persuasively
shown that the study of changes in American military service during
and since World War II, often in the face of strong opposition,
gives us reason to hope that the bond between citizen and soldier
can one day be reforged."--Michigan War Studies Review"Ultimately,
Taylor's work is as much about civil-military relations as it is
about the US military itself--the relationship and subsequent
changes that he highlights would not have been possible without the
considerable influence of civilian leaders on military
policy."--H-Net Reviews"Taylor's book is based on a far-ranging use
of primary sources and a variety of archives. He addresses some of
the crucial issues of manpower procurement, such as the criteria
used by the selective service system, especially when the
inequities of who should serve clashed with the desire to make the
military representative of the society it was serving. There is
also a good discussion of the racial issue in the military in the
1940s and 1950s, and how the military expanded the role of women
from the 1960s to the removal of the combat exclusion
policy."--Journal of Military History"This is a valuable book. It
is concise, comprehensive, and authoritative on a host of factual
matters otherwise scattered among many print and online sources;
here they are in one place. and it foregrounds much that is little
known or underappreciated by historians of modern America. . . .
William A. Taylor also illuminates a lesser-known story about the
armed forces' major role in desegregating civilian
society."--Journal of American History"A valuable, insightful book.
. . . This work represents a significant step toward understanding
the military in relation to the nation, the citizenry, and the
political values it represents and serves."--American Historical
Review"Taylor's book details the personnel policies that have
shaped, controlled, and defined military service as we know
it."--On Point"Rather than simply analyzing the various systems
that have been used to provide manpower for the military. [Taylor]
instead examines the broader social and cultural effort to
reconcile the concept of military service with political realities
and explore the larger, long-term crusade to make the US military
more inclusive and representative of the population it protects.
Taylor deftly uses the last 75 years of history to explore the
dilemmas of military service by asking who serves, and to examine
the efforts of politicians, military professionals, and society to
balance the often-competing imperatives of personal liberty and
national security."--Choice
"Who serves? Who fights? As William Taylor makes clear in this
exceptionally fine book, the answers to these two questions speak
directly to the condition of American democracy. Here is a timely
reminder that in our own day the questions themselves have lost
none of their prior salience and may, if anything, be more
important than ever."--Andrew J. Bacevich, author of America's War
for the Greater Middle East: A Military History"Who Serves? William
Taylor shows us why the changing answers to that question matter,
not only to the individuals involved but to the health of American
democracy."--Beth Bailey, author of America's Army: Making the
All-Volunteer Force "Bill Taylor has written a pioneering work on
the political and social history of American military recruiting
since the end of World War II. Almost all scholarly investigation
of this subject has been done by social scientists. For whatever
reason, historians, including military historians, have rarely
examined how the USA has recruited its soldiers since 1945; the
population subgroups they have come from, or haven't come from; and
how the political nation has dealt with perennial issues of who
serves and who doesn't. Work on the history of American military
manpower procurement since the draft ended in 1973 has been
particularly lacunose; surprisingly so, given the perennial public
debates on voluntary military service and conscription. Dr. Taylor
performs a real service in covering both the 1945-1973 draft era
and the forty-plus years since the draft ended. Both specialists in
military manpower matters and a wide range of scholars working in
the broad area of American civil-military relations will benefit
greatly from reading his invaluable analysis." --Robert L. Goldich,
retired defense manpower analyst and military historian,
Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress"In analyzing
how a democracy can best fulfill its security needs, William Taylor
has written an insightful review of the evolution of American
military manpower policy, from the mobilization based World War II
force, through the adoption of a "peacetime" Cold War draft in lieu
of Universal Military Training, and ultimately to the current
all-recruited force. He documents the progress made over time in
racial integration, gender equality, and incorporation of openly
gay personnel, increasing the diversity of the force to serve the
goals of both military effectiveness and social equality. He also
critically examines the increasing presence of private security
contractors in the battle space as replacements for uniformed
members of the armed forces, which is a threat the historic linkage
between service in the interest of security and citizenship rights
and responsibilities. This volume is particularly timely given the
recent lifting of the ban on service by openly gay personnel and
the opening of ground combat occupations and units to women.
Readers interested in these issues will have difficulty, as I did,
putting this book down."--David R. Segal, Professor Emeritus of
Sociology, Founding Director, Center for Research on Military
Organization, University of Maryland"Who serves in the United
States military? Why do they serve? How do they serve? A serious
and honest examination of these immensely important questions is
critical to current and future discussion of transforming,
overhauling, or drawing-down the American military. William A.
Taylor's Military Service and American Democracy is essential to
this discussion. Perceptive and persuasive, Taylor insightfully
places the evolution of American military personnel policies amidst
the distinctive clash between American security needs and
individual freedom in a free society."--William Thomas Allison,
Professor of History, Georgia Southern University"The way a
democracy chooses to man its military reflects its social fabric.
Taylor lays out a narrative to facilitate informed dialogue on this
critical issue."--Major General (retired) Dennis LaichThis
important work is a major contribution to American Military
History. It candidly explores the major questions and controversies
concerning the relationship between citizenship, social identity
and military policy from World War II to the present with a
candidness and clarity based on comprehensive research and thorough
understanding of all aspects of the subject. All those concerned
with issues related to the human dimensions of national security
will profit from reading it.--Ronald H. Spector, Professor of
History and International Affairs, George Washington University"In
his latest book William A. Taylor provides an excellent, well
documented, and readable analysis of military service in this
country from World War II to the withdrawal of American military
forces from Iraq . This book should be required reading for those
citizens, scholars and public officials concerned about balancing
national security and individual liberty."--Lawrence Korb, Former
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, Reserve Affairs,
Installations and Logistics
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