Court-Martial
How Military Justice Has Shaped America from the Revolution to 9/11 and Beyond
Author: Chris Bray
Historian Chris Bray (a former soldier) tells the sweeping story of military justice from the institution of the American court martial in the earliest days of the Republic to contemporary arguments over how to use military courts to try foreign terrorists or soldiers accused of sexual assault.
Hardcover
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Summary
Historian Chris Bray (a former soldier) tells the sweeping story of military justice from the institution of the American court martial in the earliest days of the Republic to contemporary arguments over how to use military courts to try foreign terrorists or soldiers accused of sexual assault.
Description
Historian and former soldier Chris Bray tells the sweeping story of military justice from the earliest days of the republic to contemporary arguments over using military courts to try foreign terrorists or soldiers accused of sexual assault. Stretching from the American Revolution to 9/11, Court-Martial recounts the stories of famous American court-martials, including those involving President Andrew Jackson, General William Tecumseh Sherman, Lieutenant Jackie Robinson, and Private Eddie Slovik. Bray explores how encounters of freed slaves with the military justice system during the Civil War anticipated the civil rights movement, and he explains how the Uniform Code of Military Justice came about after World War II.
With a great eye for narrative, Bray hones in on the human elements of these stories, from Revolutionary-era militiamen demanding the right to participate in political speech as citizens, to black soldiers risking their lives during the Civil War to demand fair pay, to the struggles over the court-martial of Lieutenant William Calley and the events of My Lai during the Vietnam War. Throughout, Bray presents readers with these unvarnished voices and his own perceptive commentary.
Military justice may be separate from civilian justice, but it is thoroughly entwined with American society. As Bray reminds us, the history of American military justice is inextricably the history of America, and Court-Martial powerfully documents the many ways that the separate justice system of the armed forces has served as a proxy for America's ongoing arguments over equality, privacy, discrimination, security, and liberty.
Critic Reviews
“"With a sharp eye and a dry wit, Chris Bray gives us a page-turning tour of court-martial cases that reveal the fundamental questions, values, and debates that have shaped American history. A fantastic book."”
[An] impressively researched, well-written, and thoroughly entertaining account of military justice in U.S. history. . . . What one repeatedly sees in Court-Martial is a military justice system which, for all its shortcomings, has played an integral role in helping America discover its best self.--Mike Fischer "Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel"
About the Author
Chris Bray, a former infantry sergeant in the United States Army, holds a PhD in history from UCLA. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. He lives in Los Angeles.
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