The Rise of the National Guard: The Evolution of the American Militia, 1865-1920

A well-researched and -written work on how state militias evolved into the early National Guard, in the years between the Civil War and WWI. It was this period in which state militias, a force originally designed by the Framers to be an alternative to a standing army, only then took on some cohesion -- and gradually came under national control. (Mr. Cooper does provide brief reviews of pre-1865 and post-WWI militia to put all this in context). Given that the National Guard today (June 2005) is a major part of national effort both in home defense and in the war overseas, this book is a fine start in understanding how the Guard began -- and that beginning is during the period this book covers. Recommended especially for legal and serious military scholars. If this is a first volume, to be continued into 1920-2000 as the Guard became a predominantly national defense asset (and less and less that of the States), then Mr. Cooper's next work on the Guard will be something to look forward to.