A01=John F. Morris
acculturation
Austrian military academies
Author_John F. Morris
British public schools
cadet schools
Category=JNB
Category=NHW
Civil War
Clarendon Commission
Douglas MacArthur
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Eton College
future army officers
German military schools
great power rivalry
hazing rituals
homosexuality
military education
muscular Christianity
officer culture
rites of passage
Russian cadet schools
survival of the fittest
US Military Academy
West Point
World War I
WWI
Product details
- ISBN 9780813952697
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 29 Apr 2025
- Publisher: University of Virginia Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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An expansive study of the brutal rites of initiation at elite institutions that shaped young men into military leaders
Informed by his own experience as a cadet at West Point, John Morris offers the first transnational history of student life at elite military preparatory institutions in Europe and America and the unofficial, underground rituals, practices, and codes that formed a crucial part of the education there. Comparing British public schools, the monarchical cadet schools in Imperial Germany, Austria, and Russia, and the US Military Academy over the course of the nineteenth and into the twentieth century and the world wars, Morris presents critical insights on the unsanctioned methods employed to transform young students into leaders of men.
Extracurricular traditions—including but not limited to severe hazing—Morris argues, shaped the officers-in-training much more than their official courses of study. He also shows how romantic and sexual relations between boys facilitated the cultivation of hypermasculinity at these institutions. Students to Soldiers offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the budding military elites of Europe and America, both unpacking the arcane rituals that eventually became codified into honored traditions and analyzing their influence over the long term.
Informed by his own experience as a cadet at West Point, John Morris offers the first transnational history of student life at elite military preparatory institutions in Europe and America and the unofficial, underground rituals, practices, and codes that formed a crucial part of the education there. Comparing British public schools, the monarchical cadet schools in Imperial Germany, Austria, and Russia, and the US Military Academy over the course of the nineteenth and into the twentieth century and the world wars, Morris presents critical insights on the unsanctioned methods employed to transform young students into leaders of men.
Extracurricular traditions—including but not limited to severe hazing—Morris argues, shaped the officers-in-training much more than their official courses of study. He also shows how romantic and sexual relations between boys facilitated the cultivation of hypermasculinity at these institutions. Students to Soldiers offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the budding military elites of Europe and America, both unpacking the arcane rituals that eventually became codified into honored traditions and analyzing their influence over the long term.
John F. Morris is a lieutenant colonel in the US Army and Special Advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe at NATO.
