JUST A THOUGHT
Like many of the readers of
Partisan,
we live in a community sub–
stantially populated by intellectuals. Such communities seethe with debate,
dialogue, hypothesis, opinion, and words of innumerable other descriptions.
A high percentage of all the talk is in terms of the world of today. The
talk we overhear seldom includes any discussion of an informed nature
about military philosophy. Until very recently, there was almost no dis–
cussion of the crisis in military and political intelligence, which was so
obviously everywhere in short supply.
A number of years ago we set out to publish some books in the broad
field of military thinking and its applications to national and international
problems. We have since become one of the major United States imprints
in this field.
Eleven months ago we published a major
work-Military Concepts
and Philosophy
by Rear Admiral Henry E. Eccles, USN (Ret.). For the
first time in this century our author set forth a comprehensive account of
past theory in the light of present circumstance, and enunciated a kind of
unified field theory for the central concepts of conflict, strategy, logistics,
and command, and their relationships to political and economic factors.
The reviews were almost reverent:
With authority, succinctness, and polite bluntness Adm. Henry
Eccles has written a classic on war, far more ecumenical in
scope than those of his illustrious predecessors. . . .
-Patrick Welch
Chicago, Ill.,
Tribune
Sales? Well, after eleven months, we
have
sold a few copies outside
the profession, but not enough to prove that the book is represented in
more than half the college libraries and perhaps a quarter of the larger
public libraries.
Somewhat over four years ago we brought out Major-General
J.
F. C.
Fuller's
The Conduct of
WaT.
This volume, with the help of a distinguished
smaller book club, has now sold some 3,500 copies. By university press
standards, this is an almost enviable figure, but it is certainly much smaller
than the total number of our fellow citizens who hold positive and audible
opinions about war and its relation to human society. Again, the reviews
were numerous and more than respectful:
. . . well merits the attention of the statesman, the military,
industry....
-Lt. Gen. E. W. Snedeker, U.S. Marine Corps
U.S.
Naval Institute Proceedings
Next month we are publishing Robin Higham's
The Military
In–
tell.ctuals in Britain,
1918-1939, at the rather modest price of $7.50.
Any suggestion as to the size of the first printing?
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS, New Brunswick, N.
J.
