Bodies for battle : US Army physical culture and systematic training, 1885-1957 / Garrett Gatzemeyer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gatzemeyer, Garrett, author.

Series:

Modern war studies.

Modern war studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Army--Physical training--History--19th century.

United States.

Physical education and training, Military--United States--History--19th century.

Physical education and training, Military.

Physical education and training, Military--United States--History--20th century.

Physical fitness--United States--History.

Physical fitness.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

LaVergne : University Press of Kansas, 2021.

Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, [2021]

Summary:

"War is physical. In combat, fortune favors the soldier in better condition. Superior conditioning enables troops to fight longer and harder, to move farther and faster, to carry heavier loads and endure greater hardship. These relative advantages can be the difference between life and death, victory and defeat. In Bodies for Battle, Garrett Gatzemeyer investigates the creation and evolution of an official U.S. Army physical culture during the period when the most significant changes were made: 1885 to 1957. Using archival documents, training manuals, and professional journals serving military officers and physical educators, Gatzemeyer shows how, beginning in the late nineteenth century, officers drew on contemporary popular fitness culture and the professionalizing field of physical education to craft an associated system of exercise that has informed approaches to physical training in the U.S. Army ever since"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction. Modern War, Modern Fitness

Chapter One. Bodies and Battlefields: Contextualizing Martial Fitness for Modern War

Chapter Two. Origins of a US Army Physical Culture, 1885-1916

Chapter Three. The US Army's Battle of the Systems, 1914-1920

Chapter Four. Reversion, Disaggregation, and "Prehabilitation," 1919-1940

Photo Gallery

Chapter Five. Physical Cultures for Total War, 1936-1946

Chapter Six. Hard Bodies for a Cold War: Conditioning and Prehabilitation, 1945-1957

Conclusion. Fashioning that "Certain Strength of Body and Soul," 1885-1957

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Back Cover.

Notes:

Title from eBook information screen..

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780700632589

0700632581

OCLC:

1287098299