This book was written by the controversial former Senator from Virginia and Secretary of the Navy, James H. Webb, of Virginia. I was reminded of this book when reading last weekend an opinion piece (behind the paywall) by Gary Andersen in Military Times titled, Why Our Generals Can’t Think, describing an Atlantic magazine column (sorry, also behind the paywall) by Franklin Foer about Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal in which not one single American flag officer ever objected to using Kabul airport instead of the much more secure and safe US military-managed Bagram air base. Stupid is as stupid does.
I bought this book when it was released in 2004 and read it without stopping. It changed and deepened my understanding of American history in ways no history book had ever done before. If you want to truly understand not only the spirit and soul of native America, but grasp the heart and soul of its deep sense of survival then buy this book and read it and maybe read it again as I have done.
More than 27 million Americans today can trace their lineage to the Scots, whose bloodline was stained by centuries of continuous warfare along the border between England and Scotland, and later in the bitter settlements of England’s Ulster Plantation in Northern Ireland. Between 250,000 and 400,000 Scots-Irish migrated to America in the eighteenth century, traveling in groups of families and bringing with them not only long experience as rebels and outcasts but also unparalleled skills as frontiersmen and guerrilla fighters. Their cultural identity reflected acute individualism, dislike of aristocracy and a military tradition, and, over time, the Scots-Irish defined the attitudes and values of the military, of working class America, and even of the peculiarly populist form of American democracy itself.
and,
Born Fighting shows that the Scots-Irish were 40 percent of the Revolutionary War army; they included the pioneers Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, Davy Crockett, and Sam Houston; they were the writers Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain; and they have given America numerous great military leaders, including Stonewall Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Audie Murphy, and George S. Patton, as well as most of the soldiers of the Confederacy (only 5 percent of whom owned slaves, and who fought against what they viewed as an invading army). It illustrates how the Scots-Irish redefined American politics, creating the populist movement and giving the country a dozen presidents, including Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. And it explores how the Scots-Irish culture of isolation, hard luck, stubbornness, and mistrust of the nation’s elite formed and still dominates blue-collar America, the military services, the Bible Belt, and country music.
Buy the book and read it.
Hey Dr phil
Did you catch Governor Abbott ringing the closing bell at the NYSE today?
75 GJT
Yeah. I’ve heard.
They are going to wear Oiler colored uniforms when we next play them.
Ive been trying to convince y’all for years that the Adam’s family represent Beelzebub.
Oh, and the Tennessee Titans are going to wear Oiler gear in a game this year. Night night.
My wife went to one of those homecomings, she doesn’t know if it was the first one or second. 79 & 80?
Somehow, KILT and a number of others pulled off the first homecoming after playoff loss to Pittsburg. M. Berry has occasionally reminded us of this historic Houston event, with interviews of several LEOs from that era who testifiy that – unknown to many – the shoulders of the freeway system all the way from IAH to the Dome were jam-packed… Read more »
Elon streams at the border about the illegal stream.
So how about them Ruskies shutting off all diesel exports?
In December 1980 when the Oilers lost yet again to the Steelers in the playoffs, Shannon called me up and said they were coming to the Dome that night when they got back from Pittsburgh. I thought, man, this is crazy since they’ve traveled back and forth and played this huge game. Anyway, I had just moved back to Houston… Read more »
Crazy mama, where you been so long?
The Tyler Rose: The story of the recruitment of Earl Campbell In 1973, Darrell K Royal faced challenges landing top African-American high school football players, so he enlisted a team of recruiters. Led by Ken Dabbs, they set out to convince the state’s top running back, Tyler’s Earl Campbell, that The University of Texas was where he needed to… Read more »
GJT
Wow.
Wished I had been at that game.
On Monday Night Football, too.
A breathtaking performance.
The generally un-flashy Earl decided to put on a show that night. What fun it was to watch.
SO! Saint Simons Island got 6″ on rain on Tuesday and a little more on Wednesday. How much did we get here in south Alabama? ZERO, ZICLH, NADA! I guess that we took the rain with us.
Yup, I believe so. 😉
#30 Tedtam, Summit Racing is a class act. I used to purchase part from them years ago.
Waved a few of those Pom-poms myself cheering on Earl. Was at the Monday night game against the Dolphins where he ran for near 200 yards. I was literally concerned the Dome would collapse under the foot stomping fans.
What a voice. What control.
Earl Campbell was, without question, one of the greatest running backs to ever play the game. OJ sucks dog butt by comparison.
Let me tell you something…
If you are an American man between 65 and 75 years old, played defense in the NFL and ever attempted to tackle Earl Campbell, you are lying in a recliner or a bed tonight, on opioids, sipping whiskey, nursing your old broken bones and regretting you ever tried to take ole Earl down.
54 BC
In a just world, Granny Granholm would be working in a local Michigan Dollar Store and we would have already dismantled the US Energy Department.
A agile, fast freight train was Earl Campbell.
Heads-up….This is “No narration” video.
Don’t miss the run against the Steelers at 3:00
Oh, it was, it was. It made me laugh. It made Hubby laugh.
#58 Shannon: It would be friggin hilarious if all of us hadn’t done the same thing within the last month or so. I don’t think there is a sub- 40 year old on this blog.
And here I thought my #49 was really funny.
It looks like no Latin class tonight, so I shall focus on homework. Magister’s wife had surgery today, and I guess he forgot to send out the cancellation notice.
It’s not like I don’t have enough to keep me busy. 😉
Houston hotel chef has an amazing hydroponic garden.
She-Jack has enough phantom voters in this town that she doesn’t need an ad campaign.
In a just world, the Sec of Energy would be, at a minimum, fined for this stunt.
A question for you locals…
Is the She-Jack going to start running a public mayoral campaign soon or not?
November 7th is just right up the road, if you hadn’t noticed.
We may be losing one of our long-term tenants. Earl has rented from us for a bajillion years. He’s an alcoholic, has some other mental issues for which he has meds, and lives on social security payments in our smallest unit. We haven’t been eager for him to move because his place is dang near a tear down by now,… Read more »
IF Big Wheels Abbott had any testicular fortitude, he would instruct the Texas National Guard to arrest anyone who dismantles any border fortifications. This includes and is targeted at but not limited to Federal Customs and Border Patrol agents. Texas puts up razor wire and the feds cut it to allow the illegal invasion. This is nothing short of treason… Read more »
Hey! After four months I found my missing (and favorite all-time) pair of glasses.
In a place that I looked at least five times.
I hate when that alternate dimension thing kicks in…
The reason I found the eyeglasses is because I decided to do something productive for a change and do a major, furniture-moving uvacuum job in the living room. I did not do the treadmill, run to the thrift store, haul jars of SHTF food upstairs, run the SHTF-kitchen, do book work, and go to Latin class. But, yet, I’m still… Read more »
Those not living in our area may not be aware that – after the relentlessly brutal triple digit summer finally broke a few weeks ago – we have still have spent the better part of September with high temps 6-10 degrees above normal for September. Go away, Summer. Take your brutal self down to Australia for a while and go… Read more »
My favorite weather guesser is teasing the arrival of recognizable fall weather next Friday.
Texpat @ 5:50pm
Oh, well. I subsequently commented on the same story.
Heh.
Poor Dr. Phil.
I think WordPress recognizes Super Dave and Dr phil as the subversives that they really are.
Hey! After four months I found my missing (and favorite all-time) pair of glasses. In a place that I looked at least five times. Under Fay’s recliner. (Which I have only sat in twice in the last 15 months. Because it is the most uncomfortable chair on the planet.) Im glad to have them available as a back up, now.… Read more »
Well, this is pretty weird. This comment along with a repeat 5 minutes later mysteriously appeared in the Trash File in the dashboard. It is a week old, but has not been there. I try to check the Trash File everyday because WordPress now likes to throw random comments straight in there without sending them to the Pending File for… Read more »
One of the lead stories on the CBS evening news tonight was about the murder of a beloved local Baltimore, MD CEO murdered by a Revolving Door Perpetrator repeatedly released by local prosecutors/judges…..and how angry the local populace and Dem officials are about it.
Eat it, you basturds.
Texpat Re: Today’s OC I need to get the book. The Scots-Irish immigrant story is so rich. A woman from Bellville (whose name I cannot recall) wrote a book about her family heritage which is a story of the Scots-Irish immigrants to America. It is such a great story that I think we should produce a movie about it, now… Read more »
Thats really good news for kids with present fathers.
Universal School Choice will have the best impact on kids with fathers-in-absentia.
Bones
I suppose if a stolen Tesla is crashed into a tree, incinerated perps could be counted as a plus.
Re: Tree Problems Indeed. Tree deaths are really showing up again – just like in 2011. I’ve lost an ancient multi-trunk yaupon that has been struggling since the BIG FREEZE. No big loss, but it doesn’t get any more Native than yaupon around here. A really nice, young 5” Live Oak near our community lake is dying. Lots of old… Read more »
#38 Shannon: But the e-cars are so much more environmentally friendly?!?
Electric Vehicle Car Fires It’s the kind of blaze that veteran Chief Palmer Buck of The Woodlands Township Fire Department in suburban Houston compared to “a trick birthday candle.” On April 17, when firefighters responded to a 911 call at around 9:30 p.m., they came upon a Tesla Model S that had crashed, killing two people, and was now on… Read more »
Too much fun. And their voices!
Here’s a headline that’ll make Christie cringe:
Donald Trump declared WINNER of second Republican debate in Daily Mail poll – even though he stayed away
Maybe Trump should be charging rent for all that space in their heads where he’s living 24/7. He could use it for his legal defense fund.
Here’s one solution to the Chinese invasion of our schools: Dads running homeschooling increases Job flexibility and changing gender roles are leading to more fathers home schooling their kids. I can’t see anything but good coming from this. Kids need their fathers to lead them, as well as their mothers. And keeping the kids out of the reach of the… Read more »
I have chicken vegetable soup made, using some of my dried veggies, but dangit, I forgot to run upstairs for some of that zucchini that I wanted to throw in. /fuming I guess I can add it in when I reheat the soup. Or in the next batch. The soup is in multiple pans, pre-freezing. I’ve cleaned Elsa out –… Read more »
Bones – I found two of yours in the trash, not the spittoon. They have been freed, and are flying on the wings of eagles