Born Fighting: How The Scotsirish Shaped America,New

In His First Work Of Nonfiction, Bestselling Novelist James Webb Tells The Epic Story Of The Scotsirish, A People Whose Lives And Worldview Were Dictated By Resistance, Conflict, And Struggle, And Who, In Turn, Profoundly Influenced The Social, Political, And Cultural Landscape Of America From Its Beginnings Through The Present Day.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 Englands Ulster Plantation In Northern Ireland. Between 250,000 And 400,000 Scotsirish 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 Scotsirish Defined The Attitudes And Values Of The Military, Of Working Class America, And Even Of The Peculiarly Populist Form Of American Democracy Itself.Born Fighting Is The First Book To Chronicle The Full Journey Of This Remarkable Cultural Group, And The Profound, But Unrecognized, Role It Has Played In The Shaping Of America. Written With The Storytelling Verve That Has Earned His Works Such Acclaim As Captivating . . . Unforgettable (The Wall Street Journal On Lost Soliders), Scotsirishman James Webb, Vietnam Combat Veteran And Former Naval Secretary, Traces The History Of His People, Beginning Nearly Two Thousand Years Ago At Hadrians Wall, When The Nation Of Scotland Was Formed North Of The Wall Through Armed Conflict In Contrast To Englands Formation To The South Through Commerce And Trade. Webb Recounts The Scots Odysseytheir Clashes With The English In Scotland And Then In Ulster, Their Retreat From One Warravaged Land To Another. Through Engrossing Chronicles Of The Challenges The Scotsirish Faced, Webb Vividly Portrays How They Developed The Qualities That Helped Settle The American Frontier And Define The American Character.Born Fighting Shows That The Scotsirish 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 Scotsirish 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 Scotsirish Culture Of Isolation, Hard Luck, Stubbornness, And Mistrust Of The Nations Elite Formed And Still Dominates Bluecollar America, The Military Services, The Bible Belt, And Country Music.Both A Distinguished Work Of Cultural History And A Human Drama That Speaks Straight To The Heart Of Contemporary America, Born Fighting Reintroduces America To Its Most Powerful, Patriotic, And Individualistic Cultural Groupone Too Often Ignored Or Taken For Granted.