Chris Lombardi

Legacy Of Power. So I blatantly ripped off the title of my favorite episode of Power Rangers ever for the title of this review. It fits. In that episode (a decade old now), the new Rangers of that season are shown a video detailing where the show has been up until them, from the original Mighty Morphin (OG Rangers that came into the zeitgeist in the mid 1990s) through the previous season's Ninja Storm. This book does the exact same thing for service members who dissent from killing people or assisting efforts to kill people. It traces the history from the earliest days of Europeans in America (at least the British variants of them), including the French and Indian (aka Seven Years', for the Continentals) Wars through some of the most current modern dissenters (with particular focus on Bradley/ Chelsea Manning). Indeed, the one glaring omission here seems to be Edward Snowden, though perhaps his case is just different enough to be outside the specific scope of this text. Still, in most other cases where this happens - a group or individual opposes war, but for reasons or in situations different from the very specific situation the author chooses to pursue here - such groups are usually mentioned and quickly dismissed. Which makes the Snowden case being missing all the more glaring. Regardless, a well documented tome highlighting quite a bit of history that many Americans - particularly of the post-WWII and post-Vietnam eras - have likely never heard of. Which makes it that much more important, and that much more powerful in terms of a "Legacy of Power" look at nearly 300 years of history of dissent among American soldiers (and sailors, and Airmen, and Marines, and... whatever the hell they're gonna call the Space Force people). Very much recommended.… (mer)