![]() But also much of it is a shared human experience.” His book is an attempt “to trace the great arcs of connection that leap across the centuries.” That said, Stephenson never lets his readers forget, “Reading about combat and death is radically different from experiencing combat and death.” Citing soldier-authors such as Guy Sajer ( The Forgotten Soldier) and Siegfried Sassoon ( Memoirs of an Infantry Officer), Stephenson reminds us of the line in the sand only those who have experienced combat may cross. Yet the mechanisms and conditions by which soldiers die in battle have changed markedly over time, as cultures, war-fighting practices and especially military technology have evolved.Īs Michael Stephenson notes in the preface to The Last Full Measure: “Soldiers die in the style of their times. Killing is what makes war what it is-it is its essential element, its first principle. Some come through war without a scratch, at least outwardly. People all too often regard wars as glorious and heroic adventures, though seldom those who have experienced combat firsthand and lived to tell about it. Warfare is a constant thread running through the experience of human history. ![]() The Last Full Measure: How Soldiers Die in Battle, by Michael Stephenson, Crown Publishers, New York, 2012, $28 ![]() Book Review: The Last Full Measure, by Michael Stephenson Close ![]()
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