"This book examines the Reserve Officers Training Corps program as a distinctively American expression of the social, cultural, and political meanings of military service.".

"Most modern military systems educate and train junior officers at insular academies like West Point, but that of the United States has relied extensively on the active cooperation of its civilian colleges. Michael Neiberg argues that the creation of officer education programs on civilian campuses emanates from a traditional American belief (which he traces to the colonial period) in the active participation of civilians in military affairs."--BOOK JACKET.