Born Fighting (38 page)

ALSO BY JAMES WEBB

Fields of Fire

A Sense of Honor

A Country Such as This

Something to Die For

The Emperor’s General

Lost Soldiers

Praise for
Born Fighting

“A tour de force . . . just as Webb stood up to the elites who peddled falsehoods about the Vietnam veteran, he now takes them on about this important group as well.”

—
National Review
online

“James Webb has written what may be the first of its kind: a scholarly book that polishes the tarnished image of America’s bubbas and rednecks . . . provocative.”

—
Houston Chronicle

“James Webb reveals the all-but-invisible ethnic group that has created the core beliefs of democracy American-style: our rights come from God, not the Government; all of us are born equal, and ‘born aristocrats’ don’t exist; and tread on either of those two truths, and we’ll fight you down to the last unbroken hyoid bone. The Scots-Irish, for such is their name, have fought all our wars for us, including Vietnam. James Webb was there, and he can count. He has written not only an engrossing story but also an important work of sociological history in the tradition of the great James Graham Leyburn.”

—Tom Wolfe

“Pugnacious, bibulous, restless, pious: the Scots-Irish have fueled stereotypes and filled the White House, to say nothing of the ranks of the military . . . Webb does a fine job of tracing the Scots-Irish . . . from antiquity to the American Revolution . . . There’s plenty of good information and interpretation, amplifying David Hackett Fischer’s indispensable
Albion’s Seed
(1989) and Arthur Herman’s
How the Scots Invented the Modern World
.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

“James Webb writes like Scots-Irish warriors take to the battlefield—with power and purpose, with courage and clarity.
Born Fighting
delights and inspires; in reading it I learned more about my nation, my family, and myself. James Webb is a Warrior-Poet, and he has written an extraordinary book.”

—Randall Wallace, author of
Braveheart
and
Love and Honor

“In telling the story of the Scots-Irish in America as a robust and passionate tale, novelist Webb writes a straightforward, no-nonsense, readable history that clips right along while it is also very personal and highly idiosyncratic . . . popular history at its finest.”

—
Booklist

“Webb does an admirable job of separating the Scots-Irish from both the British and the Irish, while outlining the profound impact they have had on American history.”

—
Irish America

“
Born Fighting
not only dispels many of the myths surrounding the Scots-Irish but helps this disparate group understand its own contributions to America. Through Webb’s engrossing depiction of Scots-Irish history, the reader gains an understanding of how they, through their acute individualism, disdain for aristocracy, and strong warrior traditions have come to shape America’s military, working class, and even our peculiarly unique form of populist democracy. In short, Webb has shed new light on what it might mean to be a redneck.”

—
San Antonio Express-News

“Webb’s book serves as a vigorous contribution to the debate on American and Southern history.”

—
Charleston Post and Courier

A hardcover edition of this book was published in 2004 by Broadway Books.

BORN FIGHTING.
Copyright © 2004 by James Webb. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

For information, address Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

BROADWAY BOOKS
and its logo, a letter B bisected on the diagonal, are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Visit our website at
www.broadwaybooks.com

First trade paperback edition published 2005.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as:

Webb, James H.

Born fighting : how the Scots-Irish shaped America / James Webb.—1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Scots-Irish—United States—History. 2. United States—Ethnic relations I. Title.

E184.S4W43    2004

973'.049162—dc22                                            2004045741

eISBN: 978-0-7679-2295-1

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