The proud and the few come to life in words and images in this new history of the U. S. Marine Corps. Based on extensive research and filled with more than two hundred illustrations, the book provides a comprehensive warts-and-all study and a celebration of the exploits of a colorfully unique armed service. A retired Marine lieutenant colonel and a well-known scholar--both accomplished authors and former history professors at the U.S. Naval Academy--have teamed up to create this carefully balanced account. The work covers in detail not only the epic battles of the world wars and harrowing struggles in Vietnam and Korea, but the formative years of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Readers will find thrilling tales of the Continental Marines fighting for American independence and a revealing account of the interactions of the USMC and CSMC during the Civil War as well as the awe-inspiring, bloody struggle for Iwo Jima and the legendary fighting withdrawal in Korea at Chosin. Many of the personalities presented are familiar--among them Chesty Puller, Smedley Butler, and Archibald Henderson--but new names, faces, and deeds emerge as the authors probe deeply into Marine history. A few classic photographs are included, but many illustrations appear for the first time or are reprinted from seldom-seen nineteenth-century sources. While avoiding the sensationalistic, the images often capture the true horrors of war in stark detail. Historians and Leathernecks alike will find much to savor in this lively, fresh telling of a classic tale. AUTHOR: Merrill L. Bartlett, a retired Marine officer with service in Vietnam and the Fleet Marine Force, is the author of Lejeune: A Marine's Life and editor of Assault from the Sea: Essays on the History of Amphibious Warfare. Jack Sweetman, winner of the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Literary Achievement, has written many books, including American Naval History and Great American Naval Battles.