The Story of the American Legion: The Birth of the Legion

Wheat, George Seay, 1886-1937Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.9

Word count: 351K words
Chapters: 36

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Story of The American Legion: The Birth of the Legion by George Seay WheatAuthor: Wheat, George Seay, 1886-1937,Language: English, Class: D501: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: World War I (1914-1918), Release Date: Dec 26, 2004

Editor's review

This book focuses on the history surrounding the birth of The American Legion, the veterans' organization. The author, George Seay Wheat, uses a narrative approach to trace its founding background and early years, making it a firsthand narrative source on American society and military history after World War I. Its readability comes from the way it lays out specific people and events, letting readers sense the practical considerations and the atmosphere of the era in the postwar organization of veterans. As a Project Gutenberg public-domain e-book, it is easy to obtain and suitable as supplementary reading for the study of American history, war, and social organizations. Note that the author writes from within his own context and the narrative carries a certain stance, so readers should compare it with other historical sources. It can be read as an entry window into early twentieth-century American veterans' affairs and the rise of civic organizations, rather than as a comprehensive scholarly verdict.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in American history and the social history of the post-World War I era
Beginners studying the history of veterans' organizations and civic groups
History students needing public-domain English source material for reading practice
General readers who enjoy narrative history

Not a good fit for

Researchers expecting systematic scholarly verification and detailed annotations
Readers concerned only with contemporary veterans' policy
Readers uncomfortable with the original English or the early twentieth-century narrative style

Reading tips

Read the opening chapters that set out the founding background first, clarify the timeline and main figures, then move on to specific events.
While reading, consult background material on American society after World War I to help understand what drove the organization's birth.
Pay attention to the author's stance and wording, and jot down points that can be compared with other sources.
Read closely the chapters directly about the organization's founding, and skim the rest to grasp the overall thread.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What period of history does this book cover?

It mainly covers the history around the founding of The American Legion, set against American society after the end of World War I. It describes how this veterans' organization took shape and was born, as part of early twentieth-century American military and social history.

Is the narrative stance objective?

The author writes from within his own era, and the text carries the stance and leanings of its time; it should not be taken as a fully neutral scholarly verdict. Readers are advised to treat it as a historical narrative with a point of view and to compare it with other relevant sources to form their own judgment.

Can I understand it without a background in American history?

You can follow the general sense, but without knowing about American society and the situation of veterans after World War I, some background will seem abrupt. It is worth spending a little time on the basic historical context before entering the narrative; understanding will be smoother.

Is this book suitable for academic citation?

It can be consulted as an early narrative source, but it is not a modern scholarly work with detailed annotations. For formal research citations, verify against primary documents and other authoritative studies rather than relying on this book's wording alone.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Wheat, George Seay, 1886-1937 Author · American · 1886–1937

George Seay Wheat (1886–1937) was an American author. Public information about his life is limited; what can be confirmed is that he wrote historical works on the Texas Revolution and the Alamo. One of his books is held in this collection, The Story of The American Legion: The Birth of the Legion, which recounts the founding of the American Legion. This suggests an interest in American military and historical subjects, with a narrative style of popular history writing aimed at general readers and focused on tracing the sequence of events rather than on scholarly investigation. Owing to limited sources, his education, professional career, and the full arc of his writing life await further verification; this note is based only on the available bibliographic information.