Duty First: A Year in the Life of West Point and the Making of American Leaders [Paperback]

Duty First is a penetrating account of a year inside one of America's premier schools for leadership -- the United States Military Academy -- as it celebrates the bicentennial of its founding. Ed Ruggero, a former West Point cadet and professor, takes an incisive look at how this elite school builds the leaders of character who will command the nation's military.

Writing with deep insight and superb narrative skill, Ruggero follows the cadet's tumultuous lives: the initial grueling training; the strict student hierarchy and intense classroom work; and the interaction between the lowly first-year plebes and the upper-class cadets who train them. Duty First also shows the role played by the majors, captains, and sergeants, who oversee everything that happens at this unique institution.

Duty Firstis a penetrating account of a year inside one of America's premier schools for leadership -- the United States Military Academy -- as it celebrates the bicentennial of its founding. Ed Ruggero, a former West Point cadet and professor, takes an incisive look at how this elite school builds the leaders of character who will command the nation's military.

Writing with deep insight and superb narrative skill, Ruggero follows the cadet's tumultuous lives: the initial grueling training; the strict student hierarchy and intense classroom work; and the interaction between the lowly first-year plebes and the upper-class cadets who train them.Duty Firstalso shows the role played by the majors, captains, and sergeants, who oversee everything that happens at this unique institution.

Ruggero vividly documents a sea-change in the academys attitude toward leadership training& He is a keen observer with a knack for penetrating cadet culture and individual lives. -Washington Post

By turns highly informative and critical, Ed Ruggeros Duty First is a fascinating and revealing look at Americas pló%