Myers, Jr., Liberty Without Anarchy - A History Of The Society Of The Cincinnati

Abstract

This is an unrevised reprint of Myers's study of the Society of the Cincinnati first published in 1983. The only new material is a short Foreword by Jay Wayne Jackson, President General of the Society of the Cincinnati, discussing the commendable career of the late Dr. Myers and, very briefly, the history of the Society in the years since the book first appeared. The Foreword is inconsequential as a contribution to understanding the Society.

Myers was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati-in addition to being a political scientist, professor, and university president at the time of his death-but his membership does not seem to have skewed his work on the first Society-formed out of the Continental Army officer corps in the aftermath of the Newburgh Conspiracy. It might have colored his view of the current society and its origins, as I will develop below. This is a well-researched, nicely written study of an important organization that has not received the attention it deserves. This is especially true of the Society that emerged from the War for Independence.