Born Fighting (How the Scots-Irish Shaped America)

A while back I promised to review this book, written by James Webb, who is currently a candidate for the Democratic nomination to challenge Senator Allen. Born Fighting is an enjoyable read, filled with concise historical sketches, including particularly good chapters on William Wallace (the hero of Braveheart) and on the North Carolina battles of the Revolutionary War (Cowpens and Kings Mountain).

There is plenty of Virginia in the book. Webb's ancestors emigrated from Ireland (from the Ulster Plantation of Northern Ireland, two generations removed from Scotland) in the early 1700s and sailed to Pennsylvania, where they walked south to the hills of Western and Southwest Virginia. Some of his ancestors are buried in Rockbridge and Scott counties. The book resonated for me, as my ancestors left Ireland in the same wave of immigration, stopping for a while in Augusta County before heading down to Western North Carolina.

The history is sound and well told. Webb constantly refers to the three-tiered society of old Virginia-- the Eastern elites from England, the rough Western Scotch-Irish (he dislikes this term, preferring Scots-Irish) pioneers, and the African slaves. The Scotch Irish are tough, pious, and they mistrust Authority, unless that authority is military. They are incredibly brave and loyal soldiers. Webb thinks that these characteristics have morphed into the stereotypical American so-called "redneck," regardless of his ethnic origins.

The book has a prominent blurb from Tom Wolfe, which is fitting and proper, because (in my opinion) the thesis of the book was originally stated in Wolfe's famous Esquire piece "The Last American Hero Is Junior Johnson. Yes! " (sic) This page, particularly, lays out the thesis that Webb runs with: (excerpt follows:)

"With all this isolation, the mountain people began to take on certain characteristics normally associated, by the diffident civilizations of today, with tribes. There was a strong sense of family, clan and honor. People would cut and shoot each other up over honor. And physical courage! They were almost like Turks that way.

In the Korean War, not a very heroic performance by American soldiers generally, there were seventy-eight Medal of Honor winners. Thirty-nine of them were from the South, and practically all of the thirty-nine were from small towns in or near the Appalachians. The New York metropolitan area, which has more people than all these towns put together, had three Medal of Honor winners, and one of them had just moved to New York from the Appalachian region of West Virginia."

Webb takes Wolfe's "rural bravery" and attributes it to ethnicity rather than to isolation. (Personally, I think Wolfe was closer to right than Webb).

Webb himself is a Vietnam war hero who became an Assistant Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy. The book is, in part, an eloquent piece of praise to his family.

What do I think of his thesis that the Scots-Irish created the American "redneck?" I suppose that there is some truth to this theory, but I doubt that it as clear cut as Webb makes it out to be. I think the elements of the Scots-Irish can be shown to parallel the traits of rural American, but I suspect that the same book could be written based upon other rough and ready rural cultures from anywhere.

Any reservations I have about his general theory do not serve to recommend against reading the book. Webb, in the book and in his campaign, argues in favor of tough, Andrew Jacksonian leaders. It will be interesting to see if he can get anywhere with his campaign; developments like the one in today's news seem to suggest that he may be tilting at windmills.