Rating: 
Summary: wonderful even if you are not a Marine
Review: I bought this book as a gift for a Marine friend and ended up reading it myself. This book is a eye-opening introduction to the uninitiated and does a wonderful job of showing how modern Marines are molded during training. Ricks does a masterful job explaining the complex process of shaping disparate young men into a cohesive fighting unit. I highly recommend this book if you have Marine friends and want to gain some insight into their attitudes and values.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book!
Review: This book is a very interesting book. It is great writing, and is really interesting until the last 30 or so pages, which drone on and on and on about political and military stuff.
Rating: 
Summary: worth reading
Review: This book gave an interesting account of several Marine recruits' trials of boot camp. I thought this book started off great and then sputtered out in the end. Too much politically/military theory in the final chapters make this book come to a grinding halt. Otherwise, I would still recommend this to anybody interested in boot camp, Marines, or the military in general.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but Dated
Review: At the time it was written, MAKING THE CORPS was the finest work I had seen on the basic training of US Marines. My cousin read it just before leaving for Paris Island and was able to vouch for much of the book. However, in recent years, there has been a surge of material related to Basic Training. Recently, the Discovery Channel released two videos on Recruit Training in the Marines: one at San Diego and one for Paris Island. They make up for where MAKING THE CORPS lacks. For one thing, they view the two hubs of training, which are vastly different. Ask any Marine. Second, they focus more on training exercises than MTC. They also have more pictures. However, MTC does have strong points. First, it shows the interrelation the Marines to the other branches of service (the Army and their RTC in particular). Second, it gives you more a cultural feel for the Marines than the Discovery Channel's Behind the Scenes specials do. Third, it follows the stories of individuals going through basic, something the book does very, very well. It also follows many of their first years as Marines. The book is well worth the read, simply because you get a more in-depth feel for Recruit Training as it is done at Paris Island. It is also not terrible taxing to read and, in general, will captivate your attention through its style and presentation. It is defiantly worth the buy, especially for an historical perspective on Recruit Training, which has undergone much change in the past five years.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good I gave it to my nephew who may join
Review: The first chapters of this book are great. The last chapter is pitiful. The author has an excellent ability to report as he shows in the majority of the book but in his final chapter he observes the obvious and concludes the ridiculous. The first portion of the book describes the training a recruit receives or rather the training a particular platoon received. I enjoyed this work a great deal. As a former Marine who spent a summer at PI it brought back a lot of memories. I had the honor to meet General Al Gray when I returned from a cruise off the coast of Lebanon. The warrior mentality he (and Webb) brought back to the Corps described in this book was long overdue. The method of following the platoon and describing the actions of both the DI and the recruit is a fine device. It provided me with an insight into the other side of boot camp that I would not have. The description of boot camp seems excellent. A great deal has changed in the last twenty years as the author clearly describes. The last chapter of the book moves from a descriptive mode of what occurred to a speculative mode of why the split between the military and the greater society is increasing. The author spends a great deal of the chapter bemoaning the political activity of the military. The military is described as conservative and the media as "antiauthoritarian". We are then treated with a discussion of how while the military has always been conservative it is to be feared that they are now (gasp!) voting. The entire discussion is of how the split is growing and the actions of the military. No discussion at all is offered of how the media or other "antiauthoritarian" elitist groups are moving. To mention over and over the clear distinctions of right and wrong on PI and then wonder why the alumni by and large actively oppose a party led by a man who famously debates the meaning of the word "is" to say the least is ironic. All in all this is an excellent book and well worth reading. Especially for former or current Marines.
Rating:
Summary: As a civilian it was an awsome read.
Review: My only complaint is it was written before the crucible. However, it has excellent references and history of the Marines. In addition, the author did an outstanding job recording the thoughts and feelings of each person interviewed. If you are considering joining the Marines, please read this, or if you would like more information on the history of the Marines, this is an excellent reference.
Rating:
Summary: The Theory and Practice of Basic.
Review: I was a soldier, not a marine, and I have always been amused by the pretensions of the Corps. This description of Marine basic from the ground up has a little bit of pepper in it for me, but the report rings true. I would class this book as an important piece of sociology worth being read by journalists who presume to judge the military, by teachers at all levels, and by any citizen who wants to get beyond the hyperbole of military policy.
Rating:
Summary: A must read.
Review: This book hit really close to home for two reasons. I knew one of the Marines from the book. I served with him in the Fleet. Also because this books account of boot camp took place just 3 months before I left for boot camp. This is a great book for anyone that has been in the Corps. or anyone that is thinking about joining. Although there is a overwhelming amount of information about the problems between the Military and Civilian life, but he goes a little overboard in this area. It isn't nearly as bad as he thinks.
Rating:
Summary: First rate reporting, lower grade philosophizing
Review: In terms of the reporting done by the author in following the boot camp platoon, I feel this is a truly first rate effort. The writing is crisp and descriptive and I found the story to be very interesting. I'd recommend it for anyone who has any interest in the Marine Corps or today's military. I knocked my rating of the book down one star because I found the writing toward the end of the book where the author takes on the question of where the Marines Corps is headed to be of lower quality. It didn't seem to me to be as well organized and researched as the rest of the book, and I thought it dragged. Still, I'd easily recommend the book and I'm looking forward to reading the author's new military novel, A Soldier's Duty.
Rating:
Summary: Awsome
Review: This book is by far the best I have read on the subject!!!!
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