author
Robert C. (Robert Charlwood) Richardson
1882–1954
A career Army officer and later a four-star general, he also wrote a vivid early account of West Point life. His writing carries the authority of someone who knew the academy from the inside and had already seen military service firsthand.
1 Audiobook
West Point An Intimate Picture of the National Military Academy and of the Life of the Cadet
by Robert C. (Robert Charlwood) Richardson
About the author
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1882, Robert Charlwood Richardson Jr. graduated from West Point in 1904 and went on to a long U.S. Army career that included service in the Philippines, World War I, and World War II. He later became one of the senior American commanders in the Pacific and served as military governor of Hawaii during the war.
Alongside his military career, Richardson wrote West Point: An Intimate Picture of the National Military Academy and of the Life of the Cadet. The book stands out because it combines personal familiarity with the academy and a clear interest in explaining its traditions, discipline, and daily routines to general readers.
Richardson died in Rome in 1954. Remembered chiefly as a prominent Army leader, he also left behind a firsthand portrait of West Point that still appeals to readers curious about the culture of the military academy in the early twentieth century.