The Making of a Military Historian

Under Construction

No, the kid in the picture isn't me.  In fact the picture's a birthday card my brother sent me some years ago.  But you'd be surprised how many times people think it's me.  Or maybe you wouldn't.  One thing about us military historians, we sure get stereotyped.

I have created this page partly to challenge the stereotypes concerning military historians, and partly to challenge stereotypes concerning academics.  For years now my web site has attracted a modest but steady stream of visitors.  Some of them will read one of the essays on the "Dialogue in Military History" page and get the itch to write me.  Although I enjoy such encounters, they are usually directed less toward anything I've said than toward assumptions about the kind of person I'd have to be in order to be an academic.  In other words, projection, in the psychodynamic sense of the term, takes a large hand.  I assume that a modest working knowledge of me will help undercut this tendency.  Anyway, it's worth a try.

I've divided The Making of a Military Historian into six areas.  The links are given below.  As for the contents of those areas, I'll get to them as and when I can.

Formative Experiences (1959-1976)

Kent State:  The Shootings and the "Move the Gym" Controversy (1977)

Christianity (1980- )

The Army National Guard (1983-1991)

Educational Experiences (1978- )

Life Experiences (1959- )

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