Category: interview

20th century military history book – “The Palgrave Handbook of Artistic and Cultural Responses to War since 1914” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018) – Margaret Baguley and Martin Kirby interview

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Martin Kirby and Margaret Baguley are two of three Australian academics who have been editing a new book exploring how war since 1914 has been represented in the arts in Australasia, the US, and in the British Isles. I spoke with Margaret and Martin about the book.

1:45 – Martin and Margaret talk about how they got into studying WWI and military history. Martin talks about how the movie Zulu affected him.

5:16 – Margaret talks about how she grew up in a small town and how important ANZAC day was to her community.

10:28 – Martin walks about the book. It started as a look at Australian art but expanded to include other national experiences. It covers the US, the British Isles, and Australasia. They look at official art, movies, photos, poets, and may other artistic responses to conflict and war.

24:45 – Margaret and Martin talk about what artworks commemorate, attack war, or are neutral about war.

33:45 – Martin and Margaret talk about art aimed at children and how they discuss it in their book. They also touch on the part of the book that look at games and digital technology that deal with military history.

53:13 – Margaret was surprised at finding out details of how official war art was created. She was also disturbed to learn that among their artist peers, war artists were sometimes thought of as having sold out.

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: Margaret Baguley and Martin Kirby

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, Zulu War, WWI, WWII, Australia, US, UK, art, combat art

WWII history book – “Soldiers of a Different Cloth” (University of Notre Dame Press, 2018) – John Wukovits interview

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John Wukovits has been studying, teaching, and writing history for over thirty years. His focus is WWII and we spoke about his latest book on Notre Dame chaplains who served in WWII.

1:17 – John talks about how he got into writing this book. He’s been writing books on WWII for 25 years. These chaplains were on many fronts and one even parachuted into Normandy. He tells the story of 35 Notre Dame missionaries and chaplains.

4:00 – John focused on 4 or 5 main [characters] chaplains but he also touches on the rest of the chaplains.

6:30 – John talks about the civilian capacities of these chaplains before they entered the war.

9:00 – The chaplains had to do the same basic training as all the younger soldiers they’d be serving.

14:30 – Father Joe Barry is one of the main persons discussed in the book. He went through many battles and ended up in prison. He received lots of praise from his fellow soldiers.

25:55 – The chaplains’ letters were often not very censored when sent back to the US. John found that many of these letters hadn’t been read by other historians.

27:00 – John talks about a parachute rescue of some missionaries in the Philippines. A couple of chaplains were on the Bataan Death march.

31:15 – John talks about a chaplain who jumped into France with the 101st and what he encountered. The chaplain met one of the Niland brothers and found the grave of another brother.

47:30 – John tells a story about Father Barry hearing a soldier talk the night before a big battle. The next day Father Barry held the same dying soldier in his arms.

58:17 – John has a website, johnwukovits.com. He’ll also sign books bought from his website.

Links of interest

https://johnwukovits.com/

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: John Wukovits

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, WWII, World War II, Notre Dame, chaplains, diocese, Los Banos, Philippines

Vietnam War history book – “Road to Disaster” (Custom House, 2018) – Brian VanDeMark interview

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Dr. Brian VanDeMark is a historian who has assisted two US Secretaries of Defense with their autobiographies. He teaches history at the US Naval Academy. We spoke about his latest book on decision making by senior leaders during the Vietnam War.

1:16 – Brian talks about how he became interested in writing on the Vietnam War starting from his childhood. He helped former Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford write his autobiography. He taught at the Naval Academy and then helped Robert McNamara with his autobiography.

5:45 – Brian talks about the book and how he organized it. Organizational behavior is one of the things he analyzes in this history.

11:00 – Brian talks about the decision making environments in the White House and the Pentagon.

18:00 – Brian talks about how he determined what the most important turning points of the period were.

26:57 – Brian talks about the materials he used to do his research.

31:44 – Brian explains how he interviewed senior decision makers who had been involved with the Vietnam War.

40:24 – We talk about security measures for public figures then and now.

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: Brian VanDeMark

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, Robert McNamara, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War, Operations Research, leadership