2015-2016 Military Classics Seminar Schedule
2 September 2015, 18:42
Filed under:
Conferences | Tags:
Alan Turing,
Alistair Horne,
Andrew Hodges,
Arthur Conger,
Carl von Clausewitz,
Christopher Bassford,
Daniel Moran,
Enigma,
Erik Villard,
Gregory A. Daddis,
Gregory W. Pedlow,
Jon Sumida,
Katherine C. Epstein,
Lawrence Freedman,
Mark Mandeles,
Michael Bigelow,
Military-Industrial Complex,
Pacific War,
Paul Jankowski,
Perry Jamieson,
Richard Overy,
Robert Goldich,
Ron Spector,
Saburō Ienaga,
Stan Falk,
Strategic Bombing,
U.S. Grant,
Verdun,
Vietnam,
Walton Moody,
Waterloo,
William Westmoreland,
World War IIAs I’ve noted before, I stumbled upon the Military Classics Seminar about a year ago and it’s the group I’ve been looking for the last twenty years. Each month, we gather in the Officers’ Club at Fort Myer to have a few drinks, enjoy dinner and hear someone give an oral review of a military history book. Some are classics, but some are more modern. Of course, the grandest benefit of attending is meeting your peers. There are military historians from every branch, authors of all kinds, retired military officers and interested amateurs like myself. Some of the greatest benefit to the meetings is the discussion between the attendees throughout the evening. It wanders across all periods of history, including sometimes dealing with personal experiences, and across all kinds of topics.
The dinners cost $35 and there’s a book raffle (I always put in an extra $5 and come away with a book a few times a year). We gather at 5:30pm for a social hour, followed by dinner at 6:30pm and the presentation at 7:30pm. To get onto Fort Myer, you need to use the Hatfield Gate unless you have a military ID. They will do an ID check and a routine inspection of your vehicle.
Make your reservation no later than the Wednesday prior to the meeting by replying Eric Joyce at this e-mail address militaryclassics@gmail.com or to Bob Goldich by phone at (703) 359-1074. Pay for the meal with check or cash ($35) at the entrance to the meeting room at Ft. Myer. Those who make a reservation and do not show are still obligated for the cost of the dinner.
2015-2016 Schedule
September 15, 2015
Overy, Richard. The Bombing War: Europe, 1939-1945. 2013.
Speaker: Walton Moody, Retired Historian
October 20, 2015
Saburō Ienaga, The Pacific War, 1931-1945: A Critical Perspective on Japan’s Role in World War II. 1978.
Speaker: Stan Falk, Independent Historian
November 17, 2015
Conger, Arthur. The Rise of U.S. Grant. 1931.
Speaker: Perry Jamieson, Independent Historian
January 19, 2016
Carl von Clausewitz, On Waterloo: Clausewitz, Wellington, and the Campaign of 1815. Transl. & ed. by Christopher Bassford, Daniel Moran, and Gregory W. Pedlow. 2010.
Speaker: Jon Sumida, Professor of History, University of Maryland, College Park
February 16, 2016
Daddis, Gregory A. Westmoreland’s War: Reassessing American Strategy in Vietnam. 2014.
Speaker: Erik Villard, Historian, U.S. Army Center of Military History
March 15, 2016
Hodges, Andrew. Alan Turing: The Enigma. 2014.
Speaker: Michael Bigelow, Command Historian, U.S. Army INSCOM
April 19, 2016
Dual selection: Alistair Horne, The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916. 1961, rev. ed. 1994, and Paul Jankowski, Verdun. 2014.
Speaker: Robert Goldich, Independent Historian
May 17, 2016
Katherine C. Epstein, Torpedo: Inventing the Military-Industrial Complex in the United States and Great Britain. 2014.
Speaker: Mark Mandeles, President, The J. de Bloch Group
June 21, 2016
Lawrence Freedman, Strategy: A History. 2013.
Speaker: Ron Spector, Prof. of History and International Relations; George Washington University
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Military Classics Seminar Series
26 September 2014, 09:18
Filed under:
Conferences,
Marines,
Navy,
Officers,
Veterans,
WWI,
WWII | Tags:
Arthur M. Eckstein,
Barbara Tuchman,
Charles Neimeyer,
Counterinsurgency,
David Ucko,
David Ulbrich,
David W. Hogan Jr.,
Edward N. Luttwak,
Eliot Cohen,
Gian Gentile,
Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Luigi Albertini,
Mark Mandeles,
Max Hastings,
Richard Kohn,
Rick Atkinson,
Roman Empire,
Steven L. Rearden,
Thomas Holcomb,
Thomas Parker,
Tom Julian,
Tracy Barrett Kittredge,
Walter S. PooleLast Tuesday, I attended a seminar session that’s part of the Military Classics Seminar series. The MCS is now in it’s 57th year and, shockingly, this is the first I’ve heard of it. They meet on the 2nd Tuesday of every month from September to June at the Fort Myer Officer’s Club for a dinner, a speech about a book (or a pair of books) and discussion. For my first meeting, the topic was David Ulbrich’s book, Preparing for Victory: Thomas Holcomb and the Making of the Modern Marine Corps, 1936–1943, published by the Naval Institute Press, and the speaker was Dr Charles Neimeyer of the Marine Corps University.
It was a fantastic event. The group contains many retired military officers and historians – so, exactly the people who are interested in what I and the readers of this blog are interested in. They are quite friendly to first timers, so don’t hesitate to attend. They do have a website, but the skinny is, send an email about a week in advance to Eric Joyce at this e-mail address militaryclassics@gmail.com and bring your $35 when you arrive on the second floor for cocktails at 5:30pm, dinner, the book talk and discussion. Expect to finish around 9:00pm and bring a few dollars for the open bar and a few for the book raffle (I won a book on Holcomb’s battalion, 2/6, in WWI).
I’ve been looking for a group of like-minded individuals interested in the broad expanse of military history for quite some time. So, I’ve found a home!
This year’s schedule:
October 21, 2014
Gian Gentile, Wrong Turn: America’s Deadly Embrace of Counterinsurgency. New York: The New Press, 2011.
Speaker: David Ucko, Associate Professor at the College of International Security Affairs, National Defense University
November 18, 2014
Dual selection: Max Hastings, Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War. New York: Knopf, 2013; and Barbara Tuchman, The Guns of August (1962).
Speaker: Dr. Thomas Parker, George Washington University
January 20, 2015
Steven L. Rearden, Council of War: A History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1942–1991. Washington, D.C.: Joint History Office, 2012.
Speaker: Walter S. Poole, OSD Historical Office
February 17, 2015
Rick Atkinson, The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944–1945, vol. 3 of The Liberation Trilogy. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2013.
Speaker: David W. Hogan, Jr., US Army Center of Military History
March 17, 2015
Richard Kohn, Eagle and Sword: The Beginnings of the Military Establishment in America (1975) (Free Press, paper, 1985). [reviewed 1980]
Speaker: Eliot Cohen, Robert E. Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies, The Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
April 21, 2015
Edward N. Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire: From the First Century A.D. to the Third. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976. [reviewed 1978]
Speaker: Arthur M. Eckstein, Professor of History and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, University of Maryland, College Park
May 19, 2015
Luigi Albertini, The Origins of the War of 1914. London; New York, Oxford University Press, 1952-57.
Speaker: Tom Julian, Independent Historian
June 16, 2015
Tracy Barrett Kittredge, Naval Lessons of the Great War. Garden City: Doubleday, Page & Co. 1921.
Speaker: Mark Mandeles, President, The J. de Bloch Group
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