Author Spotlight, Doug Feldmann

Doug Feldmann is the author of Gibson's Last Stand: The Rise, Fall, and Near Misses of the St. Louis Cardinals, 1969-1975. He is an Associate Professor in the College of Education at Northern Kentucky University and a part-time scout for the Cincinnati Reds. He is the author of nine books, including El Birdos: The 1967 and 1968 St. Louis Cardinals, and is our current Author Spotlight!

by Brittney Warrick, Publicity Intern

In what ways do you feel the game of baseball has changed the most since Gibson’s last day on the field to present day?

This, ironically, was one of the themes of the book; both Gibson and the Cardinals owner, August Busch Jr., were bemoaning what they envisioned – separately, and for separate reasons – changes that were occurring in baseball by the early to mid-1970s.  For Gibson, it was the dissipation of what he called the “rancor” between the pitcher and the batter… that is, the ability for the pitcher and the batter to resolve on-field disputes themselves, without the umpire constantly jumping in with a warning for a pitch too close, a warning for a threatening tone from the batter, etc.  For Busch, he saw the typical player of the mid-1970s as one of a new breed – that of greed and ungratefulness.  It truly soured his love for the game, and hastened his retreat from running many of the day-to-day operations of the club.

  How would you personally describe the Golden Era of baseball?

In my opinion, the “Golden Era” of baseball would begin in the Great Depression, through World War II and the 1950s, and into the 1960s.  It was a time when ballplayers not only loved and respected the game, but had to watch their money carefully.  For example, in 1934, Cardinals shortstop Leo Durocher was asked to take a 40% salary cut due to the economic times – from $8,500 a year down to $5,000.  Could one imagine a player today accepting a 40% pay cut? (at least without a lot of whining and moaning?)  Likely not!  What is more – the fact that the players during the Great Depression, like so many others in the society, had to fight for any extra nickel they could earn; what this produced was a hard-fought World Series in 1934 (for example) between the Tigers and the Cardinals, in which each player on the winning side would receive an extra $5,800 – money that was desperately needed, even by major leaguers, during this time.  Therefore, fans were thus treated to a hard-fought World Series, with players on both sides giving everything they had.

As a part time scout for the Cincinnati Reds can you explain the process of scouting?

As a part-time scout, I assist full-time scouts in covering some of their geographical area.  With the cuts that many clubs have made to their full-time scouting staffs, some scouts now have to cover the equivalent of two states or more.  If there is a player in my area that the full-time scout would like for me to see, I do so, fill out a report on the player, and send it in to the club.  So, I serve as an extra “set of eyes” in evaluating the given player, helping the organization decide if it would like to select the player during the June amateur draft.

Who are your favorite major leagues sports teams?

My father played for the Cubs and the White Sox in the minor leagues in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and our family was raised mostly Cubs fans on the north side of Chicago (my mother is a Cubs fan as well – even though she was raised in Joliet, Illinois – definitely more of a White Sox town, south of Chicago).  Additionally, my father was raised in southern Illinois, which is Cardinals territory (and my mother was born in St. Louis) – so, we have some Cardinals connections within our family as well.

 What are your hobbies and interest outside of your profession?

I also work part-time for the Major League Baseball web site, MLB.com – I enter the play-by-play on a laptop for the Cincinnati Reds games from the ballpark press box, so that people can follow the game if they are at a computer, but perhaps away from a television or radio.  I also like to run, read historical biographies, and hang out with my wonderful wife Angie, and our playful dog Dizzy! (who, incidentally, is named after former Cardinals pitcher Dizzy Dean – the subject of my first book from 2000).

 As the author of nine books, where do your main ideas and thoughts come from and how do you go about pursuing the research for them?

Most of my nine books have dealt with a particular team in a particular baseball season; for example, I have written books on the 1934 Cardinals, the 1967-68 Cardinals, and the 1985 Cardinals (in addition to Gibson's Last Stand, which looks at the team from 1969-1975).  Part of my reasoning for choosing a particular topic is "selfish," and the other part is "practical."  The selfish part means that I select  years or teams that were personally meaningful or interesting to me; the practical part means that I select years or teams with an especially-compelling story to tell, arising from the given baseball season or that era/year in society.  The "selfish" part is what drives me (and is, I am sure, what drives many authors); the "practical" part helps me finish the job, as I attempt to create associations in the story that others will understand and find interesting.

  Where has been one of the most interesting places you have traveled to?

Speaking of my dog, Dizzy... when I was conducting the research for my first book, I traveled to the last home of Dizzy Dean in Wiggins, Mississippi - a small town on U.S. 49, and one of the last stops on the way to the Gulf Coast at Biloxi and Gulfport.  Bond - the community next to Wiggins - was the hometown of Dizzy's wife Pat, whom he had met during one of Dizzy's minor league stops back around 1930.  They decided to retire there in the 1960s, and their home is now an orphanage known as "Deanash" (a combination of Dizzy's last name and Pat's maiden name, which was Nash).  Also, there is now the "Dizzy Dean Rest Area" off of U.S. 49 in Wiggins, with pictures from his career with the Cardinals.  Diz and Pat are buried in the Bond Cemetery, which is tucked away through some back country roads in a quaint, remote, and peaceful area.

Who do you predict to be the winner of the next World Series?

I don’t like making predictions; however, I do see the Cardinals having another strong year!  I believe some people are writing them off, simply because of the loss of Albert Pujols; however, with the return of Adam Wainwright to the pitching staff, as well as the development and acquisition of other certain players, I think the 2012 Cardinals could be even better this year than their World Series-winning club of a year ago.

Author Spotlight, Darryl Dickson-Carr

By: Sarah Mason, Sales Intern

Dickson-Carr is Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in English at Southern Methodist University, where he teaches courses in twentieth-century American literature, African American literature, and satire. He is the author of The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction (Columbia UP, 2005), which won an American Book Award in 2006, and African American Satire: The Sacredly Profane Novel (2001). He is completing Spoofing the Modern: Satire in the Harlem Renaissance and is our latest author spotlight!

What inspired you to write “African American Satire”?

The genesis of African American Satire may be found in work I did early in my graduate school career many years ago. I'd planned to study the history of satire when I began my program, and did so enthusiastically. I simultaneously found my interest in African American literature growing as another generation of scholars—Houston A. Baker, Jr., Hazel Carby, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Bernard W. Bell, Trudier Harris, Arnold Rampersad, Frances Smith Foster, among others—opened up numerous possibilities for studying the tradition from a myriad of critical perspectives. As I studied these two fields, I found it curious that very little information could found on African American satirical literature. A few people had written critically about African American humor, but seldom about satire, much less literary satire. With the supervision of my advisors and the help of research assistants, I started researching and writing what would eventually become African American Satire to fill that gap.

 "African American Satire" is about looking at some authorss' writings in others ways. What ideas or events do you encourage readers to reconsider and think differently about?

African American Satire asks readers to recognize a couple of central ideas. First, I highlight where satirical modes—expressive approaches, if you will—may be found throughout African American literary and cultural traditions. Second, satire by African Americans has been ignored or dismissed because it challenges prevailing ideas of a particular time, whether within or without African American communities. In addition, since it is to misunderstand satire or to conflate satirical humor with racist, stereotypical views of African Americans' humorous expression, black and white observers alike have been reluctant to give satire its due as a powerful took against intolerance, bigotry and ignorance. Satire may not solve the world's problems, but it lets us know they exist, and that we're responsible for resolving them.

What is your favorite place you have travelled to and why?

That would have to be New York City. It's such an amazingly rich and complex center of culture and the arts. It's also the home of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, which is located in Harlem. Many of the authors I've studied lived, worked, and wrote in New York. I always find the city enriching and surprising.

What was your favorite book in high school or college?

When I was a junior in college, I read for the first time two books that changed the course of my life: Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift and The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I'd long enjoyed satire, but Swift's narrative offered the most devastating view of humanity I'd read until that point. Malcolm X lived an extraordinary life, but so many of his experiences were startlingly common. Like so many other young people, I found myself identifying with him on some levels and wrestling with the many challenges he posed to the way the average person thinks about American and world history. Together, Malcolm X and Swift helped me to become a more critical thinker.

Do you hope to do another book in the future? Any themes you'd like to explore?

I am currently working on "Spoofing the Modern: Satire in the Harlem Renaissance." I argue that satire was at the heart of the Harlem Renaissance movement. The most significant writers of the time employed satirical modes and called upon others to do the same. In fact, writers and intellectuals who held their peers respect—W.E.B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, Wallace Thurman, Langston Hughes, Zora Neal Hurston, George S. Schuyler, and Rudolph Fisher—considered satire critical to the growth of African American culture. My book traces their perspectives and analyzes its effects upon subsequent literature.

Author Spotlight, Dave Fiedler

By: Sarah Mason, Sales Intern

David Fiedler, a former captain in the U. S. Army Reserve, is now an independent writer living in St. Louis, Missouri. He is currently working on his newest historical fiction and counter part novel My Enemy, My Love, is the author of The Enemy Among Us, and is our latest author spotlight!

Why was MO chosen as a place to host POWs?

Missouri was chosen as a place to host POWs since its relatively sparse population and distance from the coasts made government planners think that there would be less chance for successful escape and/or sabotage attempts.  Plus a heavy agricultural economy meant that their was a great need for POW labor.  Eventually German and Italian prisoners were housed in virtually every state in the continental US. 

What is (was?) your specialty or role in the U.S. Army Reserve?

In the U.S. Army Reserve, I served as an officer in a field hospital.  I was responsible for the non-medical side of hospital operations, i.e., hospital defense, vehicles, supply, food service, etc.  We joked that our job was to draw fire away from the doctors and nurses.

It was in training for this position that I first encountered physical traces of the POWs here in the U.S.  when I saw etched into the concrete of a well cover on a Texas army post the words, “Built by the German soldiers, 1945”  And at annual training (the two-week summer camp  duty that reservists perform) at Fort Leonard Wood, I saw a handful of black and white photos of German POWs working outside the post in towns nearby like St. James and Waynesville that drove my interest in this story here.

What is your favorite place you have travelled to?

Related to my interest in this story, I have had the good fortune to spend some time in Germany.  A summer language program in Goettingen in 1991 gave me useful skills in this research, and a two-week summer exchange with a German army medical unit in 1997 helped both develop valuable contacts and gave me real-life context for use in the fictional counterpart, a novel that is paired with The Enemy Among Us that came out this past fall.

What was your favorite book in college?

Anything that didn’t have heavy mathematics.

What other historical events fascinate you/spark your interest?

I am interested in relatively recent Missouri history (i.e., 20^th century) and how these events still influence us today.  For instance, the story of Harry Truman and his rise from relative obscurity into prominence and power in part thanks to the backing of the Pendergast political machine is very fascinating to me.  I have been reading about Charles Lindbergh a lot lately too with his ties to Missouri.  His flight across the Atlantic propelled him to a fame that he didn’t seem to enjoy and his fate as a private individual (who sometime expressed unpopular opinions) who was thrust very much into the spotlight is interesting to me as well.

How was it finding and interviewing people who experienced/knew about the POW situation for both of your books?

A very nice aspect about this story for me was in talking to people who were excited and usually glad to talk about their role in the POW history.  It didn’t hold the same difficult and tragic memories of wartime experiences that others faced who spent longer time in battle.  For many people, they saw it as a very positive dimension of the war, both surprising and touching that people could make these heartfelt connections and very pleasant memories when it was in fact the war that brought them together, initially as enemies, and if nothing else, as people inclined to be suspicious/distrustful/hateful toward the other.

Hog Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat . . . and Host to 10,000 Writers

By Ned Stuckey-French

The Associated Writers  & Writing Programs (AWP) Annual Conference for 2012 was the biggest ever, so big it felt as if I were experiencing only the tiniest sliver of the event, even though I tried to schedule the four days carefully, plotting out all my panels, readings, parties, and receptions, and meetings over coffee, drinks, lunch, and dinner in advance.

I had a great time at the conference in Chicago last week, but am glad it was Spring Break at Florida State, where I teach, when I returned home this week, as I needed the time to recover.

For me, last week’s convention included the annual Pinch/Normal School party, meetings with editors, several great panels and readings, and dinners with old friends from FSU, Purdue and Iowa, and a book signing for my new book, Essayists on the Essay:Montaigne to Our Time (U of Iowa P), but the highlights were the two panels I was on.

Friday at noon, I participated in Why We Need a WPA for the 21st Century along with Miles Harvey, Kimberly Dixon and our capable convener and moderator Sandi Wisenberg. We talked about the history of the Works Progress (later Project) Administration, related New Deal programs such as the Federal Writers Project and Civilian Conservation Corps, Richard Wright, current challenges for arts administrators, and the many strikes, demonstrations, and marches to which Roosevelt and his Brain Trust were responding—working-class activity involving tens of thousands of workers and the rightwing backlash that cost dozens of them their lives. The Q & A was lively and productive, and Sandi has set up a blog where people can continue the conversation.

My research for the panel revealed to me that the WPA and New Deal have been constant, important, even essential parts of my own life. My high school was a New Deal project, so is my daughter’s. My hometown post office featured WPA murals, and the cover art for my book, The American Essay in the American Century (U of Missouri Press, 2011), is a painting titled “Subway 1934” by WPA artist Lily Furedi.

My second panel, The Lyric Essay: A Collapse of Forms or a Form of Collapse?, was scheduled for the final time slot, 4:30 on Saturday, and my fellow panelists and I had worried that we wouldn’t have much of an audience. We needn’t have. The Continental A ballroom of the Hilton was packed to overflowing, thanks in large part by the current kerfuffle about truth in creative non-fiction sparked by the release of Lifespan of a Fact, the new book by John D’Agata and John Fingal, which had been featured the previous weekend in both the New YorkTimes Book Review and Magazine.

I thought my fellow panelists – Jocelyn Bartkevicius, Steven Church, Colin Rafferty – and I were taking a measured and humorous, if finally critical, stand on D’Agata’s willingness to fudge the facts in the name of Art, but some in the audience thought otherwise. The Q & A was the most contentious I’ve ever seen at a conference. But, our estimable convener Wendy Rawlings did a tremendous job of moderating the discussion, which in the end forced us all to think more deeply about the issues of accuracy, truth, subjectivity, and the relationship between memory and imagination that have troubled essayists since Montaigne.

Audience members were tweeting from the ballroom during the tension-filled Q & A. In the last few days, many of them have posted about the panel on their blogs, including at the Brevity Blog, where Dinty Moore kindly posted my presentation in its entirety – a “Dear John” letter to John D’Agata.

This debate won’t be going away soon; in fact, I suspect there will be plenty of panels on the essay at next year’s AWP conference in Boston.

Shades of Blue and Gray, Part IV

by Pamela Chase Hain and Robert C. Plumb

This is the fourth installment in a series of posts about the Civil War experience from the perspective of two soldiers, George McClelland from the Union and Thomas Wragg from the Confederacy. Click here to read Part I and Part II and Part III.

What role did letter writing and other forms of communications play during the war to keep families and friends informed?

Blue - George McClelland

Certainly the central method of communicating for George McClelland during his service in the Army of the Potomac was letter writing – letters to and from his family.  Based on his letters, it seems that George was never satisfied with the volume of mail that he received.  “I now write again to you hoping and praying that this will provoke a reply.  It is almost three weeks since I left home and nothing from my friends – everybody else is getting letters and papers and I get – nothing.  It is discouraging, very.”  Battlefield near Sharpsburg, September 20, 1862.

George was not alone in his hunger for communications from home. “We are aroused from our lethargy by the cry: ‘The mail has come.’ We crowd around expectant, waiting for the names to be called.  Some got half a dozen, others more.” Camp near Sharpsburg, September 30, 1862.

Letters weren’t the only form of communications that George relied on for information.  Newspapers – sent by his sisters – were another important medium for him.  “About papers – I have never got any from you [Lizzie].  I think a good many papers are ‘cabbaged’ on their way at the different headquarters from Corps to Regimental.” Falmouth, Virginia, March 19, 1863.

He may have been the exception among his fellow enlisted ranks, but George was a voracious reader of books and magazines in addition to newspapers.  In an April 12, 1864 letter he mentions reading the Atlantic Monthly magazine as well as books. (e.g. The Bible, Hawthorne’s Marble Fawn, and Soundings from the Atlantic by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Senior.)

In addition to inbound communications, McClelland’s regiment had an “embedded journalist” in George P. Fulton.  Fulton, a quartermaster clerk, sent periodic field reports on the 155^th Regiment to the Pittsburgh Chronicle.

Gray - Thomas Wragg

Prior to the Battle of Bull Run in June and July 1861, Thomas Wragg was regularly exchanging letters with his family and expected them to answer promptly. He wrote to his father, his brother, Mac, his sisters, Jesse and Caro, and his brother-in-law.. By July, however, he told his father to send him money in silver to pay for postage, and to send the money to H. M. Brant President Bank of the Valley, Winchester, Virginia or to Col. Bartow since "Johnson Younger and Otey" kept the letters addressed to him for weeks before sending them on, and had lost mail containing money. [July, 1861] In addition to the difficulty of getting stamps, was the scarcity of materials--paper and pens.

Wragg obtained news from home mainly from his father. Concerning the war effort, much of what he heard was rumor, spread by the troops and rarely newspapers. During his Civil War Military service, Wragg never spoke of reading for pleasure or for news of the war.

After Wragg joined the Confederate Navy with the Savannah Squadron and was captured by the Union Weehawken in Savannah Harbor and sent to Fort Warren Prison in Boston Harbor, his letters to and from home became even more a necessity. He wrote his father that it was his only pleasure to receive letters from home [November 17, 1863]. On another occasion he wrote his father that he had not received any letters from anyone in two months [January 21, 1864]. This was the beginning of a slow decline in letters from home. It appears that the family was tiring of writing to him when they could not see him and his incarceration went on and on. He also apologized to his father that there was nothing to write about, and that his letters must be boring.  His girl friend from prior to the war ceased to write although he prodded his sister to persuade her to write him. He told his father he had written to her three times and she had not answered [February 5, 1864] He then complained that his sister Jesse had not written to him in a long time [March 4, 1864]. One person he regularly wrote to, was Capt. A. F. Butler, imprisoned at Fort Johnson. Both men had plenty of time on their hands to do so, and the authorities had no objections to it.

What changes in morale did the Union and Confederate soldiers/sailors experience during the war?

Blue - George McClelland

In commenting about those who served in the Civil War, historian James McPherson has written:  “Victory in battle pumped up their internal morale and gave them a more positive attitude toward the next battle; defeat lowered morale and caused many soldiers to wonder whether it was worthwhile to continue risking their lives.”

For the Army of the Potomac, victories and defeats were a roller coaster ride from 1862 to the close of 1864.  George McClelland would not have used the word “morale” in describing his state of mind, but his reflections following the Battle of Fredericksburg convey a low point in his spirits: “The tide of war rolls from east to west, and the minds of the people are no sooner allayed, when they are again startled by another scene of blood.  When will the carnage cease?” Falmouth, Virginia, January 10, 1863.

Following the Union victory at Gettysburg, the pendulum had swung in the opposite direction for McClelland. “Our successes in every other part of Rebeldom give us heart, nerves us to finish this intestine strife.”  Near Warrenton, Virginia, July 31, 1863.

By spring 1864, the prospect of victory was once again in question for McClelland and this dampened his spirit. “The campaign has opened inauspiciously for us. The news of Bank’s defeat comes like lightning on the fiendish massacre at Fort Pillow.  And I am not very sanguine of the victory here in Virginia.” Warrenton Junction, Virginia, April 23, 1864.

By late summer 1864, McClelland spirit was buoyed by the addition of more men and Grant’s determined, focused assault against the Confederates. “In a very short time you may expect to hear stirring news from this Region.  The reinforcements are only now beginning to come … [T]he men are arriving 1,000 per day and before a month, we assume again the offensive; 100,000 men now would terminate the war in 60 days – Grant has said it.  I am full of confidence that my prophecy will prove correct.”  Near Weldon Rail Road, Virginia, September 4, 1864.

Through the close of 1864 and into the spring of 1865, McClelland maintained a high level of optimism that the Union cause would prevail and victory won. This perception positively affected his spirit.  The underpinning of this attitude was his first-hand observation of Confederate soldiers. “Four deserters came in on my line and they confirmed the status told by others that Lee’s army is in a desperate condition, almost open mutiny, mutterings – not loud, but deep and wide spread – of a hopeless cause … The final crush of the reeling Confederacy is at hand.” Hatcher’s Run, Virginia, March 15, 1865.

Clearly, morale was a dynamic quality that tracked closely with the successes experienced on the battlefield, as James McPherson has stated.  Further influencing George McClelland’s morale was his confidence – or lack thereof – in his commanding general.

Gray - Thomas Wragg

Thomas Wragg began the war in high spirits. His mood slowly declined when the Confederate Army failed to feed or clothe him on a regular basis. Early in the War the Confederate leadership were not prepared to handle the logistics of the War. Yet, after the first battle of Bull Run and the rout of the Federal Forces, spirits were extremely high, both among the troops and with the populous at home, as evidenced by Thomas Wragg's uncle in his letter on July 22 to Wragg's father. In spite of the grief over casualties, the exultant swagger of Dr. William Wragg over their victory in battle, demonstrates their determination to continue the fight. When Wragg was in the hospital in Richmond with dysentery in the spring of 1862, he was eager to re-join his unit [March 4, 1862]. However, he expressed pleasure that his father was going to try to get him a commission. Presumably he had come to the conclusion, that if he remained in the infantry, it would be better as an officer. Yet, when he eventually returned home to Savannah in the Fall of 1862, he visited Laurel Grove Cemetery and revealed a profound grief over the loss of his fellow soldiers who were killed at the first Battle of Bull Run, and an almost death wish. When he saw the grave of a little child he wrote: "Fare the well, little sleeper. I only envy your place."

If Wragg's morale was low when he left the infantry, it would sink even lower as a POW in Fort Warren, Boston Harbor. Although Fort Warren was a prison for officers, it was still austere and stressful. When the officers of the CSS Atlanta first arrived, they were treated kindly and had more freedom. Then in December 1863 a new commandant arrived and tightened the rules: no newspapers, alcohol, roaming the island were allowed. Their rations were strictly measured. In the day, "the prisoners were allowed to take exercise on the pavements in front of their quarters, but after dark they were locked in the casemates and guards were placed in front of their doors." They were given only one blanket for warmth at night, and this was in a fort with stone walls located in the middle of Boston Harbor. This, coupled with the sense that all his friends and family were deserting him and that he might never receive an exchange--resulted in a steep drop in his morale. 

Author Spotlight, David William Foster

By: Sarah Mason, Sales Intern

David William Foster, Regents' Professor of Spanish and Women and Gender Studies at Arizona State University and author of Contemporary Argentine Cinema and Violence in Argentine Literature, is our latest author spotlight!

Which of your books/essays did you enjoy researching for the most? Why?

Contemporary Argentine Cinema, because of the sociopolitical issues associated with the return to constitutional democracy in Argentina in 1983 represented by the films.

What inspired you to consider studying Latin America/Spanish?

Some of the best things in life happen by chance. I was fortunate enough to part of one of the first junior high school Spanish programs in the country (Seattle) and then fell in with a group of Latin American studies at the University of Washington, finally ending up, at the age of 26, as a Fulbright professor in Argentina. The rest, as they say, is history.

What is your favorite Latin American city you’ve visited? Why?

Buenos Aires: I have spent almost 50 years researching and teaching in that city, one of the great cultural capitals of Latin America and a very easy city to negotiate.

What is your favorite Argentine film, and why?

Historia Oficial, which won the Oscar for the best foreign film in 1985. While it has many ideological problems, it brought together an important segment of the Argentine cultural community to produce a film that confronted one of the worst aspects of the so-called Dirty War of the neofacist tyranny, 1976-83, the trafficking in children in programs of spurious adoptions.

Author Spotlight, Wayne H. Bowen

By: Sarah Mason, Sales Intern

Wayne H. Bowen, author of Spain and theAmerican Civil War, is our latest author spotlight! He took some time to answer a few questions about his book, interests, and research.

What first got you interested in studying Spain? What about teaching?

Growing up near Spain's colonial mission of La Purisima, near my hometown of Lompoc, California, I was intrigued by artifacts--helmets worn by Spanish soldiers, for example--and learned bits and pieces of Spanish history.  When I started graduate school at Northwestern, I initially planned to study German history, but quickly decided that Spain had better food, an easier language, and fewer historians as my potential competitors.  I've never regretted making the switch, especially when I am in in Madrid.

As far as teaching, I blame it on Dr. Michael Robinson, a professor of Korean history I had as an undergraduate at the University of Southern California.  During my sophomore year, I was visiting him in his office, and he remarked: "You are pretty good at this history thing.  Have you thought about becoming a professor?  It's a great life--around young people all the time, summers off, and trips overseas if you don't study the United States."  He convinced me immediately, and from then until now being a college professor was my dream.

Which of your books/essays did you enjoy researching for the most?

My first book, Spaniards and Nazi Germany: Collaboration in the NewOrder, which began as my dissertation, was my first academic passion.  Thanks to financial support from the ITT Corporation, as well as from Northwestern University, I was able to spend nine months in Madrid doing nothing but combing through archives, conducting oral history interviews, and reviewing newly declassified Spanish documents from the Franco Era.  It would be hard to re-create the luxury of that time, focus, and single-mindedness now. However, I have enjoyed all of my subsequent projects, and consider myself very blessed to be in a profession where I am paid to speak, read, write and research in fields--modern Spanish and Mediterranean history--that are an endless source of rediscovered stories.
 
What is your favorite city in Spain and why?

Madrid, without question.  Not only is it the political, cultural and economic capital, it is the location for nearly all the important archives and libraries, at least those with a national focus.  Having conducted research there for a combined total of almost two years, starting as far back as 1993, I can arrive there on one day, and be already immersed in the archives on the next.  In fairness, however, I have yet to make it to Barcelona.  Three untimely rail strikes prevented me from making the trip when I had the time and money, as did poverty during my first few visits to Spain.

What was your favorite book in high school?

I read a lot of science fiction, especially Robert Heinlein, but also the novels of Ayn Rand, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Tom Clancy.  On my shelf was William Shirer's mammoth Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, but if I had a time machine I would go back and warn my teenage self to be pretty dubious of that particular volume's historical perspective.

What are your hobbies/interests outside of your profession?

I am in my twenty-first year of service in the Army Reserve, where I am a lieutenant colonel and battalion commander.  It's been a wonderful balance to my university career, reminding me of the cost of the liberty we all enjoy.  A tour in Iraq, while difficult in many ways, also broadened my professional interests, resulting in two books on the region and a secondary teaching field. When I am not in uniform, I enjoy spending time with wife (Kendra) and two boys (Sam, 6, and Nathan, 2), building blanket forts, playing in the park, or pretending to be dinosaurs, monsters and wild animals.

If you could read a book for the first time again, which one would it be?

The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  OK, it's actually three books, but one amazing story arc. Tolkien's vision is timeless, and yet rooted firmly in his own time.  Many fantasy writers create the framework of another world, but his was more complete, more spectacular, more dramatic, and yet more authentic, than any others.