A long important part of the study of history, has been the study of the subset of military history. It is incredibly important to understand both U.S. and global military history, as many significant events across time have involved and been driven by military influences of one form or another.

However in the increasingly leftward tilt of the ivory tower of higher education, military history is "...dead at many other top colleges and universities as well. Where it isn’t dead and buried, it’s either dying or under siege..." This according to John Miller in his National Review article "Sounding Taps" from earlier this fall.

"A decade ago, best-selling author Stephen Ambrose donated $250,000 to the University of Wisconsin, his alma mater, to endow a professorship in American military history. A few months later, he gave another $250,000. Until his death in 2002, he badgered friends and others to contribute additional funds. Today, more than $1 million sits in a special university account for the Ambrose-Heseltine Chair in American History, named after its main benefactor and the long-dead professor who trained him.

The chair remains vacant, however, and Wisconsin is not currently trying to fill it. “We won’t search for a candidate this school year,” says John Cooper, a history professor. “But we’re committed to doing it eventually.” The ostensible reason for the delay is that the university wants to raise even more money, so that it can attract a top-notch senior scholar. There may be another factor as well: Wisconsin doesn’t actually want a military historian on its faculty. "

In fact Miller points out that a look at more than a thousand history professors from the top 25 History Departments around the country, only 21 listed military issues amongst their specialties.

Fortunately, military history does have a few benefactors out there, and I would like to present one of my favorites. I do this since I have never seen any mention of it anywhere on any milblogs.

This one resource that I find most interesting is the Pritzker Military Library.



I discovered Pritzker purely by chance, as I was searching the iTunes Music Store for military related podcasts. They exist as a real brick & mortar library in Chicago, which offers a collection focused on "history of the military, military fiction, and the military's current practices as part of the belief that Citizen Soldiers are an essential element of a democratic society." They also offer a tremendous number of live events on site featuring military authors and historians, as well as 'Front & Center' symposiums on varieties of military issues, and lastly their invaluable 'Medal of Honor' series presenting living history through the words of actual CMH winners.



Fortunately, for those of us who can not make it to Chicago for these events (There were 52 in 2006 alone), the Pritzker Library has reserved all of them with both video files and podcasts on its website. Recent events have included "Front & Center: Suicide Bombing- Who, Why and What Can Be Done About It", "WAR MADE NEW: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today (Max Boot)", "WE WERE ONE: Shoulder to Shoulder with the Marines Who Took Fallujah (Patrick K. O'Donnell)", and "THE FEW: The American "Knights of the Air" Who Risked Everything to Fight in the Battle of Britain (Alex Kershaw)". Early 2007 also shows promise with items such as "OLD GLORY STORIES: American Combat Leadership in World War II (Cole C. Kingseed)", "GETTYSBURG GOSPEL: The Lincoln Speech That Nobody Knows (Gabor Boritt)", and "THE NATIONAL GUARD AND THE WAR ON TERROR: The Attacks of 9/11 and Homeland Security (Michael Doubler)".

The podcasts can also be found at the iTunes Store, where they can be set up for automatic download to your iPod when they become available. I love this feature as it makes it effortless to have content ready for my morning commute.

So if you have any interest in Military History, I would encourage you to check out this great resource.

Another new resource that I really love, while not living history, certainly makes history seem to come alive. I speak of course about the History Channel's new series 'Dogfights'.



This amazing series uses photo-realistic computer rendering to present famous air battles from pilots/god/fly-on-the-wall perspectives. It is truly something that needs to be seen to be believed. Not to overuse a phrase, but it is almost like being there. Below are some screen shots (not photos...):



In addition to the amazing visuals, the programs include interviews and descriptions from the pilots who actually fought the battles. I can think of no better way to present this valuable military history. As I said, the visuals are amazing, which is essential for presenting things to today's youth, and the video game appearance (but with even better resolution) will definitely catch their attention. Learning history never looked so good. My DVR is definitely set....

If you don't want to wait for the next episode, you can check out some video clips on the History Channel website. I suggest scrolling down and starting with the clip titled 'Behind the Scenes'.


So while Military History may be "dying or under siege" in academia, new and exciting resources are appearing to pick up the slack left by the Ivory Tower.....