tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94404492009-08-27T15:50:43.677-04:00A military historian ponders his craft.Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1154613471421762372006-08-03T09:57:00.000-04:002006-08-03T10:44:04.616-04:00

Fallujah combatThis video clip of fighting in Fallujah was purportedly taken -- or at least posted to YouTube.com -- by a 39-year old Briton identified only as scipiouk. It illustrates the latest extension of the Internet's ability to bypass traditional media. It's bereft of context, but this could easily be remedied by supplying an appropriate voiceover or set of captions.Return to Blog Them Out

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1126659527294025782005-09-13T20:57:00.000-04:002005-09-13T20:58:47.300-04:00

Blog Them Out of the Stone Age is now upgraded and (hopefully) in good working order.

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1126621682721952532005-09-13T10:14:00.000-04:002005-09-13T10:29:47.613-04:00

A guest post by Brooks D. Simpson, Department of History, Arizona State University [Note: The regular blog is being upgraded with new software, so you've been redirected here. Because it just recently appeared on Blog Them Out of the Stone Age, and because a number of other sources have linked to it, I thought I should republish this post in its entirety. It's divided into parts, as it was on the

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1126620452669800012005-09-13T10:03:00.000-04:002005-09-13T10:07:32.670-04:00

Still working out the kinks on the updated blog. The rest of the WarHistorian.org site is available as usual. I'll have today's post uploaded to this (blogspot) site shortly.

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1126572671506247432005-09-12T20:48:00.000-04:002005-09-12T20:51:11.510-04:00

Still fine-tuning the new blog software. Periodically Blog Them Out of the Stone Age may need to be redirected to this site, so I will place new entries on both sites until the work is complete. Look for a new post tomorrow.

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1126555152358160712005-09-12T15:57:00.000-04:002005-09-12T15:59:12.363-04:00

Blog Them Out of the Stone Age is temporarily unavailable pending completion of some routine software updates.

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1126273955294115782005-09-09T09:49:00.000-04:002005-09-09T09:52:37.086-04:00

All is well again.This is an archive site for WarHistorian. The new site is WarHistorian.org. The blog is at Blog Them Out of the Stone Age.

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1126254642565462792005-09-09T05:00:00.000-04:002005-09-09T04:32:43.646-04:00

A technical issue has developed with WarHistorian.org, and pending its resolution I've asked my web host to shut down the site. The issue should be resolved shortly.If the problem takes longer than a few hours to resolve, I'll simply publish my new posts on this site until it is.Thanks for stopping by. And either way, you can expect to see a new post shortly--either on Blog Them Out of the Stone

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1110145336813154732005-03-06T16:39:00.000-05:002005-03-06T17:01:51.676-05:00

The blog has a new home: WarHistorian.org. And a new name:Blog Them Out of the Stone Age.Please set your bookmarks and blogrolls accordingly.This is now the archive site for War Historian. It will be maintained but not updated. I look forward to seeing you on the new site. Thanks very much for your visits and interest.-- Mark Grimsley

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1110111824154127202005-03-06T07:20:00.000-05:002005-03-06T07:23:44.156-05:00

At last week's annual meeting of the Society for Military History, I asked a number of people about this business of the lack of political diversity within the academy. I got a number of thoughtful responses. Everyone found plausible the estimate of 80 percent liberals in the academy, though among academic military historians they estimated that percentage at only 60 percent, and among military

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1109951653786585562005-03-04T10:51:00.000-05:002005-03-04T14:02:51.856-05:00

For reasons I still haven't fully revealed, I'm a newly converted fan of the Society for Military History (SMH), which until recently I had concluded was unlikely to be of much help in advancing military history as an academic field. My conversations at the recent Charleston annual meeting have given me a more optimistic view.I promise not to keep you in suspense--or whatever you're feeling about

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1109707533013190292005-03-01T15:02:00.000-05:002005-03-01T15:05:33.013-05:00

Ward Churchill is a fraud and traitor and I am a fellow fraud and traitor. Don't take my word for it--ask the Jakester.

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1109617878426252952005-02-28T14:00:00.000-05:002005-03-01T08:46:04.690-05:00

This will have to be very brief, but I had several conversations at the Charleston SMH that gave me reason to feel more optimistic about military history's future as an academic field--at least intellectually-- and the organization's interest in helping the field to expand, both intellectually and in terms of the number of academic positions. I'm currently digging myself out of the usual

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1109250385752143752005-02-24T08:00:00.000-05:002005-02-24T08:08:19.856-05:00

I leave in a few hours for the annual meeting of the Society for Military History.I've looked over the program with as much care as I could. If I counted correctly, there are forty-two sessions. Of these, fifteen deal directly with the conference theme, "The Rise of the Military Profession."Nineteen sessions, by my count, are exclusively concerned with the United States military experience.Eleven

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1109166686192252162005-02-23T08:43:00.000-05:002005-02-23T08:52:58.176-05:00

In a comment on my previous post, Tom Bruscino asks me to take a look at the above post on Rebunk. I encourage readers of this blog to do the same.

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1108991370426865462005-02-21T07:50:00.000-05:002005-02-21T08:09:30.426-05:00

The flagship organization for military historians, at least those who work in North America, is the Society for Military History. I sketched some background about the SMH in an entry composed after attending its last annual meeting, which was held last May in Bethesda, Maryland.The next meeting will be held later this week in Charleston, South Carolina. I'm looking forward to it. The meetings

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1108823911170747622005-02-19T08:48:00.000-05:002005-02-19T10:01:31.643-05:00

In a previous post, I wrote that I didn't "have time to cover the issues that need covering and at the same time explain to readers the reasoning that underpins my selection and weighting of issues." For example, "readers might wonder why a blog that has spent so much time engaging with the ideas of Tom Barnett in The Pentagon's New Map has of late spent so much time engaging with the ideas of

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1108549827918860822005-02-16T05:29:00.000-05:002005-02-16T05:30:27.926-05:00

I doubt that I'll have the opportunity to post further until Saturday, February 19. Look for a new post then.

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1108341587824484002005-02-13T19:27:00.000-05:002005-03-01T14:59:22.366-05:00

I continue to wrestle with the issue of whether the "little Eichmanns" metaphor can be made coherent. As I have said, a major problem with the Ward Churchill essay is that the essay fails to deploy the metaphor effectively, at least as an aid to analysis. As an aid to incitement, it has proven to be quite effective.This video does a better job of explaining Churchill's basic perspective in two

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1108279431939419592005-02-13T02:18:00.000-05:002005-02-13T04:41:45.730-05:00

An open letter to GIs in Iraq.Found this link in a syllabus in an English composition course whose thematic focus was "Making Peace, Making War."The letter was written in November 2003 by a Vietnam veteran who served in the 173rd Airborne Brigade. It is posted on the Bring Them Home Now web site. BTHN describes itself as "a campaign of military families, veterans, active duty personnel,

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1108260127977477352005-02-12T21:00:00.000-05:002005-02-12T21:36:02.673-05:00

An advantage of blogs: They can be about anything.A problem with blogs: They can be about anything.Between the Ward Churchill imbroglio and the more recent "Gooney Left" affair, the focus of this blog has of late drifted toward present-day politics. That's not necessarily divorced from its main subject--as Clausewitz famously said--"war is a continuation of politics by other means." But it does

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1108246160342449402005-02-12T17:07:00.000-05:002005-02-12T17:56:09.546-05:00

is a new blog kept by a mobilized member of the Marine Corps Reserve with nearly 20 years combined active and reserve service. He is also an advanced PhD student in military history.

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1108233051385597152005-02-12T13:10:00.000-05:002005-02-12T13:46:26.610-05:00

This is the conclusion of "The Gooney Left" entry. If there are further developments, I'll report them under a separate thread.About ten people have so far accepted the invitation to the "Gooney Left" open house. I'll repeat the invitation in a few days, shorn of the "Gooney Left" label, so that people can come who may not necessarily want to make an implicit political statement.Ninety percent

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1108117785471008132005-02-11T06:18:00.000-05:002005-02-12T13:09:52.950-05:00

Let's face it, so far this is just so much academic posturing. Prof. Watts's email is posturing. My reply is posturing. None of it gets us anywhere.No: it's not enough to lob grenades or chide people for lobbing them. The chide itself can be seen as little more than a grenade wrapped in nicer packaging. We've got to figure out a way to have a more constructive kind of political exchange. We've

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9440449.post-1108117709157768592005-02-11T05:30:00.000-05:002005-02-11T05:34:43.840-05:00

At about two o'clock in the morning I succumbed to might well be the senile itch to write everyone who received Prof. Watts's email--a list which included all department faculty, grad students, and staff. . . .Hi all,My initial thought with regard to Prof. Watts's email was to let it pass, or perhaps poke fun at it by inviting one and all to the 1st Annual Gooney Left Open House.Which, come to

Mark G.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08655782356556219869noreply@blogger.com3