Recent works by alumni and faculty

Up close and personal with the U.S. military

During his many years as a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, Robert D. Kaplan ’73 (CLAS) covered foreign issues and wars, often meeting U.S. military personnel posted in the world’s most dangerous places, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Columbia and the Philippines. He later kept in touch with the those he encountered, primarily mid-level commissioned and non-commissioned officers who do the day-to-day work of the military.

Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground (Random House), is the first in a series of books Kaplan is writing to examine how the U.S. military is coping with changes in its structure and mission in the 21st century. He spent months at a time living and traveling with American soldiers around the world.

“Despite all the recent coverage of Iraq, the military is still this exotic species for a large portion of Americans who don’t have relatives who are serving or in the reserves,” Kaplan says, noting this situation is a result of the end of required U.S. military service following the Vietnam War. “We are still burdened by the stereotypes of old TV series of the sergeant screaming in someone’s ear while they’re doing push ups. In fact, the sergeant today is very often someone who can speak two or three languages or is a corporate middle manager.”

Kaplan’s writing is filled with references to historic military battles from ancient times as he moves across modern terrain in Mongolia, Columbia, Yemen, the Horn of Africa and the Middle East. He says the days of mass military troop movements to fight are at an end, as much smaller units will lead most of the battles.

“It’s my belief that as the nature of warfare changes and the battle gets more spread out, instead of mass infantry units you have small clusters fighting and the importance of non-commissioned officers becomes that much more significant,” Kaplan says.

At the same time, he notes, the U.S. military faces an unprecedented challenge to find victory against counter-insurgencies in an age of global mass media.

“Bad news tends to be more novelty than good news, so even if you’ve secured 14 of 18 Iraqi provinces as we have, it’s the other four provinces that get all the news and makes the public ask, when is it going to end?” Kaplan says.

— Kenneth Best

Me May Mary
Mary Kilgour ’62 (CLAS)
(Child Welfare League of America)

Kilgour offers a touching story about childhood independence. Mary, called May as a child, is a survivor of abuse and neglect who makes her way through life with determination. Me May Mary speaks to anyone who works with children and emphasizes the truth that all it takes is one person to show care and understanding to make all the difference in the life of a child. As May meets the challenges of her life and comes out with a sense a self-worth, she becomes Mary, realizing her full potential.

This collection of Andersen’s poems moves the imagination and touches many different emotions, offering the reader the opportunity to relate the themes to his or her own life. Stomp and Sing presents a variety of daily scenarios, dreams and adventures in clear and direct narrative. Andersen makes the reader feel in the moment of each poem and then returns you back with a new feeling and outlook on life, covering a range of topics from racism to the consolation of nature.

The Generals of October
John Cullen ’72 (CLAS)
(ibooks, inc.)

Cullen sparks the imagination on questioning the political world that surrounds the United States today. His characters are passionate in their quest to make a difference in the way the government works. A second constitutional convention seeks to change the U.S. Constitution and threatens the very principles the nation was founded upon. Each chapter keeps you on the edge of your seat with underlying themes of romance and deception.  

— Dollie Harvey ’05 (CANR)