Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Time Flies

Wow! I had no idea it had been nearly three weeks since my last post. I will refrain from making any comments about being back in the saddle, since the post of the same name is still drawing daily comments from some Asian-language porn site.

I'm back, and finally willing and able to post again. The master's degree is at long last complete, papers and classes complete, and attention can be turned to family and more enjoyable things than school. I still hope to complete a second master's in history, but plan to take a few months in the interim to relax a bit.

My efforts to elicit commentary from anyone from or related to Norwich have been unsuccessful, so I suppose AMU wins that discussion by default....

Book draft two finally continues updates and editing. Several new sources popped up in the interim thanks to Dr. Rick Sauers, so more research is required. And I'm still working on a few things like the rest of the brief 3rd Cavalry history started before everything went awry a few months back. I've also been poking around a bit about Benjamin S. Roberts and William P. Sanders, and should have posts on them here in the near future. Not to mention the Kelly's Ford blog I've so neglected in the interim.

I haven't had a great deal of time for leisure reading, but am in the midst of two interesting books related to the war. The first is Jeffry Wert's excellent Cavalryman of the Lost Cause (found on Amazon here), which will likely prove the definitive biography on Jeb Stuart for years to come. Indeed, it was an anecdote from this book that lead me back to studying Sanders. The second book is The War Department in 1861 - A Study in Mobilization and Administration by A. Howard Meneely. A reprint of a book originally published in 1928, this has been a very informative work. Meneely provides a very even-handed look at the War Department at the beginning of the war, maintaining an objective view of the people and the situation without jumping to conclusions to demonize or seek scapegoats.

More posts soon!

6 comments:

DW@CWBA said...

Don,
Welcome back. Is the Meneely book a data and numbers driven study (w/ tables, appendices, etc.)?

Anonymous said...

I have also been looking at online programs for a Masters in History so it is amazing what Google will return. I am currently leaning towards Norwich but with hopes of a PhD, I am wary of most of the online programs. I would be interested in hearing what you finally decide to do.
Two other programs I found that do offer military history degrees online are Sam Houston State and Austin Peay. Not sure if either have "online" on the degree and both mention that selection of online content might be "limited" compared to their traditional programs but they are other options.
One person I have spoken with online writes the blog at http://jeditrilobite.wordpress.com - he recently finished the MMH program at Norwich and might have a better viewpoint of what they have to offer etc.

Anonymous said...
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Don said...

Drew,

No, it's an investigative study. There are a few numbers, but it's not primarily a data study.

Don said...

Dave,

Thanks, I'll contact him and see what he has to say. Unless there's something really missing from their litrature, it really doesn't seem worth it.

I've decided to contact my undergrad advisor back at Louisville to see if he has any advice, as well as the department head of the university here in town. I'm not certain I want to go for a PhD, but it would be nice to have the option if I'm going to spend all of that money on another MA.
Hmm, hadn't looked at the other two you mentioned. I atleast recognize the names of a few of AMU's professors, will have to check them out. thanks for the tip.

Anonymous said...

Don,
One more school I have found - checked out the Society for Military History's website and they list Georgia Southern as also having an online program. FWIW.