Post 3: Origins: Homefront

The origins of my book on the World War II home front and the activities of the Boy Scouts of America during the conflict is a lot more complicated than the one on the battle of Manila.  The idea came from several different sources and took a while to jell.

Before beginning, I should add that “writing” several books at once is a good way to spin your wheels and not do any writing.  With that said, some book projects overlap.  I have often started research on one project while a previous project is in production—the typesetting, proofreading, physical design, etc.  I have also written articles that are completely unrelated to the main book project of the moment.  Some energy being directed to side projects here and there is okay in small moderation.  Writing two books is a lot more dangerous, because neither is a side project and you have to be extremely careful in time management—a skill set that most academics do not possess in large measure.

The first stop in this process was a visit to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York.  My wife and I were returning from a family trip to Pennsylvania and stopped off at the Library as nothing more than tourists.  In one of the museum displays was the Silver Buffalo that the Boy Scouts of America had awarded to Roosevelt in 1930.  The award is the highest honor that the BSA gives for service to youth at the national level.  The Silver Buffalo does not require that work be as a member of the BSA and many, many recipients have had little affiliation with Scouting.  It is also fairly pro forma for a President of the United States to receive the award.  What is unusual is for a President to receive the award before entering the White House.  The only other White House resident to receive the honor before their term in office was Dwight D. Eisenhower.  Knowing presidential history, I also knew that Roosevelt was elected governor of New York in 1930.  End result, Roosevelt received the award as a private citizen.  That was a big indicator to me that he actually deserved the honor.  I was more than a little flabbergasted.  The display said he received the recognition for his fundraising work for the BSA.  I have since looked at the amounts he raised in the 1920s and when adjusted for inflation it comes in just under a billion dollars.  Yep, he deserved that Silver Buffalo.

About a year later, my friend Alex Tymes suggested I write a history of the Boy Scouts of America.  It was 2010 and the centennial of the organization.  Alex and I had been Philmont Rangers together and were in the same troop at the 1985 Jamboree.  (If you are unfamiliar with the BSA, that means we knew each other as Scouts).  We had not seen each other in years, but had reconnected via Facebook.  It was a great idea.  There is a ton of writing on Scouting, but much of it is generated by the organization or by members and often are chronicles.  There is also a huge collecting community of current and former Scouts and they can tell you how many units of a certain patch were ordered, why the insignia was issued and so forth.  All well and good and it serves a purpose, but it is not the type of analytical and narrative history that I have try to write.  So, there is plenty of room for a history on Scouting and a lot of serious, important questions could be asked and answered: How did Americans take an organization designed to bolster British imperialism and adopted it for their own social needs?  Why has Scouting been so successful in the United States?  How has a social organization typical of the mid-Progressive Era not only survived, but prospered for decades?  And so on.  There is also a huge, immense paper trail to follow.  The organization has published two magazines for a century and issued scores of official handbooks with dozens and dozens of editions.  Not to mention the letters, correspondence, and meeting minutes that stored in archives in various locals.  Although a good idea, it was one that would require an immense amount of work and one I wish I had heard ten years earlier.

Despite that rejection of Alex’s idea, it sat there in the back of my head, percolating.  Then, I decided to act on it...a bit.  I thought it would be fun to look at the relationship between the Oval Office and the BSA.  I figured this topic would be an unconventional way to use presidential libraries; researching youth culture, which is not exactly what you think of when you think of a presidential library.  Roughly a year after my first trip, I returned to the Roosevelt Library and spent a good day, collecting material on FDR's relationship with Scouting.  It was interesting to track his correspondence with youth members—there was a lot—which surprised me a bit.  He seemed to respond mostly to Scouts that had some type of physical disability. 

Then, I went to the 2010 National Jamboree at Fort A. P. Hill.  I was doing some last minute research at the Virginia Military Institute for my book Making Patton: A Classic War Film's Epic Journey to the Silver Screen.  While I was in Virginia, I visited the Jamboree.  The museum display was stunning and I say that not only as a Scout but as a historian.  The display documented the founding of the organization and problems it faced, like racial segregation and its role in desegregation.  As a diplomatic historian, I found the international relations displays eye opening.  I was stunned to discover that the BSA had a Scout troop in Saigon, South Vietnam during the 1960s.  I could not believe that Americans were arriving in country with their families, much less the fact that the BSA ran a troop there for a decade—and a fairly sizable one from what the display indicated.  Talking to the curator of the museum, he said he thought that a history about the Eagle Scout Award would serve a real useful need for the BSA.  I instantly saw real merit in the idea and began developing ideas for the book project.  I would write the book on the Eagle Scout Award and an article on Oval Office and Scouting.  I quickly developed a questionnaire and the National Eagle Scout Association announced my project in one of their electronic newsletters.  I got hundreds of responses, but hundreds is pretty small statistically when you realize there are over two million Eagles.  I applied for research grants to the Eisenhower, Truman, and Ford Presidential Libraries and got two.  I took trips to the Nixon, Regan, and Kennedy Presidential Libraries, before going to the Midwest.  For a time, I thought there was a book in the White House and Scouting project, but by the time I was done, the material in the libraries did not even support an article.  For the most part, Presidents of the United States—even the ones that like Scouting—do little with the organization other than pose for a photograph every February during Scouting's annual report to Congress in compliance with requirements for its Federal charter.

The tricky thing is I found useful material at the Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower Libraries.  I had dinner with my uncle after doing research at the Eisenhower Library, and he asked if it had been a good trip.  I replied, "I went looking for gold and found oil instead."  There was good documentary record, but it focused mainly on the World War II years. 

With that fact in mind, I decided to write an article on the BSA and the homefront in World War II.  That decision required another trip back to the Roosevelt Library.  I decided while I was there that there was a book waiting to be written about FDR and the BSA.  There was a huge, huge paper trail, and I started copying all of it. As I went through these records, I discovered there was little of Roosevelt  in it. Most of it was incoming letters, and memos documenting meetings that FDR was absent from.  There was, though, a lot on World War II.  A lot.  I then spent several weeks going through the World War II era issue of Boys' Life and Scouting, the two magazines that the BSA publishes.  There was a good deal in those two publications on the organizations contributions to the homefront.  So the article was still a solid project. 

I sat down and started writing my outline.  Be it for an article or a book, I try to write a detailed outline and work out a lot of issues before I get to the actual writing stage.  The project started to grow and grow.  I slowly began to realize that I had a book rather than an article. 

When I finally grasped that I was writing a book, I got the annual reports that BSA delivers to Congress.  These documents were huge—400 to 200 pages in length—and are very detailed with narrative reports and statistical tables.  If you want to know how many Scouts earned the First Aide merit badge in 1942 or how many issues of Boys' Life the BSA published in 1943, it is in these reports.  It took a long time to wade through these reports, and many of the facts at seemed less than useful, but I soon realized, the fact that these documents tell me how many Scout troops and Cub packs were located in San Diego or Detroit in 1944 and 1945 was also a good way to track demographic changes in the homefront, and a way to examine how families dealt with the social turmoil of the war years. 

Long story made short: it has not be an efficient undertaking, but I got an interesting, fun...and important project on my hands. 

Post 2: Manila: Origins

I was trained in graduate school to be a historian of U.S. foreign policy.  I consider myself a diplomatic historian.  I regularly attend the annual meeting of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.  If you look at my five books, three of them are solid diplomatic histories.  I teach at the U.S. Naval War College.  A place that spends a lot of time thinking about ships and water.  So, how did I end up writing a military history on the battle for Manila?  A ground battle with very little water?

Simple: an editor at Oxford University Press asked me to write the thing.

On November 15, 2011, I received the following e-mail from Tim Bent, an executive editor at OUP:

Pardon the intrusion, but Tami Biddle--who is writing a book for me about the Allied bombing campaign in WWII--suggested I get in touch with you when I told her I wanted to commission a book on the Battle of Manila, possibly though not necessarily for the Pivotal Moments in American History series I edit at OUP. She thought you might have ideas and/or be interested yourself. If such is the case, can you let me know when we could talk on the phone? My number is below, and you'd be welcome to call me at any point.   

Best wishes
Tim Bent

A series of e-mails and phone calls followed.  At the time I was finishing up my fifth book, and making final editorial changes to a manuscript on Richard Nixon (which will be my sixth book, provided I find a publisher) and was looking for a new project.  I was thinking about converting one of the lectures I deliver at the Naval War College into a book; one talk is on war termination in the Pacific Theater of World War II, another is a group biography of George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur and their approaches towards strategy.  (One of those ideas will be the project I take up next after I finish the two studies documented in this blog.) 

Needless to say, I liked the idea of writing on Manila.  It was World War II, but it was something different.  It was a military history.  Something I have done a bit, but not extensively.  I know the military historiography of World War II more as an outsider than as a part of the debate.  I had never done any writing on the Philippines, but I was not so foreign to the topic that I did not know the major figures or where to go for source material.

I also thought I could deliver the type of book that Bent wanted.  One that was informed on the topic, said something new, but that would be accessible to those individuals that read for pleasure.   I have won five writing awards--all for articles--but thought I could convert that quality to the long form. 

After talking with Bent and both of us feeling that the other was a good risk, he asked me to put together a book proposal.  (After an author has a track record of producing books, an academic press often offers a contract based on a proposal rather than the finished manuscript.) That document, though, goes through the usual peer review process.  Although OUP  approached me, the peer review process applies to everyone.  I quickly started looking into the battle of Manila and this phase of World War II.  During this effort, I learned that very, very little has been written on these topics.  With World War II, it is dangerous to say "nothing" but since the U.S. Army published its official history in the "green book series," Manila has seen very little interest.  As a result, I had a lot of room to play with in putting together my proposal. 

I produced a 22 page proposal in about two months time.  I predicted a 15 chapter study that would begin with background chapters on the American, Japanese, and Filipinos.  These chapters would also include references to the major military theorists that influenced the development of these battles.  (My plan was to maybe have a paragraph on each one).  I said I would look at seven issues:

• The Use of Intelligence
• Japanese Resistance
• The Limited Power of Attrition
• Adaption
• The Impact of Military Education
• The Inverted Power of Resources
• Jointness

I am not saying those will all end up in the book, nor is this my thesis by check list, but it is what I want to explore and the analytical issues that an investigation of this battle Manila seems to support at first glance.  We will see what the evidence supports. 

Why is this important?  In my proposal I argued, "Manila can also shed new light on contemporary concerns.  Among current military thinkers, there is a widespread belief that due to global demographic and urban growth patterns, future combat operations will take place in cities.  Manila offers military professionals important lessons about urban fighting, including: the utility of using combined arms, the value of amphibious operations—most major cities are situated on bodies of water be they bays, lakes, or rivers—and the mandatory requirement of preparing for civic action.  Civilians are a fact of life in major urban areas and their care is an obligation of the occupying force that can have significant positive or negative political ramifications."

Bent shipped the proposal out to "Major Dudes--scholars you would likely know and know well."  I still do not know who they are, and that is fine.  Both came back with relatively positive evaluations.  Reviewer number one stated:

Sarantakes is a well-respected author on World War II in Asia and the Pacific and is well qualified to handle a subject such as the battle for Manila which, as he correctly points out, has not been the focus of many other English language books.  It is an important, perhaps unique part of the story of the War against Japan because it was the only instance of large scale urban warfare in the Pacific theaters and the only one that resulted in enormous civilian casualties and physical destruction comparable to the worst cases in Europe and China.

The response from reviewer number two was equally positive:

This proposal is excellent.  The topic is as significant as the author reports.  The proposed approach is outstanding.  The author has a demonstrated record of achievement in his prior publications and is highly qualified for this project.  I would strongly recommend publication. 

There are far too many strong points in the proposal to itemize individually.  The topic itself is a compelling example of a major aspect of the Pacific War that deserves the full scale, in depth treatment this proposal outlines. The conceptual framework in the proposal overall is very sound.  The Battle for Manila is significant for the fact that it was the only major urban fighting in the Pacific theater and the absolutely horrendous degree of death among civilians and destruction in the city. The list of points relating to “significance” is very comprehensive and very sound.  Certainly the point about the contemporary relevance of any historical example of urban fighting is a strong point of the potential for the work.  

Both reviewers had reservations about specific issues. Reviewer number one thought discussing the theorists was an intellectual detour in general and that naval theorists was a waste of time. Reviewer number two wanted me to include the Filipino perspective. Both questioned my description of the battle's strategic importance in World War II as oversell.

Bent was optimistic about the responses and asked me to write a response which he could take to Oxford's board of delegates.  I did.  These issues were not difficult for me to respond to.  I did not plan to spend much time on the theorists (a paragraph) and it is important to put the battle into the overall strategic context of the war.  I also always planned to explore the Filipino perspective, and said so explicitly in the proposal, so I always found the complaint that I needed to look at that issue as more misleading than informative. 

The board of delegates believed in my proposal enough to approve a contract, which Bent reported to me on February 20, 2012.

Since then, my research has indicated certain additional other venues worth exploring and I have come to see some topics as less than necessary.  I am thinking right now that I want to avoid discussing too many other operations in the Philippines, so I am more inclined to throw out the material on theorists.  I have found material from the Japanese side that indicates that the Imperial Japanese Army saw this battle as a turning point, but some of it also strikes me as after the fact rationalization.  (General Yamashita Tomoyuki conducted several post war interviews with Prisoner of War debriefing teams that focus a lot on operational and tactical issues.) 

Needless to say, this is a work in progress and it will a little different than what was in the proposal or even what I am thinking about currently.  More on that to follow as it develops. 

私は米国の外交政策の歴史家であることが大学院で訓練された。私は自分自身の外交史家を検討してください。私は定期的にアメリカの外交の歴史のための社会の年次総会に出席する。あなたが私の5冊を見れば、そのうちの3人は固体外交史である。私は、米海軍戦争大学で教えています。船と水について考える時間を多く費やしている場所。だから、どのように私はマニラのための戦いで軍事史を書いてしまったん？非常に少量の水と地上戦？

シンプル：オックスフォード大学出版局の編集者はものを書くために私に尋ねた。
2011年11月15日に、私はティム·ベント、OUPのエグゼクティブエディタから次の電子メールを受け取った：

侵入を許したが、タミビドル - 第二次世界大戦における連合軍爆撃作戦についての私のために本を書いている - おそらくかかわらず、私は委員会にマニラの戦いの本が欲しかった彼女に言ったときに私はあなたと連絡を取ることを示唆必ずしもアメリカの歴史シリーズのピボタル瞬間のために私は、OUPで編集します。彼女はあなたがアイデアを持っている、および/または自分で興味があるかもしれないと思った。このような場合は、あなたは私たちが電話で話すことができたときに私に知らせすることができますか？私の電話番号は以下の通りです、あなたは任意の時点で私を呼び出すことが歓迎されると思います。

ご多幸を祈る
ティム●ベント

電子メールや携帯電話のシリーズが続いて呼び出されます。当時、私は私の第五の本を終えた、とリチャード·ニクソン（私の第六の著書される、私は出版社を見つける提供される）上の原稿に最終的な編集上の変更を行うと、新しいプロジェクトを探していました。私は本に海軍戦争大学で提供講義の一つの変換を考えるました; 1話は第二次世界大戦の太平洋の劇場で戦争終結にある、もう一つは、ジョージ●C●マーシャル、ドワイト●D●アイゼンハワーのグループ伝記ですとダグラス·マッカーサーと戦略に向けてのアプローチ。 （それらのアイデアの一つは、私がこのブログに記載されている二つの研究を終了した後、私は次の取るプロジェクトになります。）

言うまでもなく、私はマニラへの書き込みのアイデアが好きだった。それは第二次世界大戦であったが、それは別のものだった。それは、軍事史だった。何か私は少しを行わなく広範囲にしています。私は議論の一環として、より多くの部外者として第二次世界大戦の軍事的歴史学を知っている。私はフィリピンの任意の書き込みを行ったことがなかったが、私は主要な数字を知っているか、どこにソースの材料のために行くためになかったことを話題にとても外国ではなかった。 私はまた、私が欲しかったベントブックのタイプを届けることができると思った。トピックを知らされた一つは、何か新しいことを言ったが、それは喜びのために読んでそれらの個人にアクセス可能となります。すべての記事のために - - 私は5つのライティング賞を受賞していますが、私は長いフォームにその品質を変換することができると思った。

私はまた、私が欲しかったベントブックのタイプを届けることができると思った。トピックを知らされた一つは、何か新しいことを言ったが、それは喜びのために読んでそれらの個人にアクセス可能となります。すべての記事のために - - 私は5つのライティング賞を受賞していますが、私は長いフォームにその品質を変換することができると思った。

ベントや他のが良いリスクであったこと感じ私達の両方と話した後、彼は本提案をまとめるために私に尋ねた。 （著者は本を生産した実績を持っていた後に、アカデミック·プレスは、多くの場合、むしろ完成した原稿より提案に基づいて契約を提供しています。）ドキュメントは、しかし、通常の査読プロセスを経て行くこと。 OUPが私に近づいていますが、ピアレビューのプロセスは誰に適用されます。私はすぐにマニラの戦いと第二次世界大戦のこの段階に探し始めました。この努力の間に、私は非常に、非常に少ないが、これらのトピックに書かれていることを学びました。第二次世界大戦では、それは "何も"言わないのは危険ですが、米軍は年に公式の歴史を発表して以来、 "緑の本シリーズ、"マニラではほとんど関心を見ている。結果として、私は私の提案をまとめるのと遊ぶために部屋の多くを持っていた。

私は約2ヶ月の時間で22ページの提案を作成した。私はアメリカ、日本、そしてフィリピン人のバックグラウンドの章で始まるであろう15章研究を予測した。これらの章ではまた、これらの戦いの発展に影響を与えた大規模な軍事理論家への参照を含んでいるでしょう。 （私の計画は多分それぞれに段落を持っていることであった）。私は7の問題を見てと言いました：

•  インテリジェンスの利用
• 日本の抵抗
• 消耗リミテッドパワー
• 適応
• 軍事教育の影響
• リソースの反転電源
• ジョイントネス

私はそれらがすべての本になってしまいますと言って、また、この私の論文のチェックリストであるが、それは私がこの戦いマニラの調査は一見サポートするように見えることの分析問題を探求したいものではありませんしています。我々は証拠がサポートしているが表示されます。

なぜこれが重要なのですか？私の提案で、私はマニラでも、現代の問題に新たな光を当てることができます "、と主張した。現在の軍事思想家の中で、グローバルな人口動態と都市の成長パターンのため、将来の戦闘活動が都市で行われること広まっ信念がある。マニラ、軍事専門家を提供しています含む都市戦闘に関する重要な教訓を、：。複合武器を使用することの有用性は、水陸両用の値の操作 - ほとんどの主要都市は、水域に位置している彼らはベイ、湖、川と市民活動のための準備の必須の要件である市民大都市圏での生活の事実であり、そのケアは有意な正または負の政治的な影響を持つことができる占領軍の義務である。

への提案を出荷ベント "主要野郎ども - 。学者はおそらく知っているとよく知っているだろう"私はまだ、彼らが誰であるか知りません、それは結構です。どちらも、比較的ポジティブな評価で戻ってきた。レビュア​​ーのナンバーワンは、次のように述べている：

サランテケス は、アジア太平洋地域の第二次世界大戦で尊敬著者であり、十分にそのような他の多くの英語の本の焦点となっていない、彼は正しく指摘するように、マニラのための戦いのように件名を処理するために修飾されています。それは太平洋の劇場で大規模な市街戦の唯一のインスタンスと巨大な民間人の死傷者と最悪のケースに匹敵する物理的な破壊をもたらしただけだったので、それは日本の戦争の物語の重要な、おそらくユニークな部分である欧州、中国。

校閲者番号2からの応答も同様に陽性であった：

この提案が優れています。トピックでは、著者のレポートと同じくらい重要です。提案されたアプローチが優れています。著者は彼の前の出版物で達成の実証記録を持っており、非常にこのプロジェクトのために修飾されています。私は強く公表を推薦する。

個別に箇条書きにするという提案にあまりにも多くの長所があります。トピック自体は、この提案が概説深治療に、フルスケールに値する太平洋戦争の主要な側面の説得力のある例です。提案の概念的なフレームワークは、全体的に非常に健全である。マニラのための戦いは、それが太平洋の劇場で唯一の主要都市戦闘、市内で民間人と破壊の死亡の絶対に恐ろしい程度であったという事実のために重要である。 "重要性"に関連するポイントのリストは非常に包括的で非常に健全である。確かに都市部の戦闘のいずれかの歴史的例の現代の妥当性についてのポイントは、仕事の可能性の強いポイントです。

どちらのレビューでは、特定の問題についての予約を持っていた。レビュア​​ーのナンバーワンは、理論を議論すると、一般的には知的な回り道だったと海軍の理論家は時間の無駄だと思いました。レビュー数2は私がフィリピン人の視点を含めるようにしたかった。どちらも、オーバーな​​リアクションをするように、第二次世界大戦での戦いの戦略的重要性の私の説明に疑問を呈した。

ベントは、応答に関する楽観的だったし、彼はデリゲートのオックスフォードのボードに取ることができる応答を書き込むために私に尋ねた。私がやった。これらの問題は、私が応答するのは難しいことではありませんでした。私は理論家（段落）に多くの時間を費やすことを計画していなかった、それは戦争の全体的な戦略的コンテキストに戦いを置くことが重要である。また、私はいつもフィリピン人の視点を探求することを計画し、提案でそう明示的に述べたので、私はいつも、私は有益よりも誤解を招くように、その問題を見てする必要があると苦情を見つけた。

2012年2月20日に私に報告してベント契約を承認するのに十分な私の提案を信じ代議員会。

それ以来、私の研究では、試してみる価値がある特定の追加の他の会場を示したと私は必要以上に少ないようないくつかのトピックを見に来ました。私はフィリピンであまりにも多くの他の操作を議論避けたいことを今考えていますので、私は理論上の材料を捨てるする傾向です。私は、日本軍がターニングポイントとしてこの戦いを見たことを示して日本側から材料を発見したが、それのいくつかはまた、事実の合理化した後など、私を打つ。 （一般山下奉文は、運用と戦術的な問題に多くを焦点戦争報告会チームの囚人と、いくつかの戦後のインタビューを実施しました。）

言うまでもなく、これは進行中の作業であり、それは私が現在考えていても、何か提案していたものとは少し違うでしょう。それが発展するにつれ、よりそれに従うこと。
  

Ako ay bihasa sa nagtapos ng paaralan na maging isang mananalaysay ng US banyagang patakaran. Isaalang-alang ko ang aking sarili sa isang diplomatikong mananalaysay. Ako regular na dumalo sa taunang pulong ng Kapisanan para sa Historians of American Foreign Relations. Kung tumingin ka sa aking limang mga libro, tatlo sa kanila ay solid diplomatikong kasaysayan. Magturo ako sa US Naval College Digmaan. Isang lugar na ginugugol ng maraming oras sa pag-iisip tungkol sa ships at tubig. Kaya, kung paano ang nakuha ko magtapos up ang pagsusulat ng kasaysayan ng militar sa labanan para sa Manila? Ang labanan ng lupa na may napakakaunting tubig?

Simple: isang editor sa Oxford University Press nagtanong sa akin upang isulat ang bagay.

 

Noong Nobyembre 15, 2011, Nakatanggap ako ang mga sumusunod na e-mail mula sa Tim Baluktot, isang executive editor sa OUP:

Pakiulit ang pagpasok nang walang pahintulot, ngunit Tami Biddle - sino ang pagsusulat ng isang libro para sa akin ang tungkol sa mga kampanya magkakatulad pambobomba sa WWII - iminungkahing ko makipag-ugnay sa iyo kung kailan ko sinabi sa kanya Nais kong magbigay ng karapatan ng aklat sa Labanan ng Maynila, posibleng bagaman hindi kinakailangan para sa mga pibotal sandali sa American Kasaysayan sa serye ko i-edit sa OUP. Niya naisip na maaaring mayroon ka ideya at / o maging interesado sa iyong sarili. Kung tulad ay ang kaso, maaari mong ipaalam sa akin kapag maaari kaming makipag-usap sa telepono? Ang aking numero ay sa ibaba, at nais mong maging malugod na tumawag sa akin sa anumang punto. 

Maligayang pagbati
Tim Bent

 

Isang serye ng mga e-mail at mga tawag sa telepono na sinundan. Sa oras na ako ay pagtatapos up ang aking ikalimang libro, at sa paggawa ng pangwakas na pagbabago editoryal sa isang sinulat ng kamay sa Richard Nixon (na magiging ang aking ika-anim na libro, ibinigay ko mahahanap ang isang publisher) at ay naghahanap para sa isang bagong proyekto. Ako ay isipin ang tungkol sa pag-convert ng isa sa mga aralin ihatid ako sa Naval War College sa isang libro; isang talk ay sa digmaan pagwawakas sa Pacific Theater ng World War II, isa pang ay isang grupo talambuhay ni George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower at Douglas MacArthur at ang kanilang mga approach na patungo sa diskarte. (Isa sa mga ideya ay ang magiging proyekto tumagal ako hanggang matapos ang susunod na tapusin ko ang dalawang mga pag-aaral dokumentado sa blog na ito.)

 

Hindi na kailangang sabihin, Nagustuhan ko ang ideya ng pagsusulat sa Manila. Ito ay World War II, ngunit ito ay isang bagay na naiiba. Ito ay isang militar kasaysayan. Isang bagay na gumawa ako ng isang bit, ngunit hindi malawakan. Alam ko ang militar historiography ng Ikalawang Digmaang Pandaigdig nang higit pa bilang isang tagalabas kaysa bilang isang bahagi ng debate. Hindi ko ay tapos na ang anumang nakasulat sa Pilipinas, ngunit ako ay hindi kaya dayuhan sa topic na hindi ko alam ang mga pangunahing figure o kung saan upang pumunta para sa mapagkukunan na materyal.

 

Ako din naisip ko maaaring maghatid ang uri ng mga aklat na gusto Baluktot. Ang isa na alam sa paksa, sinabi ng isang bagong bagay, ngunit iyon ay magiging naa-access sa mga indibidwal na basahin para sa kasiyahan. Ako won limang mga parangal pagsulat - lahat ng mga artikulo - ngunit naisip ko ma-convert na kalidad sa mahabang form.

 

Pagkatapos ng pakikipag-usap sa Baluktot at pareho na sa amin pakiramdam na ang iba pang mga noon ay isang mahusay na panganib, siya ay nagtanong sa akin upang ilagay ang sama-sama ng aklat panukala. (Pagkatapos ng isang may-akda ay may isang track record ng mga gumagawa ng mga aklat, isang akademikong pindutin ang madalas na nag-aalok ng kontrata batay sa isang panukala sa halip na ang natapos na manuskrito.) Iyon dokumento, kahit na, napupunta sa pamamagitan ng karaniwang proseso ng peer review. Kahit OUP nilapitan akin, ang peer proseso ng pagsusuri ay naaangkop sa lahat ng tao. Mabilis ako makapagsimula ng pagtingin sa labanan ng Maynila at ang phase ng Ikalawang Digmaang Pandaigdig. Sa panahon ng pagsisikap na ito, natutunan ko na napaka, napaka-kaunti ay na nakasulat sa mga paksang ito. Sa Ikalawang Digmaang Pandaigdig, ito ay mapanganib na sabihing "walang" ngunit dahil ang US Army-publish nito opisyal na kasaysayan sa "berde libro serye," Manila ay nakakita sa napakaliit na interes. Bilang isang resulta, ako ay nagkaroon ng maraming kuwarto upang i-play na may sa paglalagay ng magkasama ang aking panukala.

 

Ako ay gumawa ng isang 22 pahina ng panukala sa tungkol sa dalawang buwan oras. Ako hinulaang 15 pag-aaral sa kabanata na nagsisimula sa kabanata background sa Amerikano, Hapon, at Pilipino. Ang mga kabanata ay din isama ang mga sanggunian sa mga pangunahing militar theorists na naiimpluwensyahan ang pag-unlad ng mga laban. (Ang aking plano ay upang siguro ay mayroon ng isang talata sa bawat isa). Sinabi ko Gusto ko tumingin sa pitong mga isyu:

• Ang Paggamit ng Intelligence
• Hapon paglaban
• Ang Limited Kapangyarihan ng pagsisisi dahil sa takot
• Adaption
• Ang Epekto ng Militar Edukasyon
• Ang Baliktad Kapangyarihan ng Mga Mapagkukunan
• Jointness

Hindi ako ay sinasabi ay doon lahat hantungan sa libro, at hindi rin ito ay ang aking thesis sa pamamagitan ng tseke listahan, ngunit ito ay kung ano ang gusto kong galugarin at Analytical ang mga isyu na ang isang pagsisiyasat sa ito labanan ng Manila ay tila upang suportahan sa unang tingin. Kami ay makita kung ano ang katibayan ay sumusuporta sa.

 

Bakit ito mahalaga? Sa aking proposal ko Nagtalo, "Manila ay maaari ring malaglag bagong liwanag sa kontemporaryong alalahanin. Kabilang sa mga kasalukuyang militar thinkers, mayroong isang palasak na paniniwala na dahil sa mga global na demographic at mga lunsod o bayan mga pattern ng pag-unlad, hinaharap labanan ang mga operasyon ay magdadala sa lugar sa lungsod. Manila ay nag-aalok militar propesyonal mahalagang mga aralin tungkol sa urban fighting, kabilang ang: ang utility ng paggamit ng pinagsamang arm, ang halaga ng pagpapatakbo maaaring mabuhay sa lupa o sa tubig-karamihan ng mga pangunahing mga lungsod ang matatagpuan sa mga katawan ng tubig maging sila bays, lawa, o ilog-at ang ipinag-uutos na kinakailangan ng mga paghahanda para sa civic pagkilos populasyong sibil. ay isang katotohanan ng buhay sa mga pangunahing urban area at ang kanilang mga pag-aalaga ay isang obligasyon ng sumasakop puwersa na maaaring magkaroon ng makabuluhang positibo o negatibong pampulitika ramifications. "

 

Bent ipinadala panukala ang out sa "Major Dudes -. Iskolar gusto mong malamang alam at alam na rin" Ako pa rin hindi alam kung sino sila, at iyon ay masarap. Ang parehong ay dumating likod na may relatibong positibong pagsusuri. Tagasuri bilang isa ipinahayag:

Sarantakes ay isang well-respetado sa may-akda ng Ikalawang Digmaang Pandaigdig sa Asya at angPasipiko at ay mahusay kwalipikado upang mahawakan ang isang paksa tulad ng labanan para sa Manila kung saan, bilang siya nang tama ang mga puntos out, ay hindi pa ang focus ng maraming iba pang mga aklat Ingles wika.

Ito ay isang mahalagang, marahil natatanging bahagi ng kuwento ng Digmaan laban sa Japan dahil ito ay ang tanging pagkakataon ng malaking proporsyon mga lunsod o bayan digma sa mga sinehan Pacific at ang isa lamang na nagresulta sa napakalaking sibilyan casualties at pisikal na pagkasira maihahambing ang pinakamasamang mga kaso sa Europa at Tsina.
 

Ang tugon mula sa reviewer dalawang numero ay pantay-pantay positibong:

Panukalang ito ay tamang-tama. May mga malayo masyadong maraming mga malakas na mga puntos sa mga panukala upang itala ang bawa't isa nang paisa-isa. Ang paksa mismo ay isang nakahihimok na halimbawa ng isang pangunahing aspeto ng Pacific War na nararapat ang buong sukat, malalalim na paggamot panukala na ito ay binabalangkas. Ang haka-haka framework sa pangkalahatang panukala ay napaka-tunog. Ang Battle para sa Manila ay makabuluhang para sa mga katotohanan na ito ay ang tanging mga pangunahing urban fighting sa teatro Pacific at ang ganap na horrendous na grado ng kamatayan kasama ng populasyong sibil at pagsira sa lungsod. Ang listahan ng mga punto na may kaugnayan sa "kabuluhan" ay napaka-komprehensibo at napaka-tunog. Oo nga ang punto tungkol sa mga kontemporaryong kaugnayan ng anumang makasaysayang halimbawa ng urban fighting ay isang malakas na punto ng mga potensyal na para sa tranaho.

Ang paksa ay bilang makabuluhang bilang ng mga ulat na may-akda. Ang ipinanukalang mga diskarte ay natitirang. Ang may-akda ay may nagpakita ng tala ng napagtagumpayan sa kanyang naunang mga publication at ay mataas na kwalipikado para sa proyektong ito. Gusto ko Minumungkahi publication.  

Ang parehong mga reviewer nagkaroon reservation tungkol sa partikular na mga isyu. Tagasuri bilang isa naisip tinatalakay ang theorists ay isang intelektwal na likuan sa pangkalahatan at na hukbong-dagat theorists ay isang basura ng oras. Tagasuri bilang dalawang gusto sa akin upang isama ang Pilipino pananaw. Parehong questioned aking paglalarawan ng madiskarteng kahalagahan ng labanan sa World War II bilang oversell.

 

Bent ay maasahin sa mabuti ang tungkol sa mga tugon at nagtanong sa akin upang magsulat ng isang tugon na kaya niyang gawin upang Oxford ng board ng delegates. Ginawa ko. Mga isyu na ito ay hindi mahirap para sa akin upang tumugon sa. Hindi ko balak na gastusin karaming oras sa theorists (isang paragraph) at ito ay mahalaga upang ilagay ang labanan sa pangkalahatang strategic konteksto ng digmaan. Din ako palaging binalak upang galugarin ang Pilipino pananaw, at sinabi kaya tahasan sa panukala, kaya ako palaging natagpuan ang reklamo ko na kailangan upang tumingin sa na isyu sa lalong higit pa kaysa sa nakaliligaw na nagbibigay-kaalaman.

 

Ang board of delegates naniniwala sa aking panukala sapat na upang maaprubahan ang isang kontrata, kung saan Bent iniulat sa akin sa Pebrero 20, 2012.

 

Simula noon, ang aking pananaliksik ay ipinahiwatig sa ilang karagdagang mga iba pang venues nagkakahalaga ng paggalugad at ako dumating upang makita ang ilang mga paksa tulad ng mas mababa kaysa sa kinakailangan. Ako ay nag-iisip ngayon na gusto kong iwasan tinatalakay masyadong maraming iba pang mga pagpapaandar sa Pilipinas, kaya ako ay mas hilig upang dumura ang materyal sa theorists. Nakakita ako ng materyal mula sa Hapon gilid na nagpapahiwatig na ang Imperial Hapon Army nakita ito labanan bilang isang magiging punto, ngunit ang ilan sa mga ito naaabot din ako bilang pagkatapos ng katotohanan rasyonalisasyon. (General Yamashita Tomoyuki na isinasagawa ng ilang mga post ng mga panayam na may digmaan bilanggo ng mga koponan na Digmaan debriefing na tumutok ng maraming sa operational at pantaktika mga isyu.)

 

Hindi na kailangang sabihin, ito ay isang trabaho sa pag-unlad at kalooban ito ng kaunti naiiba kaysa sa kung ano ay nasa panukala o kahit na ano ako ay nag-iisip tungkol sa kasalukuyan. Higit pa sa na upang sundin bilang bubuo ito.

Post 1: Introduction

Welcome to this new blog, The World War II History Guy.  The purpose of this undertaking is to document the activities of me, Nicholas Evan Sarantakes, as I write two very different books about the Second World War.  Think of this blog as something like one of those documentaries that major film studios make about their blockbusters—The Making of Star Wars; except this project documents an ongoing effort rather than something after the fact. 

What are the two books?  The first is a history of the battle of Manila.  In 1945 the U.S. Army fought a month long engagement against the Japanese to retake the Filipino capitol.  There was lots of street-to-street and even room-to-room combat involved in this battle.  This book will be a military history, but I am hoping to add something about culture, international relations, strategy and urban development in addition to providing an account of the tactics and operations in this fight.  The second book will look at the U.S. homefront, using the activities of the Boy Scouts of America as the focal point.  The BSA was in the 1940s—and still is—the largest youth organization in the country.   During the war, roughly half of all eligible boys in the country were in Scouting.  This book offers me an opportunity to look at youth culture in addition to examining the economic and social issues the nation faced as it mobilized for this war from a unique perspective. 

What credentials do I bring to this undertaking?  Neither these books nor this blog are my first.  I have five published books to my name and four have something to do with World War II.  For several years, I have published a blog about the history profession, In the Service of Clio.  It has gotten some nice attention within the field. 

It is my hope that this blog will be of interest to a lot of people.  I obviously expect that those who are interested in World War II will enjoy reading the postings.  With that said, this blog is not about World War II per say, instead it is about the making of a book, or two to be more accurate.  As a result, it should be of interest to anyone who wants to see some of the behind the scenes "action" in the book industry.  I hope anyone writing a book—or at least one on history—will find this blog of interest and use.  It is my expectation to post roughly once every two weeks to once a month—writing a book is a marathon not a sprint—with the idea that there will be roughly 60-80 postings before one of these books is published.  We will see if that is actually what happens, blogs have a way of changing on you.  Now, lets blog.


この新しいブログ、第二次世界大戦史ガイへようこそ。この事業の目的は、私は第二次世界大戦についての二つの非常に異なった本を書くように、私の活動、ニコラス●エヴァン●サランテケスを文書化することです。主要な映画スタジオが彼らについて作成することをそれらのドキュメンタリーの一つ大作、スターウォーズのメイキングのようなものとして、このブログを考えるが、このプロジェクトを除いて継続的な努力ではなく、事実の後に何かを説明します。

二冊の本は何ですか？最初は、マニラの戦いの歴史である。 1945年に米軍がフィリピンの国会議事堂を奪還するために日本人に対して毎月長い婚約を戦った。通りツー通りのロットとさえこの戦いに関与室ツー室内戦闘がありました。この本は軍事史になりますが、私はこの戦いにおける戦術と操作のアカウントを提供することに加えて、文化、国際関係、戦略、都市開発について何かを加えることを望んでいます。二冊目の本は、フォーカルポイントとしてアメリカのボーイスカウトの活動を使用して、米国の国内戦線を見ていきます。 BSAは、していた1940年代とまだ国内で最大の青年組織。戦争中、国内のすべての適格少年の約半分がスカウトしていた。この本は私にそれが独自の視点からこの戦争に動員として国家が直面する経済的、社会的な問題を検討に加えて、若者文化を見る機会を提供しています。

この事業に私は何の資格情報をもたらすか？これらの本も、このブログも、私の最初のです。私は自分の名前に5出版された本を持っており、4人が第二次世界大戦とは何かを持っている。数年間、私はクリオのサービスでは、歴史の専門職についてのブログを公開しています。これは、フィールド内のいくつかの素晴らしい注目を得ている。

これは、このブログが多くの人に興味を持ってもらえるでしょうというのが私の希望です。私は明らかに第二次世界大戦に興味を持っている人が投稿を読んでお楽しみいただけますことを期待しています。とは言うものの、このブログは、それがより正確になるように本、または2つのことについてである代わりに、発言ごとに第二次世界大戦に関するものではありません。その結果、本業界でのシーン "アクション"の背後にあるのいくつかを見たいと思って誰にも興味があるはずです。私は本または履歴ます関心と使用のこのブログを見つける上の少なくとも一つを書いて誰も願っています。これは、月に一度、書き込み帳に2週間に1回大体投稿する私の予想ですマラソンではないスプリント·これらの本の一つが公開される前に、大体60〜80の投稿があるだろうという考えです。それが何が起こるか実際にあるならば、我々が表示されますが、ブログはあなたに変更する方法があります。さて、ブログをすることができます。


Maligayang pagdating sa ito bagong blog, ang World War II Kasaysayan Guy. Ang layunin ng pamamahala sa libing na ito ay upang idokumento ang mga gawain ng sa akin, Nicholas Evan Sarantakes, pati na magsulat ako dalawang napaka-ibang mga libro tungkol sa Ikalawang Digmaang Pandaigdig. Isipin mo na ang blog na ito bilang isang bagay na tulad ng isa sa mga dokumentaryo na major film studios gumawa ng tungkol sa kanilang mga blockbusters-Ang paggawa ng Star Wars; maliban sa proyektong ito dokumento patuloy na pagsusumikap sa halip na isang bagay matapos ang katunayan.

Ano ang dalawang mga libro? Ang una ay ang isang kasaysayan ng mga labanan ng Manila. Sa 1945 ang US Army fought isang buwan mahaba ang pakikipag-ugnayan laban sa mga Hapon upang kumuha muli ng Pilipino Capitol. Nagkaroon ng maraming mga kalye-to-street at kahit room-to-room lumaban kasangkot sa labanan na ito. Ang aklat na ito ay magiging isang militar kasaysayan, ngunit ako ay umaasa upang magdagdag ng isang bagay tungkol sa kultura, internasyonal na relasyon, diskarte at mga lunsod o bayan pag-unlad sa karagdagan sa pagbibigay ng isang account ng mga taktika at pagpapatakbo sa paglaban. Ang ikalawang libro ay tumingin sa homefront US, gamit ang mga gawain ng Boy Scouts ng Amerika bilang ang focal point. Ang BSA ay nasa 1940s-at ay pa rin-ang pinakamalaking samahan kabataan sa bansa. Sa panahon ng digmaan, halos kalahati ng lahat ng karapat-dapat na lalaki sa bansa ay sa pagmamanman. Ang aklat na ito ay nag-aalok sa akin ng isang pagkakataon upang tumingin sa kabataan kultura bilang karagdagan sa pagsusuri ng mga pang-ekonomiya at panlipunang mga isyu sa bansa ang nahaharap ito bilang mobilized para sa digmaan mula sa isang natatanging pananaw.

Ano kredensyal ko dalhin ito sa pamamahala sa libing? Wala alinman sa mga aklat na ito at hindi rin ang blog na ito ay ang aking unang. Mayroon akong limang-publish na mga libro sa aking pangalan at apat na magkaroon ng isang bagay na gagawin sa World War II. Para sa ilang taon, ako ay nag-publish ng isang blog tungkol sa kasaysayan ng propesyon, Sa Serbisyo ng Clio. Ito na nakuha ng ilang mga gandang pansin sa loob ng field.

Ito ay ang aking mga pag-asa na ang blog na ito ay magiging ng interes sa ng maraming mga tao. Malinaw naman ako asahan na ang mga taong interesado sa mga World War II ang mga bisita sa pagbabasa ng mga pag-post. Sa na sinabi, ang blog na ito ay hindi tungkol sa World War II sa bawat halimbawa, sa halip ito ay tungkol sa pagawa ng isang libro, o dalawang upang maging mas tumpak. Bilang isang resulta, ito ay kailangang maging ng interes sa sinuman na nagnanais na makita ang ilan sa mga likod ng mga eksena "action" sa industriya ng aklat. Umaasa ako na sinuman ang pagsusulat ng aklat-o hindi bababa sa isa sa kasaysayan-Hahanapin sa blog na ito ng interes at paggamit. Ito ay ang aking pag-asa upang mag-post ng humigit-kumulang isang beses sa bawat dalawang linggo sa isang beses sa isang buwan-pagsusulat ng isang libro ay isang marapon hindi isang sprint-may ideya na ang doon ay magiging humigit-kumulang 60-80 mga pag-post bago ang isa sa mga aklat na ito ay na-publish. Makikita natin kung iyon ay talagang kung ano ang mangyayari, mga blog ay may isang paraan ng pagbabago sa iyo. Ngayon, ay nagbibigay-daan blog