Biography and Business

Doug is an avid historian who has an intense interest in the World Wars; and, the great American military leaders and the ones who transcended the period. Besides the practical experience gained in a military career, necessary to get clients around on-the-ground, he has a M.A. in Military History (WW II Concentration) from the American Military University. He is fluent in French, and very well travelled to Europe and the Pacific.

Many historians will argue that World War I, or the "Great War" or the "War to End all Wars", was the most dramatic event that shaped the rest of the 20th Century; then, World War II came along and created the world we live in today. Due to the static nature of warfare along the WW I Western Front, and the intensity of the experience on the participants, a variety of extremely impressive monuments and memorials were built - most in the 1920's and generally along the battleline. See the American Battle Monuments Commission link for those American; there are also terrific British and French sites.

World War II then came along (a whole fascinating inter-war story with German discontent, the rise of fascism, the U.S./Japanese tensions out in the Orient), with the outcome shaping the world in which we've lived for about 50 years. WW II presents fewer sites, but the three main regions with sites preserved - the D-Day landings in Normandy, the Ardennes (spilling into German Eifel/Siegfried Line positions, too) region of Belgium and Luxembourg for the Battle of the Bulge, and the Calais region by the English Channel - are all outstanding.

Since the end of the Cold War, the world has entered a new era - flatter and more equal, but with new extremes in both good and bad being one of the results - and we are off to uncharted territory. But the structures created out of World War II are definitely changing at a very high rate.

In the case of the United States, World War I was also a seminal event in the development of its military, and in the making of an entire generation of leaders for events down-the-road. Hallowed names that will forever be a forceful part of American history - Pershing, MacArthur, Patton, Marshall, Truman, Eisenhower - all either made their mark, or were shaped by the events, of the First World War. There are also the great figures from other countries like Churchill, Montgomery, Stalin - all are part of the World Wars I and II story.

World Wars I and II were - for the United States but also for many countries - major steps on the road toward today's globalization and international entanglements.

There are scores of books that are fascinating reading on the World War I era, the period between the wars, World War II, and also on great leaders associated with the conflicts. Excellent books include:

World War I:

1. "American Armies and Battlefields in Europe", from the Staff of the Center for Military History Institute.

2. "The American Heritage History of World War I", by S.L.A. Marshall and the American Heritage Editors.

3. "Before Endeavors Fade", by Rose B. Coombs, MBE.

4. "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers" (pages 182-291), by Paul Kennedy.

5. "The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century", by Jay Winter and Blaine Baggett.

6. "The Great War at Sea: A History of Naval Action 1914-18", by A.A. Hoehling.

7. "Pipe Clay and Drill - John J. Pershing: The Classic American Soldier", by Richard Goldhurst.

8. "American Caesar" (biography of Douglas MacArthur), by William Manchester.

9. "Passchendaele", by Philip Warner.

10. "The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916", by Alistar Horne.

11. "The Guns of August", by Barbara W. Tuchman.

12. "The Battle of Vimy Ridge", by Alexander McKee.

13. "Somme", by Lyn MacDonald.

14. "The Origins of the First and Second World Wars", by Frank McDonough.

15. "My Experiences in the First World War", by GEN John J. Pershing.

16. "Yanks", by John S.D. Eisenhower.

17. "America's First Battles: 1776-1965" (Cantigny, Chapter 6, 28-31 May 1918), by Alan Millett, book edited by C. Heller and W. Stofft.

18. "Over Here", by David M. Kennedy.

19. "The Doughboys: The AEF in World War I", by Laurence Stallings and M.S. Wyeth, Jr.

20. "The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in WWI", by Edward Coffman.

21. "A Storm in Flanders", by Winston Groom.

22. "And They Thought We Wouldn't Fight", by Floyd Gibbons.

23. "War by Time-Table: How the First World War Began", by A J P Taylor.

24. "An Illustrated History of the First World War", by John Keegan.

25. "1918; War and Peace", by Gregor Dallas.

26. "Europe's Last Summer", by David Fromkin.

27. "The Battle of Belleau Wood", by Richard Suskind.

28. "The Test of Battle", by Paul F. Braim.

29. "Doughboys, the Great War, and the Remaking of America", by Jennifer Keene.

30. "Rites of Spring", by Modris Eksteins.
31. "Dreadnaught", by Robert Massie.

World War II:

1. "The Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940", by William L. Shirer.

2. "The Maginot Line; Myth and Reality", by Anthony Kemp.

3. "Hitler's V-Weapons Sites", by Philip Henshall.

4. "The Second World War: Europe and the Mediterranean", from the West Point Military History Series, 2002.

5. "Atlas to the Second World War", from the West Point Military History Series, 2002 (one for "Europe and the Mediterranean" and one for "Asia and the Pacific").

6. "D-Day: June 06, 1944 The Climatic Battle of World War II", by Stephen Ambrose.

7. "Ghost Front: The Story of the Ardennes before the Battle of the Bulge", by Charles Whiting.

8. "Hitler's Last Offensive: The Full Story of the Battle of the Ardennes", by Peter Elstob.

9. "Eisenhower's Lieutenants", by Russell Weigley.

10. "Armageddon", by Max Hastings.

11. "Hitler's Last Weapons: The Underground War against the V1 and V2", by Jozef Garlinski.

12. "Hitler's Atlantic Wall", by Anthony Saunders.

13. "The Pacific War: 1941-45", by John Costello.

14. "Goodbye Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War", by William Manchester.

15. "The Third Reich" Series (21 books total), by the Editors of Time-Life, Inc.

16. "A Tour of the Bulge Battlefield", by William C.C. Cavanagh.

17. "The Mare's Nest", by David Irving.

18. "The Birth of the Missile; The Secrets of Peenemuende", by Ernst Klee and Otto Merk.

19. "Germany, Hitler & World War II", by Gerhard L. Weinberg.

20. "World in the Balance; Behind the Scenes of World War II", by Gerhard L. Weinberg.

21. "Hitler's Italian Allies", by MacGregor Knox.

22. "A War to be Won; Fighting the Second World War", by Williamson Murray and Allan Millett.

23. "The Supreme Commander; The War Years of Dwight D. Eisenhower", by Stephen Ambrose.

24. "The First Summit; Roosevelt and Churchill at Placentia Bay, 1941", by Theodore Wilson.

25. "Why the Allies Won", by Richard Overy.

26. "A World at Arms", by Gerhard L. Weinberg.

27. "Japan Prepares for Total War: The Search for Economic Security, 1919-1941", by Michael A. Barnhart.

28. "War Without Mercy: Race & Power in the Pacific War", by John Dower.