What are you doing?

Edited, 8/25/11: So I guess I WAS having a really bad day. I deleted the previous comments and will make this a simple update post. Enjoy!

Since I spent some time on the internet instead of working on my book I thought I could at least do a blog post. So here is what I am doing:

Of course I'm working on my book. I'm still waiting to hear from publishers. My tentative title is "All the Arts of War: Ancient Warfare and Modern Lessons from the Book of Mormon". I have also renamed my chapter on Gadianton Robbers to "Bitter Exactors of Their Rights". I was thinking I could repeat the main title immediately underneath with Chinese characters. And then the cover would look something like the above picture.

Other Publications:

“Offensive Warfare in The Book of Mormon and a Defense of the Bush Doctrine” in Patrick Mason, Richard Pulsipher, and Richard Lyman Bushman eds. Mormon Perspectives on War Salt Lake City: Kofford Books, 2012. (Contracted)

“Qi Jiguang (1528-1598)” The History of the Philosophy of War and Strategy New York: ABC-CLIO Press, 2012. (Contracted)

Book Review "Sun Tzu at Gettysburg: Ancient Wisdom in the Modern World" by Bevin Alexander, New York: WW Norton and Co., 2011. in The Michigan War Studies Review.

Possible Publication:

Confederates Still in the Attic: Justifying the Civil War. The Justified Reader New York: Kansas University Press, 2012.

Presentations:

"The Infestation: Robbers in late Imperial Rome and the Chinese Period of Disunion", Society For Military History, May 10, 2012.

"Fed with the Flesh of their Husbands: The High Cost of Waging Economic War", Mormon Scholars in the Humanities, May 17, 2012.

As you can see I have a great many exciting projects on which I'm working. What are you doing?

Call for Reviewers

I'm still hard at work on my book. I am done with a rough draft and waiting to hear back from the publishers but I need to polish what I have. I need anybody who is willing to review my work. You will help if you can read a couple pages, a chapter, or the entire book. You don't need to be a historian or even LDS. You can simply read to see if you enjoy it, just for typos, or provide critical feedback to my arguments. Anything and everything will help.

My only condition is for those that offer to review my work do so in a timely manner. (I'm talking hours and not days or weeks).

Thank you.

All the Arts of War

Greetings. I haven't been posting a great deal, but I'm happy to say this is due to my upcoming book. I have several leads on publishers and I'm aiming to have a completed manuscript by the October General Conference. Because of this book I haven't been able to focus on much else besides research and writing. Since I value my readership, all five of you, I wanted to give you a sneak peak at my current title and table of contents.

All the Arts of War: A Military Study of The Book of Mormon
1. Introduction: Growing importance and spotlight on Mormonism. Why study the church through warfare in The Book of Mormon? Why does military history matter?
2. Bleached Bones Covered the Field: Analyzing the Jaredite Civil War using the Chinese “War of the Eight Princes”.
3. In These Difficult Circumstances: Gadianton Robbers in Nephite Society.
4. They Fought on Both Hands With Exceeding Fury: Battle in The Book of Mormon.
5. All the Arts of War: Military Theory and Practice.
6. The Inward Fire: The Leadership of Captain Moroni.
7. By and By We Shall Receive Wine for Our Rations: Logistics in The Book of Mormon.
8. Cords and Ladders: Prisoner Treatment in The Book of Mormon.
9. The Lord Forbid? Offensive Warfare and a Defense of the Bush Doctrine.

You'll notice that all of my titles are quotes from The Book of Mormon or from primary sources I found in my research. What do you think? Do these spark your interest?

MHA Conference

This weekend is the Mormon Historical Association Conference. You can find their program here, but here is where you will find me:

Session 1E:Latter-day Saints and the Civil War
“Mormons and the American Civil War Press”
Kenneth L. Alford, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
“Civil War Saints: Latter-day Saints Serving in the Civil War”
Robert Freeman, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
“A Closer Look at the Utah Cavalry”
Joseph R. Stuart, Sandy, UT

2A: Introducing the Church History Department’s Integrated Catalog and Joseph Smith Papers WebsiteChair: Richard E. Turley Jr.
Elder Marlin K. Jensen
Elder Paul K. Sybrowsky
Reid L. Neilson
Church History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, UT

3G: Mormons and the U.S. Military in the Nineteenth Century
“Saints and Soldiers: Mormon Soldier Motivation for Enlisting in the Civil War”
Brant Ellsworth, Penn State University, University Park
“A Mormon Revolution: Mission President Louis Bertrand’s Predictions of America’s Downfall”
Erik J. Freeman, Utah Valley University, Orem
“The Last Bastion: Pipe Springs and Its Place in Brigham Young’s ‘Great Game’”
John A. Peterson, Kaysville, UT

This looks like a great conference and I hope to see you there.