#11--Rick Atkinson

In this episode, we discuss: *The role that Rick’s father played in his son's interest in the US Army and military history *The role that Rick’s time living in Germany had in his decision to write about World War II *Rick’s interest in a career in the Army and his declined appointment to West Point *What led Rick to leave the Washington Post to pursue military history *What Rick means when he calls himself “a recovering journalist” *What led Rick to writing Crusade, his book on the Persian Gulf War, and some of the challenges he encountered in researching and writing along the way *Some of the surprises Rick learned while writing Crusade *How Rick came to write his third book, In the Company of Soldiers *The story behind how Rick got embedded with David Petraeus and the 101st Airborne Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom-1 *Rick’s experiences of witnessing a full-scale invasion of another country *What it was like to watch Dave Petraeus command the 101st Airborne Division *Rick’s observations of the Iraqi forces *What a military historian learns from embedding with a combat unit, and how this affected Rick’s subsequent military history writing *The American and German ‘ways of war’ in World War II *Rick’s thoughts on the US 1st Infantry Division and 3rd Infantry Division in the war in Europe *Rick’s take on US Army General Mark Clark *The contentious relationship between Eisenhower and Montgomery *Why Rick hasn’t written on the Pacific Theater and some of the historical actors, battles, and topics from that theater that interest him *Rick’s experience researching and writing The British Are Coming *George Washington as a tactical and operational commander *The similarities between Eisenhower and Washington *Washington as a kvetcher in his private correspondence *Where the phrase “win hearts and minds” comes from *Rick’s process for starting a book *Rick’s use of outlines *The cartographer for Rick’s books *Rick’s lack of writer’s block *Rick’s take on the state of military history today *Why some journalists turn to writing military history *Rick’s thoughts on professional military education, especially as it pertains to junior leaders *Why all service members should know where their branch comes from *Rick’s advice on getting started on professional military reading Links The British Are Coming by Rick Atkinson: https://www.amazon.com/British-Are-Coming-Lexington-Revolution/dp/1627790438 The Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson: http://liberationtrilogy.com In the Company of Soldiers by Rick Atkinson: https://www.amazon.com/Company-Soldiers-Chronicle-Combat/dp/0805077731 Crusade by Rick Atkinson: https://www.amazon.com/Crusade-Untold-Story-Persian-Gulf/dp/0395710839 The Long Gray Line by Rick Atkinson: https://www.amazon.com/Long-Gray-Line-American-Journey/dp/080509122X Errata Towards the end of the interview, while Rick and I discussed journalists who had turned to writing military history, Rick mentioned The Guns at Last Light when he meant to say Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August. I missed the slip as well.