S1E6 Kyle Longley - Chapman University

Join us for a chat with Kyle Longley, Professor of History and Director of the War & Society MA Program in the Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Department of History at Chapman University. Kyle began as a historian of American foreign relations and diplomatic history but has gravitated toward war and society studies both in teaching and research. A native of Texas, Kyle earned his bachelor's degree in history at Angelo State University, then an MA in history from Texas Tech, before earning his Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky. In 1995, he began a long academic posting as the Snell Family Distinguished Professor at Arizona State University. While in Tempe, Kyle published like a man possessed. His many books include The Sparrow and the Hawk: Costa Rica and the United States During the Rise of José Figueres (1997), In the Eagle's Shadow: The United States and Latin America (2003, 2nd edition 2009), Grunts: The American Combat Soldier in Vietnam (2008, 2nd edition 2020), The Morenci Marines: A Tale of Small Town America and the Vietnam War (2013), LBJ's 1968: Power, Politics, and the Presidency in America's Year of Uphaveal (2018), and the co-authored, In Harm's Way: A History of the American Military Experience (2019). He is currently writing The Forever Soldiers: Americans at War in Afghanistan and Iraq (for Cambridge University Press) and The Unlucky Ones: Lima Company and the Marines in Iraq.

Kyle is an award-winning university teacher. The Associated Students of Arizona State named him the Centennial Professor as the outstanding teacher at ASU. He was also awarded the Zebulon Pearce Award for Outstanding Teacher in the Humanities and the ASU Habitat for Humanity "Making the World a Cooler Place to Live" Teaching Award. That's some serious teaching chops.

After a brief stint as Director of the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Kyle joined the faculty in the History Department at Chapman University in 2020, where he runs the War & Society MA program. He speaks worldwide, including at Bill's mother's retirement community - Longhorn Village - in Austin (his mother loves Kyle!).

And a PS for this episode - we experienced some audio difficulties that we mostly but not completely fixed, being the amateurs that we are. Also, Dr. Longley's computer notifications "beeped" several times, attesting to his popularity. And we also corrected Dr. Longley after recording as to the correct pronunciation of Lima, Ohio! Remember, he's a Latin Americanist at heart. He's such a great guy!

We're excited to talk with him - so join us with Kyle Longley on Military Historians are People, Too!

Rec. 11/16/2021