One of the goals of this course is to equip you with an intellectual toolkit for the multi-disciplinary study of war that will allow you to embark upon a course of lifelong learning regarding war and its role in society. Here are some recommended resources for your toolkit:
StrategyPage is the best dedicated military news site. Edited by James F. Dunnigan, the king of open-source-intelligence, it covers conflicts around the world as well as the weapons, technology and logistics of land, naval, air, space and cyberwarfare. Updated daily.
Thomas Ricks was an award-winning defense correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He is now a military history author. He blogs daily at Best Defense with terrific insights into the US military.
Here are two excellent podcasts:
StrategyTalk is from the StrategyPage Web site. Their tag line is "We report news as history" and they choose 1 topic from the headlines each week and discuss it.
Here are two excellent radio programs available as podcasts:
In Our Time is a weekly BBC show in which 3 professors, guided by host Melvyn Bragg, discuss a single topic for 43 minutes. Many of the topics are historically related and the entire archive is online.
Pritzker Military Library does a weekly hour long program on a recently published military history book, with the book's author either giving a talk based on the book or being interviewed about the book, followed by a question and answer segment.
From Our Own Correspondent - a twice a week BBC show in which their foreign correspondents take the time to tell you the stories behind the headlines. Many of the stories revolve around ongoing wars around the world.
Here are four excellent magazines with excellent foreign correspondents who report in-depth from the field that can help keep you current on geopolitical affairs:
Here are four excellent television programs that cover military history and geopolitics very well:
PBS Frontline - the best documentary series on television, with a fair number of shows devoted to current military affairs / wars and geopolitics.
C-SPAN BookTV - On C-SPAN2 all day Saturday and Sunday, talks by and interviews with authors of recently published non-fiction, including military history and geopolitics. Always at least 1 good show each weekend.
C-SPAN American HistoryTV - On C-SPAN3 all day Saturday and Sunday, lectures and interviews by professors and historians on American history, including military history and geopolitics. Always at least 1 good show each weekend.
C-SPAN Q and A - On C-SPAN1 once a week, an interview show with Brian Lamb, often devoted to history or geopolitcs. Lamb is an excellent interviewer and excels at getting the story out of his subject. His previous program, Booknotes, involved him interviewing a book's author each week for 15 years. Many of the books were related to history or geopolitics, and the entire archive is online.
The best television channel to watch to gain a deeper understanding of the Middle East and the developing world:
The finest military historian to read is Sir John Keegan. His most acclaimed books are "The Face of Battle" which describes what life is like for the soldier, and "The Mask of Command" which describes what leadership is like for the officers. All of his books are excellent.
Here are a number of excellent TED Talks and the topics they relate to: