Richard F. Miller

Independent Scholar----Military Historian

Military Affairs Correspondent, Talk Radio News Service, Inc.

Blogger, "The Moral Side of War," found in Featured Content at www.talkradionews.com

A.B., cum laude, 1974, Harvard College

J.D., 1977, Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Fellow, Massachusetts Historical Society

Member, Board of Directors, New England Quarterly, Inc.

March, 2003, embedded correspondent, USS Kitty Hawk

March, 2005, embedded correspondent, Baghdad, Fallujah, Iraq

March, 2006, embedded correspondent, Baghdad, LSA Anaconda, FOB Warhorse, Iraq

April-May, 2008, embedded correspondent, Afghanistan: Kabul, Bagram AF, FOBs Salerno, Lightning, Boris, Shkim

FOB Lightning, near Ghardez, Afghanistan, May 2008

FOB Shkim at the Pakistan Border: Afghan Flag in the foreground and Taliban flags across the line, May 2008

En route from Khost to Ghardez: taken behind the Chinook's tail gunner, May 2008

With Gunnery Sgt. Jeff Dagenhart, 3/8 Marines, Fallujah, Iraq, March 2005

/

With Maj. Michael Humphreys, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, FOB Warhorse, Iraq, March 2006

Email

Books

FORTHCOMING BOOK: FALL, 2008!

In Words and Deeds: Battle Speeches in History, (University Press of New England, 2008)

Few civilian orations have as profound consequences for their audience as does the battle speech. Recruits are persuaded to leave civilian life, train for war, and ultimately, risk life and limb in combat. Words and Deeds surveys battle speeches from the Hebrew Bible through Operation Iraqi Freedom and presents a textbook-type classification of different speech genres as well as the structural features that distinguish each genre. In Words and Deeds seeks to answer the question of why such speeches work and explores the techniques used by battle speechmakers for maximum effectiveness.

Advance Praise for In Words and Deeds:

"Richard Miller has compiled a superb and unique collection of battle speeches in his work In Words and Deeds. These are inspiring words that capture the emotion and historical importance of powerful moments before and during battle. This outstanding book is a must-read for all that want to understand those moments in a way the dry reading of historical facts can never convey."

---General Anthony C. Zinni, USMC (Ret)

"Drawing upon the history of warfare from the earliest recorded conflicts to the present day, In Words and Deeds masterfully analyzes speech as an enhancer of military power. This book will serve as a valuable guide in the hands of anyone seeking to motivate a group for combat or any other daunting enterprise."

---Prof. Mark Moyar, author of Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954-1965

"An essential component of leadership too often neglected. This book should be studied---and practiced---by all who command soldiers under stress."

---Francis J. ("Bing") West, author of No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle of Fallujah

"Richard Miller's book In Words and Deeds captures the essence of historical and significant battle speeches and how those words inspired men into battle. In my military career, I had the opportunity to hear and follow great and eloquent communicators who had vision and clarity of mission. Men in battle are led through words and deeds of their higher and lower level commanders and leaders that instill discipline and focus. I commend Mr. Miller in this important literarry work that clearly explains words and deeds experienced on our historical battlefields."

---Major General Paul E. Vallely, USMC (Ret), host of "Stand Up America" and co-auth of Endgame: The Blueprint for Victory in the War on Terror

Click below to buy now!

Harvard's Civil War: The History of the Twentieth Massachusetts Infantry, by Richard F. Miller, University Press of New England, 2005.

Honorable Mention, 2006 Lincoln Prize

Honorable Mention, Independent Publisher Book Award, 2006

Finalist, Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship, 2006

Click below to buy now!

A Carrier At War: Shock and Awe Aboard the USS Kitty Hawk, by Richard F. Miller, Potomac Books, 2005.

Click below to buy now!

The Civil War: The Nantucket Experience, by Richard F. Miller and Robert F. Mooney, Wesco, 1994

Recent Articles

World Net Daily, March 27, 2006. "Reflections on Iraq"

World Net Daily, March 20, 2006. "Iraq's Army not a rag-tag bunch"

World Net Daily, March 13, 2006. "Time to Face Facts in Iraq"

History News Network, March 13, 2006. "Reporting from Baghdad: Why Hasn't there been a Civil War?"

History News Network, January 23, 2006. "In Iraq: Out on Patrol"

History News Network, January 9, 2006. "Camp Followers, Contractors, and Carpetbaggers in Iraq"

History News Network, December 12, 2005. "With an NCO in Iraq"

History News Network, November 21, 2005. "Why a Historian Based in Iraq Couldn't Help but Draw Parallels to the Civil War"

History News Network, October 24, 2005. "Why Don't Harvard Graduates Join the Military Anymore?"

Cleveland Jewish News, October 20, 2005, "From the Bottom Line to Iraq's Front Live"

"Narrative of a Nickname: How the Twentieth Massachusetts Become the Harvard Regiment," New England Quarterly, June 2006, 277-297

"For His Wife, His Widow and His Orphan: Massachusetts and Family Aid During the Civil War," Massachusetts Historical Review, Volume 6, 2004, 71-106

"The Trouble wtih Brahmins: Class and Ethnic Tensions in Massachusetts' 'Harvard Regiment'" NewEngland Quarterly, March 2003, 38-72

"Brahmin Janissaries: John A. Andrew Mobilizes Massachusetts' Upper Class for the Civil War," New England Quarterly, June 2002, 204-234

"Brahmins Under Fire: Peer Courage and the Harvard Regiment," Historical Journal of Massachusetts, Volume XXX, Number 1, Winter, 2002. 75-109

Richard F. Miller and Robert F. Mooney, "Across the River and into the Streets: The 20th Massachusetts Infantry and the Fight for the Streets of Fredericksburg,"Civil War Regiments, Volume Four, Number 4, 101-126

"The Island's Civil War Draft Protest: Its Moment in History," Dukes County Intelligencer, Vol. 36, No. 3, February 1995, 99-119

"Two Vineyard 'Men of Color' Who Fought in the Civil War," Dukes County Intelligencer, Vol. 36, No. 1, August, 1994, 3-23

Recent Book Reviews by Richard F. Miller

The Nature of Sacrifice: A Biography of Charles Russell Lowell, Jr., by Carol Bundy. [Search "Richard F. Miller"]