Read Some of My Published Articles:
The Quality of the Combatants in the Black Hawk War
The Muslim Horde's Easy Invasion of Iberia
MacArthur's Failures in the Philippines
Failures of Democracy Led to the Rise of Communism during the Spanish Civil War
My Current Project: Writing Two Books Tentatively Entitled "World War II in Mid-America" and "Voices From Wisconsin."
Both of these books will be an exploration of how World War II affected typical small-town America. I am using Waupun, Wisconsin, and its surrounding area, as well as its citizens, as a back drop, solely because it is the town I came from, the town I'm familiar with, paying special attention to what the people of the Waupun area did during the war--not only the military men and women who fought and served in the war, but also their spouses, sons, daughters, girlfriends, fathers, mothers, etc. who held down the home-front--as well as what affect the war had on the Waupun area as a community.
To date--during two trips to the Waupun area from 27 November to 3 December 2005 and 12 to 17 March 2006--I was able to interview (via videotaped questions and answers) 34 individuals from the Waupun, Fox Lake, Beaver Dam, and Ripon areas--all surrounding communities of the Waupun area. These interviews covered a wide variety of the communities' citizens during the World War II era, including both those who served in the military and those who held down the home-front, revealing a large amount of informative and interesting information and insight of not only the war from the viewpoint of the Waupun area citizens, but also the living conditions of the area during that period of time in our American history.
I have since transferred all of these videotapes of the interviews to DVD format. Although the contents of these DVDs are considered copyright material to both myself and the Waupun Historical Society, I have sent copies of the individual interviews (in DVD format) to each of the interviewees for their and their families' personal use. I have also sent copies of all of the DVDs to the Waupun Historical Society for its use as well.
The next two steps in this project's process consists of having each of these DVDs transcribed into Word documents for easier review and use and the actual writing of the first full draft of the books. The former process has tended to take longer than I originally expected; however, these transcriptions are nearing completion, with enough completed that I have begun and completed nearly half of the actual writing process.
My originally proposed book, tentatively entitled World War II in Mid-America: Experiences from rural Mid-America during World War II, which is planned to be my main book project, will be a year by year account, in what I call an historical-biographical format, of the 34 interviewed individuals as the war progressed, telling their stories--what they experienced, how they lived, how they sacrificed, etc. However, while in the process of organizing the material for this book, I realized that the full interviews contain much more information than I can possibly insert into my prime book project. Once I realized this, and understanding that the material left out of my original book idea was still very valuable and interesting information, I decided to write a second book, tentatively entitled Voices from Wisconsin: Memories of Rural Wisconsin during World War II, which will include the entire interviews--for the most part, word for word--in a question and answer format. The second book will include numerous pictures of the individuals taken both during the war years as well as pictures I have taken during the actual interviews, basically showing the the individual as they were during the war and as they are today. In addition, I will include numerous pictures of various documents, including, for example, medals awarded and rationing stamps, as supplied by the interviewees.
I also intend on making at least one more trip to the Waupun area to conduct additional research. The exact time of this trip is still to be determined. Of special interest is the gathering of facts concerning area businesses that were in existing during World War II, especially Shaler's National Rivet and Manufacturing Company. If you have any information on Shaler's or any other business in the Waupun area that was in existing during the war, you are encouraged to contact me at my email address (rdaniels26@cox.net), or call me at (757) 477-4506.
With both books anticipating to be able to stand on their own, my current goal is to have the first draft of Voices from Wisconsin: Experiences from Wisconsin during World War II completed by March of 2008 and World War II in Mid-America: Memories from rural Mid-America during World War II completed soon thereafter.
View an excerpt from Voices from Wisconsin: Memories of Rural Wisconsin during World War II.
Since World War II in Mid-America: Experiences from rural Mid-America during World War II is currently under contract, it would be inappropriate to post an excerpt at this time.
In addition, I have completed the second edition of 1220 Days, although it it yet to be published. To view an excerpt of this second edition, view: "Preface of Second Edition to 1220 Days"
Any comments or questions are encouraged. Please send any inquiries or comments to rdaniels26@cox.net.
