Dr. Lewis Sorley provided the Friends of Preston Library with an engaging Spring Program Thursday, March 26, at 3:00 p.m. in the Turman Room of Preston Library. Dr. Sorley spoke on “Adventures in Research” and revealed several fascinating tales of discovery learned in the course of his research. We learned how his scholarly “detective work” tracked down a member of Gen. Creighton Abrams’ World War II tank crew, how rescuing the records of Lt. Col. Harold Cohen from a fire resulted in his receiving the Distinguished Service Cross–fifty years after the war in which he earned it, how he discovered the secret location of Abrams’ command staff tapes, and other tales of research adventures. A lively and informative question and answer session followed and all had a good time.
Dr. Sorley is the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Army Historical Foundation. In 2007, he received the General Andrew J. Goodpaster Prize for military scholarship. This spring he serves as VMI’s Gottwald Visiting Professor of Leadership and Ethics. A third-generation graduate of the United States Military Academy, Dr. Sorley earned his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. In his academic career he has served on the faculties of West Point and the Army War College. His U.S. Army assignments include tank and armored cavalry unit commands in Germany and Vietnam and staff service for the Secretary of Defense and Army Chief of Staff.
Dr. Sorley’s latest book is Honor Bright: History and Origins of the West Point Honor Code and System.
Garrett Peck '90 and Chairman of the Friends, B. Drummond Ayers, Jr. '57
The Friends of Preston Library is delighted to have Garrett Peck, ’90, as our speaker, Friday, October 17, at 1500 hours in the Turman Room. Garrett is the author of The Prohibition Hangover which is provocative social history of American attitudes towards alcohol since the end of Prohibition which was repealed 75 years ago this year. In his investigations for the book Mr. Peck interviewed hundreds of people on all sides of the alcohol debate and travelled extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Germany, Israel, and other areas of the world.
Mr. Peck is a freelance writer for the alcoholic beverage industry and contributes regularly to Beverage Network. He has also written articles about alcohol for The Washington Post, Wine Spectator, Sante, The Forward, and the Northwest Current. In addition to writing about alcohol, he leads the Temperance Tour in Washington, D.C.
Please join us for what will surely be an interesting and engaging program. Refreshments will be served.
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Crisp reads a passage from Goodbye Vienna
The Friends of Preston Library’s Spring Program featured William Crisp, ‘63, Friday, 25 April in the Turman Room of Preston Library. Will read from several of his novels as well as from novels of other writers of spy thrillers such as Len Deighton. He discussed how he writes and how various writers influenced him. These included Deighton, LeCarre, and Hemingway. Will gave an interesting and engaging talk and answered numerous questions from his audience.
Will has written several suspense novels: Spy Trap (1982), The Compleat Agent (1984), and Vengeance is Thine (1986). His latest novel is Goodbye Vienna, published in 2006 by PublishAmerica.
After serving as a rifle platoon leader in Vietnam, Mr. Crisp served as a US Foreign Service officer in Yugoslavia and worked for twenty-five years as an East European business specialist with the Economist Intelligence Unit in Vienna, Austria. In 1996, he returned to VMI to teach in the International Studies program. He is currently working on a non-fiction work about Vietnam.
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| The Friends of Preston Library held its Fifth Annual Authors’ Colloquium on Thursday, February 22, 2007, in the Turman Room. Authors participating in the formum were Jenny Siler, Frank Grizzard, Phil Hirsh, and Lisa Tracy. |
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Jenny Siler has written several best-sellling thrillers. Her latest novel is An Accidental American: A Novel (Mortalis) to be released in March under the pen-name Alex Carr. Frank Grizzard, well-known Washington scholar, is the author of a new book about Jamestown entitled The Jamestown Colony: An Encyclopedia. Phil Hirsh has written an engaging personal account of life in Appalachia, Voices from the Hollow: What Happened When the Blue Bloods Met the Blue Ridge, and Lisa Tracy has written a work exploring the recent natural disasters on the Gulf Coast entitled Muddy Waters: The Legacy of Katrina and Rita: Health Care Providers Remember–and Look Ahead.
 The Fifth Annual Authors’ Colloquium sponsored by the Friends of the Preston Library was a great success. The audience included cadets, faculty, and local community members. The panel of authors conducted a lively discussion of their books with the audience.
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