Events


Crisp reads a passage from Goodbye Vienna

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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Mr. and Mrs. Terry Davis in front of the donor plaque that bears his name.

Members of the VMI community recognized Mr. Terry Davis, ’53, for his generous gift to Preston Library on Wednesday, April 23, 2008.  Joining in the ceremony to unveil a plaque to recognize Mr. Davis’ contribution were members of the Friends of Preston Library Board, Library staff, and Associate Dean of the Faculty, Col. Bill Stockwell.  The Chairman of the Friends, Drummond Ayres, ’57, Head Librarian, Col. Don Samdahl, and Col. Stockwell thanked Mr. and Mrs. Davis for their kindness and generosity to the Library.


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hentzandmoncureThe Friends of Preston Library featured guest speaker Col. Jim Hentz on Friday, October 20.  Col. Hentz’s topic was “A Regionalist Approach to International Relations:  Theory and Practice.”  Col. Hentz gave an engaging presentation and a lively question and answer session followed.

Pictured are Col. Moncure, Chairman of the Friends of Preston Library, and Col. Hentz.

Col. Hentz is the head of VMI’s International Studies and Political Science Department as well as a prolific author.

Col. Hentz’s books include:
obligation Obligation of Empire
newandcritical New and Critical Security and Regionalism
southafirca South Africa and the Logic of Regional Cooperation

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