OC--
Sigaba,Could you elaborate on what you mean by "best"? Do you mean:
1. Programs with the best reputations in the fields you mentioned among those who work and study in those fields?
2. Programs with the best reputations that will help you land an academic job? (If you want to get an academic job as a military historian in the United States you will want to start managing your expectations now.)
3. Programs that offer the best fit for your anticipated areas of study in terms of specific faculty members, research resources, and available economic support? (If chemistry and rapport are important to you, you'll want to make sure you can get along with prospective professors before you make a commitment to work with them. But I'm not bitter.)
4. Programs that will best prepare you to think, to read, and to write like an academic or a military historian?
IMO, the last question is crucial. In my experience (and based on my research) academic historians and military historians have fundamentally different approaches historiography. IMO, you may best be served by mastering both approaches. (And if you study American history as well, you'll need a third set of sensibilities.)
At the risk of appearing a dullard, "All of the above."
First, I'm not interested in *just* military per se. I envision myself as one of those perusing the dusty stacks, looking at (say) defense policy in the 1920s, not necessarily looking at how changes in the machine gun resulted in changes in composition of the infantry squad. Of course, I do like "raw" *modern* military history, *too.*
Second, at the risk of appearing snarky, I think it's pretty well-established that the programs with the best reputations in the field, at least in the US, and at least are those at Ohio State and UNC. I would be particularly interested in learning more about programs outside the US, because I'm less familiar with those.
Third, my primary concern is indeed landing a *job* as an academic. I realize the academic job market is never a good one, although I *am* bad at managing expectations. Still, that is my *primary* goal - a job. Of course, if I got a job at a think tank, or some other non-academic entity strictly construed, I wouldn't complain. But those are plum jobs in my opinion, and one needs to be realistic (ie, as you said, manage expectations).
Fourth, indeed, I'm looking for faculty who can serve as good mentors. I've had my fair share of bitterness, too, in my prior endeavors in the academy, and would love to know who possesses a reputation as someone who can - and has - shepherd students along the way. I realize I have to do my own paddling up river - but I prefer at a minimum that the paddling not be obstructed, and ideally be aided, by someone I like or, at a minimum, respect. A reputation as someone who has mentored a lot of doctoral students successfully is a good indicator of a good mentor.
Fifth, I'd like to be a diplomatic/military historian. I don't have a great (any, actually) interest in, say, post-modern approaches to the social construction of gender identity (to be snarky once more). I see myself looking at dead people who (stereotypically, at least) wore tweed. Whether I have the sensibilities to be a historian, I regretfully know not. I have post-graduate experience, alas in other fields, with only minimal historical exposure in that post-graduate experience, and my undergraduate experience amounted to a - admittedly good - year-long survey of Western civilization. But the short answer is: I like to think I'm smart, and yes, I think I can think like a historian, and for what it's worth I've read Marc Bloch's short tract on "The Historian's Craft" and enjoyed roughly half of it, but I apologize I cannot give a more definitive answer.
I don't feel I've answered your questions adequately, but I *greatly* appreciate your posing them.
Finally, my impression is that the UK and Canada (New Zealand and Australia too?) are more amenable to diplomatic and military history. Is this something with which you're familiar?
Thanks
OC
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