Quote Originally Posted by Steve Blair View Post
Mike,

Chiaventone's work is fiction, but he brings a very solid history to it and manages to explore some of the issues in ways that history just can't. For the frontier period, ALWAYS start with Robert Utley and then narrow down. His two books on the Frontier Army are simply outstanding and will give you a good groundwork for further research.
Thanks Steve (and John). When I drove back cross-country, I stopped at some of the Frontier Army battlegrounds and historical sites. I was trying to envision what it was like for them. Now, I got the bug and want to read up on it.

Mike, you are in an interesting position planning / teaching this course. One thing that I didn't think about earlier (mea culpa!), was that you have to make a decision on your - let's call it grand strategic - approach. Are you teaching it from a retrospective, analytic framework or from a prospective one? Basically, are you trying to teach them an analytic model to understand insurgencies / COIN or are you trying to teach them how to analyze current situations and come up with (new) solutions to them?
Hi Marc, I'm not sure yet. I've never let the initial parts of the creative or decision-making process be hampered by things like rules and questions. I'm gonna try to push out one more posts on "alternative" approaches, listen to y'alls feedback, and then start thinking critically on design, intent, and process.

Mike