The Modern Scholar Podcast

Dr. Adam Seipp is Associate Dean of the Graduate and Professional School at Texas A&M University and is a member of the history faculty there, where he also serves as a Faculty Affiliate of the Albritton Center for Grand Strategy. Dr. Seipp’s bachelors, masters, and PhD were all completed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he served as Visiting Faculty before moving on to Texas A&M in 2005. Dr. Seipp is the author of numerous books and other projects including The Ordeal of Peace: Demobilization and the Urban Experience in Britain and Germany, 1917-21, Strangers in the Wild Place: Refugees, Americans and a German Town, 1945-52, and an edited volume that came out just a few years ago called Modern Germany in Transatlantic Perspective, along with Michael Meng. Dr. Seipp is also serving as the Chair of the Vandervort Prize Committee with the Society for Military History, which recognizes authors of outstanding articles published in the Journal of Military History.

Today's episode is a very special one, as I recently had the opportunity to visit with Alycia Asai. Alycia is the host, researcher and producer of the weekly podcast Civics & Coffee. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in History from Sonoma State University where she is returning to pursue graduate work. She fell in love with history at a young age thanks to a teacher who pointed out the beautiful flaws found throughout our past. She believes history is fun and engaging – if told the right way. When not creating new episodes for the podcast she enjoys traveling with her husband, running to 90’s hip hop, and planning her next Disneyland adventure. As far as her show is concerned, Civics & Coffee is a weekly United States history podcast where Alycia explores the people and events in our past, all in the time it takes to enjoy a cup of coffee. Episodes are released every Saturday and are generally less than 20 minutes each, unless she is featuring a guest. The show launched in August of 2020 and was recently featured in the Women Who Podcast Magazine for their anniversary issue.

Dr. John Delury is a professor of Chinese studies at the Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies and Underwood International College in Seoul, South Korea. A historian of modern China, he is the author of Wealth and Power: China’s Long March to the Twenty-First Century (Random House, 2013), with Orville Schell, which was translated into Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. He follows Korean peninsula affairs closely and contributes to Foreign Affairs, 38 North, and Global Asia (where he is also book review editor). Dr. Delury is a senior fellow at the Asia Society, Pacific Century Institute, and China Policy Institute, and a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and National Committee on North Korea. He taught briefly at Brown University, Columbia University, and Peking University and was associate director of the Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations in New York. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in history from Yale University. Most recently is the author of Agents of Subversion: The Fate of John T. Downey and the CIA’s Covert War in China, which is the subject of our conversation today.

Dr. Margaret O’Mara is the Howard & Frances Keller Endowed Professor of History at the University of Washington. She writes and teaches about the growth of the high-tech economy, the history of U.S. politics, and the connections between the two. She is also Distinguished Lecturer of the Organization of American Historians and a past fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Forum on the Future of Liberal Education. She received her MA/PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and her BA from Northwestern University. Prior to her academic career, she worked in the Clinton White House and served as a contributing researcher at the Brookings Institution. Margaret is the author of Cities of Knowledge (Princeton, 2005), Pivotal Tuesdays (Penn Press, 2015), and The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America (Penguin Press, 2019). She is a coauthor, with David Kennedy and Lizabeth Cohen, of forthcoming editions of a widely used United States history college textbook, The American Pageant (Cengage). She is a frequent contributor to the Opinion page of The New York Times, and her writing also has appeared in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Bloomberg Businessweek, Foreign Policy, the American Prospect, and Pacific Standard.

Dr. John Gans is the Managing Director of Executive Communications and Strategic Engagement at the Rockefeller Foundation. In addition, Gans teaches graduate and undergraduate classes on the international order, the politics and process of American foreign policy, and national security. He is also a fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House, a fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and a board member at the World Affairs Council of New Jersey. In the wake of the September 11th attacks, Gans was a press liaison at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, where he helped brief the media on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The experience drove his interest in public service and global affairs, and his desire to help individuals and institutions tell their stories and achieve their objectives, whether in war, for the bottom line, at the ballot box, in Washington, or in the marketplace of ideas. In the years since, Gans served at the Pentagon as chief speechwriter to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. He was the principal adviser to the secretary on the planning, positioning, and preparation of remarks, managed a team of writers, and drafted dozens of speeches delivered around the world on defense policy in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and elsewhere. Previously, Gans worked for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, and U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. For a decade, he served in the U.S. Navy Reserve. In 2019, Gans published White House Warriors: How the National Security Council Transformed the American Way of War, and this book is the subject of our conversation today.

Ana Niño is the Librarian at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, located at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden in Fort Worth, Texas. Ana joined the team there in November 2021, and is responsible for managing the library, archival, and art collections. Ana attended Cornell University, where she studied Science & Technology Studies, and later earned her Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of North Texas. Ana’s background includes roles with the Dallas Public Library, the University of North Texas Libraries, the Carrollton Public Library, where she served as the Community Outreach Librarian, and the Dallas Morning News, where she served as a researcher.

Ray Tyler is the owner of Rose Creek Farms in Selmer, TN, which is a no-till, organic diversified vegetable farm growing and harvesting fresh produce 52 weeks a year which they sell direct to consumer as well as wholesale to numerous grocery stores in the area. Just to make things crystal clear – Ray and his family preside over a thriving farm that brings in almost half a million dollars every year on LESS than ONE ACRE of land! They have accomplished this by creating better growing systems and changing farm practices, and are able to manage year-round production, enjoy a near weed-free farm, and have created a sustainable and enjoyable life for themselves. This is the Modern Scholar podcast, and there can be no doubt that Ray Tyler is a scholar of modern farming, and modern lettuce production in particular! Ray is the author of The Farmer’s Guide to Growing Organic Lettuce, which focuses on the practical, need-to-know aspects of growing lettuce in extreme climates, and he has created the Small Farms, Big Change initiative which focuses on delivering online courses, coaching, and on-farm workshops to those interested in learning how to replicate the success of Rose Creek Farms and build their own sustainable farming lifestyle. Hear an earlier conversation with Ray Tyler here!

My guest today is Dr. David Bath. Dr. Bath is an Assistant Professor of History and Faculty Advisor for the Student Veteran Association at Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma. He received his Bachelor’s in History from Texas A&M – Commerce and his Master’s in History from the University of North Dakota, and completed a Master’s in Strategic Intelligence at the National Intelligence University before moving back to complete his PhD in History at Texas A&M. He served as a Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Air force from 1988 to 2009, with assignments such as Air Force Representative to the National Military Joint Intelligence Center, Counterterrorism Analyst for U.S Central Command, Chief of the Counterterrorism for U.S. Central Command deployed headquarters, and Deputy Director of Intelligence at the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Agency, which of course, is a direct organizational descendent of the agency my research has focused on, the U.S. Air Force Security Service. Dr. Bath received the Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching from Rogers State University in 2019, and is the author of numerous book reviews and presentations as well as his first book, Assured Destruction: Building the Ballistic Missile Culture of the U.S. Air Force from the Naval Institute Press, which is the subject of our conversation today.

Dr. David Vaught is a professor of history at Texas A&M University. He is the author of five books: two on agricultural history in California in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; one on teaching large lecture classes; another on baseball in rural America; and, forthcoming with Texas A&M University Press this summer, Spitter: Baseball’s Notorious Gaylord Perry. The latter examines the Hall of Fame pitcher’s rich and revealing life experience—from his innovative ascent from rural poverty in eastern North Carolina to baseball stardom, to his subsequent descent to failure on the farm during the 1980s agricultural crisis. He is past president of the Agricultural History Society, former head of department, recipient of several teaching awards, and a lifelong fan of the San Francisco Giants.

Welcome to Season 2 of the Modern Scholar podcast! It's hard to believe that we are here already - thank you all for being part of this wonderful journey so far! I have two very special guests today from the U.S. Naval Institute Press, an academic publisher with hundreds of exciting and important titles, including my forthcoming book, Rise of the Mavericks, hitting shelves in just a few months. Adam Kane returned to the United States Naval Institute in January 2020 when he was named Director of Naval Institute Press. With more than a decade of publishing experience, Adam sets the strategic direction of the Press and its acquisitions programs and oversees the Institute’s Oral History Program. Pat Carlin is a Senior Acquisitions Editor with years of experience managing editorial teams, authors, and advisory boards for both print and digital content in American history, military history, security studies, world geography, and world history.