My wife has two nephews who graduated from West Point in the 1990s. The older one graduated in the top ten of his class at the Academy and devoted his military career to Army aviation. He did flight test work on helicopters, served in the Middle East and finished out his service with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne). Known as the Night Stalkers, the unit is comprised of flight crews who have undergone the rigorous special forces selection process and who are highly trained and proficient in nighttime operations. It specializes in dangerous anti-terror missions worldwide. My wife and I don’t know exactly what her nephew did while he served with the Night Stalkers, and we aren’t about to ask. Just like the old joke, if he told us, he would have to kill us.

This young man recently retired with the rank of Lt. Colonel and is now touring the world as a civilian.

His younger brother graduated second in his class at West Point and later served as a battalion commander in the 101st Airmobile Division. He’s had three deployments to Afghanistan.

Yesterday he graduated with distinction from the United States Army War College and was promoted in a separate ceremony to full (“Bird”) Colonel.

The Army War College is located at the historic Carlisle Barracks in central Pennsylvania.  Its graduates include President Eisenhower, Army Generals Pershing, Bradley, Patton, Taylor, Ridgway, Abrams, Collins, and Schwartzkopf; Air Force Generals Myers, Kenney, and Vandenberg; Marine Corps General LeJeune; Navy Admiral Halsey; and numerous distinguished members of the Foreign Service and other intelligence and civilian agencies.

Yesterday’s graduating class of approximately 360 students consisted of the rising stars in all branches of the United States’ armed services  as well as officers from other nations such as Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, France, Jordan, Malaysia, Nepal, Romania, South Africa,  and so on. In addition, there was a leavening of civilians from the State Department and similar organizations. This very impressive group of handpicked, intelligent and capable graduates had spent ten intensive months at the War College expanding their world view and formulating strategies for dealing with the military and terrorist threats facing civilization.

The class of 2019 was divided into 24 seminars of approximately 15 students each. I was fortunate enough to meet and talk with some of the young men and women who had been in our nephew’s seminar. All I can tell you is that, if these brilliant young people some day assume top leadership of our armed forces, we will be in good hands.

Between the graduation and our nephew’s promotion ceremony, I went to the War College’s gift shop to look at books. While I was thumbing through a history of the Battle of Gettysburg, a smiling older woman gestured at two books dealing with the lead up to the American Revolution.

“Would you like to meet the author of these books?” she asked. Indeed I would. She then pointed to what looked like a bright eyed Eagle Scout wearing an Air Force uniform with a guided missile emblem on the breast and silver oak leaves on its shoulder boards indicating that he was a Lt. Colonel. “He’s right there,” she said beaming proudly. “He’s my son.”

“In that case,” I replied, “I have to buy these books.”

And that’s how I met Air Force Lt. Colonel Derek W. Beck who had just graduated from the Army War College. As with all of the military personnel I met yesterday, he was highly intelligent, well-spoken and friendly. As we talked, I learned that, in addition to his official duties, he is an accomplished historian whose area of interest is the American Revolution. In addition to his many medals and military awards, he holds a Master of Science in engineering and management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Yes, he’s that bright.

I asked him how he had found time to write the books – each of which exceeds several hundred pages not counting the appendices and footnotes. He said that he was in military intelligence and that doing the extensive and detailed historical research and organizing and reducing the material to a clear narrative was much like the work he did for the Air Force. He also told me that his work has been cited by Rick Atkinson, the famous historian who has chronicled the U.S. Army’s operations in World War II and who also has completed a trilogy on the American Revolution.

Because I was due back for our nephew’s promotion ceremony, I had to cut short our conversation. But, before I departed, he kindly  signed my copies of his books, “Igniting the American Revolution 1773-1775” and “The War Before Independence 1775-1776”.

Last night I began reading them and, to use the overworked vernacular, have been blown away. The writing is crystal clear and engaging, and the author exhibits a mastery of the subject matter. I thought I knew the pre-Revolution era well, but I am learning something new with almost every turn of the page.

In the preface to each book, the author explains that he has strived “to paint events in this series with accuracy and objectivity. Such an unbiased approach will at times suggest that the Americans are the ‘bad guys’ and the British the ‘good guys’. I embrace these shades of gray to present both sides of the war as authentically as possible, and my research includes both Yankee and British perspectives. For the same reason, I generally avoid the word patriot, which means a lover of ones country, because both sides were fighting to maintain (and for the love of) their respective lands or empire.”

From what I have read so far, he seems to have achieved his goal and then some. He provides a nuanced recitation of events which gives insight into the motives and thought processes of his human subjects.

So here’s a first for Knowledge is Good. To those of you interested in well-researched, entertaining, cliche-free and absorbing historical narrative, KIG is recommending Derek Beck’s books. And, in another – albeit experimental – first, KIG is providing links to Amazon.com where you can order the books in print, Audiobook or Kindle formats.

To find “Igniting the American Revolution 1773-1775” on Amazon, click this link, and for “The War Before Independence 1775-1776”, click this link.

So please buy these books. Lt. Colonel Beck’s mother will thank you as will KIG which stands to rake in a cool dime per book purchased using the above links.

If enough of you purchase through this website, I plan to use the proceeds to buy a side order of grits at Cracker Barrel.