John Coyne McManus (born 1965) is a military historian, author, and professor of military history at the

Missouri University of Science and Technology Missouri University of Science and Technology, or Missouri S&T, is a public research university in Rolla, Missouri. It is a member institution of the University of Missouri System. Most of its 7,645 students (fall 2020) study engineering, busin ...

from

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. McManus has published thirteen books on numerous American military history topics, including: the Allied invasion of Normandy, American infantry soldiers, and the 7th Infantry Regiment.

Education

McManus graduated from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

with a degree in sports journalism. After a short career in advertising and sports broadcasting, he earned a Master of Arts degree in American history from the University of Missouri. Soon after, he completed his Ph.D. in American and military history at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

. While working on his Ph.D., McManus participated in the university's Normandy Scholars program, where he studied the Normandy battlefields firsthand.

Career

McManus served as the assistant director of the Center for the Study of War and Society at the University of Tennessee. In 2000, he accepted a position as an assistant professor of U.S. military history at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. McManus currently serves on the editorial advisory board for ''World War II'' magazine and ''World War II'' quarterly. He is also the official historian of the 7th Infantry Regiment Association. McManus was also a guest on

The Diane Rehm Show ''The Diane Rehm Show'' was a call-in show based in the United States that aired nationally on NPR (National Public Radio). In October 2007, ''The Diane Rehm Show'' was named to the Audience Research Analysis list of the top ten most powerful nati ...

in a broad discussion on the continued significance of

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

Reception

Some of McManus's works are composed of several personal stories of common

footsoldier Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

s on the battlefield, often facing insurmountable challenges, as demonstrated in ''Grunts'' and ''The Dead and Those About to Die.'' Reviews of his work have been favorable. His years of research and analysis concerning specific battles such as the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

has been called "excellent," and that his scenic descriptions are vivid.

Works

*The Deadly Brotherhood : The American Combat Soldier in World War II, Novato, CA: Presidio (1998) *''The Americans at Normandy: The Summer of 1944 — The American War from the Normandy Beaches to Falaise'', New York: Forge (2004) *''The Americans at D-Day: The American Experience at the Normandy Invasion'', New York: Forge (2005) *''Alamo in the Ardennes: The Untold Story of the American Soldiers Who Made the Defense of Bastogne'', Hoboken, N.J. : J. Wiley (2007) *''U.S. Military History For Dummies'', Hoboken, N.J. : J. Wiley (2008) *''The 7th Infantry Regiment: Combat in an Age of Terror: The Korean War Through the Present'', New York: Forge (2008) *''American Courage, American Carnage: 7th Infantry Chronicles: The 7th Infantry Regiment’s Combat Experience, 1812 Through World War II'', New York: Forge (2009) *''Grunts: Inside the American Infantry Combat Experience, World War II Through Iraq'', New York: NAL Caliber (2010) *''September Hope: The American Side of a Bridge Too Far'', New York: New American Library (2012) *''The Dead and Those About to Die: D-Day : The Big Red One at Omaha Beach'', New York: NAL Caliber (2014) *''Fire and Fortitude: The U.S. Army in the Pacific War, 1941 - 1943'', New York: Dutton Caliber (2019) *

References

External links

*
Presentation of Grunts: Inside the American Infantry Combat Experience, World War II Through Iraq at the Pritzker Military Museum and Library

* [http://www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org/whats_on/pritzker-military-presents/john-c-mcmanus-dead-and-those-about-die/ Interview with John C. McManus regarding The Dead and Those About to Die at the Pritzker Military Museum and Library]
The Big Red One on D-Day: Televised discussion at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library

McManus' Facebook Page

{{DEFAULTSORT:McManus, John C. American military writers American military historians American male non-fiction writers University of Tennessee alumni University of Missouri alumni Missouri University of Science and Technology faculty Writers from St. Louis Living people 1965 births