Or, how I navigated the transition to college Leaving the service to attend university full-time was one of the oddest experiences of my life. A blessing when I stop and think about it, though, because of the post 9/11 G.I. Bill allowing me to focus on school, mostly. But I find this period of transition…
All posts by R.F.M. Williams
About R.F.M. Williams
Globalization Comes to Mebane, NC
This is an adaptation of one of the first papers I ever wrote as an undergraduate student The only constant in modern economics is change. Closing: The Life and Death of an American Factory is a story about the closure of White Furniture Company in Mebane, NC but also serves as a microcosm for the greater U.S.…
Operation PBSUCCESS
Early CIA regime change operations During the Cold War, the United States maintained nominal control over the Western Hemisphere — Latin American in particular. U.S. foreign policy attitudes toward its southern neighbors are characterized as paternalistic at best and interventionist at worst in the centuries leading up to World War II. The early nineteenth century…
Three Native American Creation Myths
The Iroquois, Yakama, and Cherokee Each Native American tribe has its own story of its origin. While scientists believe Native Americans originated in Asia and came to the Americas via a land bridge between modern day Russia and Alaska, a second theory positsthat ancient Asians came to the Americas by boat, traversing the Pacific coast. Regardless, these two theories are rooted in scientific discovery,…
Is There a Western Way of War?
In this article I introduce the debate over a Western Way of War and some of the key works that have driven the discussion. In twin books, The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece and Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power the eminent historian Victor Davis Hanson argued that that several…
How Neoliberal Principles Failed the People of Latin America
And ushered in a new era of socialist government Throughout the 20th Century, Latin America experienced a consistent pendulum shift between left and right political and economic systems of government. Whether through revolution, election, or coup, one side of the political spectrum would usually follow the other in short order. Neoliberalism is an era of…
Macedonian Combined Arms Warfare
This is an adaptation of one of the first undergraduate papers I ever wrote, enjoy! The Macedonian army exhibited a tactical brilliance that set a precedent in the employment of concentrated force. Their tactics represent the culmination of centuries of Greek warfare. Before the reforms of Philip, warfare in the region was two city-states pitting…
Classroom Management
These are some ideas I’ve learned from experience that are, probably, dated by now. But some helpful ideas nonetheless Classroom management seems to have always been challenging. I can remember my classroom experiences and some of the difficulty my teachers had with just keeping students on task well before the days of smartphones. However, technology…
My Favorite Books of 2023
My top five books of 2023 My reading slowed this year as I finished my dissertation and started my job as a historian with the army. I hope to pick it up in 2024, but I only got through 30 books this year. At any rate, these were my favorite books that I read in…
How I use OneNote for my Dissertation
I tested and tried a few note-taking applications before settling on OneNote. Previous attempts included Scrivener (which I still use, more on that later), Apple’s Notes (which I also use for more regular day-to-day notes), and Evernote (to get full functionality required paying for it, something I was not willing to do). I was inspired…