In anticipation of Veterans Day in November and Memorial Day in May, we’d like to invite you to discover some of the remarkable veterans and war historians we have on our roster. Whether you are looking for a history lesson on Vietnam or to glean leadership strategies from the frontlines, each of these speakers has a unique message that will help honor those who have served and open audiences’ eyes to the experience of war.
Veteran Speakers
Elliot Ackerman
International relations expert, bestselling novelist, journalist, and U.S. Marine Corps Veteran
Elliot Ackerman is a writer, journalist, former White House Fellow, and decorated veteran. His books have been nominated for the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal in both fiction and nonfiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. A former Marine, he served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. In his engaging talks, Ackerman discusses the writing process, his experience fighting for our country, and the intersection of literature and war.
Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha took extraordinary risks for his country and his fellow soldiers during the historical Battle of Kamdesh, a landmark battle in the War in Afghanistan. Despite sustaining several injuries, Romesha led the charge on crucial counter operations and helped maintain team morale in battle while ensuring the rescue of fellow wounded soldiers. Romesha has inspired a global audience by telling his story on Netflix’s Medal of Honor, and continues to motivate audiences to find the capacity for heroic leadership within themselves.
Amy McGrath is a retired U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel who was the first woman in the Marine Corps to fly a combat mission in an F/A-18. In stirring lectures, McGrath speaks about her incredible journey to become a fighter pilot, her experience as a woman serving in the military, and her career in Washington, working in the Pentagon as a liaison to the State Department and advising a senior member of the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee. She now runs the nonprofit organization, Honor Bound, Inc., to empower women with service backgrounds to pursue leadership positions and to run for elected office.
Brian Castner
Decorated war veteran and author of The Long Walk and Disappointment River
A war veteran turned memoirist, Brian Castner served three tours of duty in the Middle East. His memoir The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life That Follows chronicles his struggle to survive modern combat in Iraq and how he confronted the new person he had become upon his return. Castner astonishes audiences with his powerful and harrowing depiction of the terror, excitement, and camaraderie of combat, and the lonely battle against the unshakable fear, anxiety, and survivor’s guilt that he—like so many veterans—carries inside.
Phil Klay
President of PEN America, U.S. Marine Corps veteran and author of Redeployment, winner of 2014 National Book Award for Fiction
Phil Klay is a novelist, essayist, and Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War. He is the author of Redeployment, the winner of 2014 National Book Award for Fiction, which explores themes from the veteran’s perspective—describing violence and battle with moving solemnity. His most recent work, Uncertain Ground, is an astonishing fever graph of the effects of twenty years of war in a brutally divided America. In his moving talks, Klay explores the complex feelings of brutality, faith, guilt, and isolation that often accompany a soldier’s experience during and after deployment.
D.J. Vanas
Member of the Ottawa Tribe, author of The Tiny Warrior and host of the PBS special Discovering Your Warrior Spirit
An enrolled member of the Ottawa Tribe and a former U.S. Air Force officer, D.J. Vanas is a celebrated thought leader who captivates audiences with the concept of the Native American warrior spirit. Having spoken at Fortune 500 companies, tribal nations, and even at the White House, Vanas teaches organizations how to apply the warrior spirit principles at work to be resilient, lead with courage and character, and thrive even in tough or changing environments.
Military Journalists and Writers
Dr. Matthew Delmont
Expert on African American history and author of Half American
A Guggenheim Fellow and Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History at Dartmouth College, Dr. Matthew Delmont is an expert on American history, Black American history, and the civil rights movement. In his passionate and engaging lectures, Dr. Delmont speaks on social justice, diversity and inclusivity, and the history of racism in America. His book, Half American, analyzes the history of Black Americans who fought bravely abroad in a segregated military during World War II, and returned home to battle white supremacy in America.
Dexter Filkins
Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent and author of The Forever War
Dexter Filkins is a New Yorker staff writer, award-winning foreign correspondent, and the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Forever War. He has covered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001, and has received George Polk Awards and three Overseas Press Club Awards for his journalism. A riveting speaker, Filkins opens eyes with tales of reporting from the front lines.
Fredrik Logevall
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Embers of War and Vietnam War historian
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History for Embers of War, his groundbreaking history of the Vietnam War, Fredrik Logevall is a renowned historian and leading expert on international relations and foreign policy. Weaving a compelling narrative through decades and across continents, Logevall delves into the Vietnam War not as an isolated conflict but as an event that the globe conspired to create. This popular speaker and expert on international affairs delivers a history of the Vietnam War that is eerily prescient, with profound implications for our own time.
Lawrence Wright
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower and staff writer for The New Yorker
Lawrence Wright is one of today’s foremost investigative journalists. A staff writer for The New Yorker, Wright is also the author of multiple award-winning books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. His most recent book, The Terror Years, is a compilation of Wright’s journalistic work as one of our nation’s most respected experts on post-9/11 military operations, foreign policy, and the War on Terror.
Hampton Sides is an acclaimed bestselling narrative historian. He is best-known for his gripping adventure stories, often set in wartime or depicting epic expeditions of exploration and discovery. In lectures drawing from his book On Desperate Ground, Sides shares the story of how the U.S. Marines overcame nearly impossible odds in the bitter winter of 1950 in the Chosin Reservoir, the greatest battle of the Korean War. A captivating speaker, Sides provides a study in decision-making, courage, heroism, and survival.
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