CURRENT MANUSCRIPT: Living With Katyn: A Personal and Literary Odyssey
SUMMARY: Interrogated by the Russian Security Services (FSB) in Saint Petersburg, Russia because they accused me of being an undercover intelligence officer, I feared to be “disappeared” like countless other enemies of the Russian state. I was in fact a civilian literature professor who taught writing and literature courses at West Point, conducting research on the Katyn Massacre. The Katyn Massacre was a Soviet World War II war crime in which thousands of Polish military officers and other citizens, including my wife’s great-uncle and even my own relative, were ruthlessly murdered by Stalin’s dreaded NKVD, which the Russians denied for decades. My complete manuscript entitled: Living with Katyn: A Personal and Literary Odyssey opens with two Russian intelligence officers questioning my identity and purpose being in Russia. This literary memoir chronicles the journey that began with my accepting a teaching position at West Point, which then became the catalyst for multiple research trips to Russia and Poland, including a teaching seminar with an United States Army Lieutenant Colonel and 8 cadets. These experiences ultimately provide the drama found in this book: including a racially motivated attack in the Moscow subway against a black cadet, getting lost in the farmlands surrounding the largest of the death pits of the Katyn Massacre, and eventually finding it—experiencing life-changing encounters with the past and present. Moreover, this book illustrates evil, loss, death, and grief at both the personal and societal levels. The story is told with strong feeling, emphasizing a history that refuses to remain silent.
“Review Essay: Captain Witold Pilecki.” Military Review November-December 2013: 88-96.
OPENING PARAGRAPH: “WITOLD PILECKI JUST about signs his own death warrant by allowing himself to be sent to Auschwitz; for that reason, one realizes immediately that Pilecki was a special man whose moral code is rare. His underground army superiors did not order him to do so; it was his own idea. There is a post-modern tendency to sully heroes and their idealism, but Pilecki is no holy fool. His Catholic faith, spirit of friendly good-fellowship, and patriotism buoy him. What were the sources of these traits that may help us understand why he volunteered to infiltrate and how he survived Auschwitz? The most striking characteristic in his upbringing was his parents’ determination to preserve the family’s Polish identity.”
“Review Essay: The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War.” Military Review March-April 2013: 100-106.
EXCERPT: “An ally, both disparaged and betrayed during the war, Poland was a country where Just War theory did not apply, a nation where The Hague and Geneva Conventions were not honored. Poland ran with blood. Its wartime history is knotty and complicated, but author Halik Kochanski admirably (and deep down, enviably) has untangled Poland’s multi-layered tragedies. She showcases its unexpected and Herculean perseverance. Because the names and towns can be exotic, the recalled events and their actors unfamiliar, and the truths and consequences bitter, Kochanski ushers the reader along attentively. In the past, the history student’s imagination focused on the Eastern Front at the expense of the equally important story of Poland. Kochanski’s book corrects this lacuna, making the necessary readjustment. She shows that Poland was not a passive backdrop for Nazi and Soviet war crimes. Her book may be hard reading for some audiences because it discloses the real cost of realpolitik, and it reveals the bluntness of Allied policy and behavior.”
Melville and the Theme of Boredom. McFarland Publishers, released in paperback and E-Book on 15 November 2009.
BACK COVER: “Boredom is a prevalent theme in Herman Melville’s works. Rather than a passing fancy or a device for drawing attention to the action that also permeates his work, boredom is central to the writings, the author argues. He contends that in Melville’s mature work, especially Moby Dick, boredom presents itself as an insidious presence in the lives of Melville’s characters, until it matures from being a mere killer of time into a killer of souls.”
