Biography
Ltc. (ret.) William J. Astore served in the U.S. Air Force for 20 years, retiring in 2005.
He was professor of history, and has written extensively for TomDispatch.com, Truthout, History News Network (HNN), Alternet, Salon, Antiwar.com, and Huffington Post among other sites. He is the author or co-author of three books: Soldiers’ Lives through History: The Early Modern World (2007, co-written with Dennis E. Showalter), Hindenburg: Icon of German Militarism (2005, with Showalter), and Observing God: Thomas Dick, Evangelicalism, and Popular Science in Victorian Britain and America (2001). His numerous articles focus on military history as well as the history of science, technology, and religion.
He earned a BS (with distinction) in mechanical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, an MA from the Johns Hopkins University (history of science and technology), and a D.Phil. (doctor of philosophy) from the University of Oxford (modern history). He has taught at the Air Force Academy, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Pennsylvania College of Technology.
Areas of Expertise
- Military history
- Defense applications of science, technology, and religion
- Police militarization and domestic implications of foreign wars
- Defense spending and the Military-Industrial-Complex
Recent News
- William Astore: Enough Is EnoughIn the late 1930s, when my dad was working hard for low pay in a factory, he tried to enlist in the U.S. Navy. The Navy recruiter rejected him because he was roughly a half inch too short.
- William Astore: Blinken braves bilateral deep-freeze in BeijingWar with China is neither imminent nor inevitable, unless America lends too much credence to wannabe warrior-generals who profit from rampant threat inflation.
- William Astore: Can the Military-Industrial Complex Be Tamed?You don’t have to be antiwar to be highly suspicious of the U.S. military.