| Research Interests for Alex Roland
Research Interests:
I study military history and the history of technology. My focus has ranged over all of Western experience, and I have recently converted my undergraduate course in military history to a comparative world military history course. I have written about chariots in the second millennium B.C., Greek fire in medieval Byzantium, and computers and aerospace technology in the twentieth century. While I study the history of technology in general, I also focus on the ways in which technology has shaped war and war has altered technology. - Current projects:
- Separate from my scholarship and teaching, I am a student and critic of the United States civilian space program. I spent eight stimulating and rewarding years (1973-1981) as a historian with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, but I have come to believe that the agency lost its way after the Apollo program. I have written extensively on this topic. My other extracurricular activities include running, tennis, mystery and historical novels, and occasional sailing when I can find my way to the sea.
- Recent Publications
- Roland, A, Is military technology deterministic?,
Vulcan, vol. 7 no. 1
(January, 2020),
pp. 19-33 [doi] [abs]
- Roland, A, The lonely race to mars: The future of manned spaceflight,
in Space Policy Alternatives
(January, 2019),
pp. 35-49, ISBN 9780367288488 [doi] [abs]
- Roland, A, Secrecy, technology, and war: Greek fire and the defense of byzantium, 678-1204,
in Warfare in the Dark Ages
(May, 2017),
pp. 419-443, ISBN 9780754625575
- Roland, A, Making Jet Engines in World War II: Britain, Germany, and the United States by Hermione Giffard,
Technology and Culture, vol. 58 no. 3
(2017),
pp. 878-879, Project Muse [doi]
- Roland, A, America Inc.? Innovation and Enterprise in the National Security State by Linda Weiss,
Technology and Culture, vol. 57 no. 3
(2016),
pp. 694-696, Project Muse [doi]
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