United States Air Force Academy

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Dr. John Jennings

Professor of History

Department of History

Official Photo of Dr. Jennings
Contact Information

(719) 333-4727

Email

Bio

John M. Jennings is Professor of History at the United States Air Force Academy.

Education

Doctorate in History
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Fields: Modern Japan (Primary), Modern China (Secondary), Korea (Secondary), US Diplomatic (Secondary)

Master of Arts in Asian Studies
University of Hawaii at Manoa

Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Penn State University

Professional Experience

United States Air Force Academy, Department of History (1997-Present)
Professor, 2003-Present
Associate Professor, 2000-2002
Assistant Professor, 1997-1999

Norwich University, School of Graduate and Continuing Studies (2009-Present)
Adjunct Senior Instructor, 2010-Present
Adjunct Instructor, 2009-2010
Adjunct Capstone Paper Advisor, 2009-Present

University of Maryland Global Campus, Department of Asian Studies (2018-2022)
Adjunct Associate Professor (2018-2022)
Adjunct Course Coordinator (2020-2022)

Touro University Worldwide (2014-2019)
Adjunct Instructor (2014-2019)

American Public University System (2013)
Adjunct Instructor (2013)

Norfolk State University, Department of History and Geography (1995-1996)
Adjunct Assistant Professor, 1995-1996

Old Dominion University, Department of Political Science (1996)
Adjunct Assistant Professor, 1996

Old Dominion University, Department of History (1995-1996)
Visiting Assistant Professor

Research and Scholarly Interests

Modern Japanese History

Modern Chinese History

Modern Korean History

Modern Russian History

East Asian Military History

Publications

PUBLICATIONS: BOOKS
The Worst Military Leaders in History. London: Reaktion Books, 2022.

Modern African, Asian, Latin American, and Middle Eastern Military History: A Bibliography of English-Language Books and Articles Published from 1960-2013: Revised and Updated to Include Books and Articles Published Through 2018. United States Air Force Academy Library Special Bibliography Series 122 (1 May 2019). https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1071124.pdf

Modern African, Asian, Latin American, and Middle Eastern Military History: A Bibliography of English-Language Books and Articles Published from 1960-2013. United States Air Force Academy Library Special Bibliography Series 115 (1 March 2014). https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a597440.pdf

The Opium Empire: Japanese Imperialism and Drug Trafficking in Asia, 1895-1945. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
“Review of Grant T. Harward, Romania's Holy War: Soldiers, Motivation, and the Holocaust.” Michigan War Studies Review (Forthcoming).

“Conclusion.” Drugs and the Politics of Consumption in Japan. Leiden, Brill (Forthcoming).

“Review of M. Patrick Sauer and David A. Ranzan, eds., To My Dearest Wife, Lide: Letters from George Gideon Jr. during Commodore Perry’s Expedition to Japan, 1853-1855.” International Journal of Naval History International Journal of Naval History (May 2021). https://www.ijnhonline.org/book-review-to-my-dearest-wife-lide-letters-from-george-gideon-jr-during-commodore-perrys-expedition-to-japan-1853-1855/

“Review of Hal M. Friedman, ed., War in the American Pacific and East Asia, 1941-1972.” International Journal of Naval History International Journal of Naval History XV 1 (August 2020). https://www.ijnhonline.org/book-review-war-in-the-american-pacific-and-east-asia-1941-1972/

Keynote Lecturer. Workshop on Drugs and the Politics of Consumption in Japan. University of Zürich, August 2019.

Panel Chair. “Concluding Remarks and Final Discussion.” Workshop on Drugs and the Politics of Consumption in Japan. University of Zürich, August 2019.

“Review of Adrian G. Marshall, Nemesis: The First Iron Warship and Her World.” International Journal of Naval History International Journal of Naval History XIV 2 (October 2018). https://www.ijnhonline.org/book-review-nemesis-the-first-iron-warship-and-her-world/

“Review of Noell Wilson, Defensive Positions: The Politics of Maritime Security in Tokugawa Japan.” International Journal of Naval History XIV 2 (July 2018). https://www.ijnhonline.org/book-review-defensive-positions-the-politics-of-maritime-security-in-tokugawa-japan/

Panel Chair and Discussant. “Failed Military Leadership Through the Ages: Nicias, Bedford Forrest, and Lewis Hyde Brereton.” 85th Annual Meeting of Society for Military History: Landscapes of War and Peace, Louisville KY, April 2018.

“Review of Lo Jung-pang, China as a Sea Power 1127-1368: A Preliminary Survey of the Maritime Expansion and Naval Exploits of the Chinese People During the Southern Song and Yuan Periods.” International Journal of Naval History XIII 2 (August 2016). https://www.ijnhonline.org/book-review-china-as-a-sea-power-1127-1368/

“The Mad Baron’s March: International Rivalries and the Russian Civil War in Mongolia, 1920-1921.” Rocky Mountain Military Affairs Society, 20 January 2016.

“Review of Eri Hotta, Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy.” War, Literature, and the Arts XXVII (2015). https://www.wlajournal.com/wlaarchive/28/reviews.pdf

“Review of William Aaron Moore, Writing War: Soldiers Record the Japanese Empire.” Journal of Social History XLIX 2 (Winter 2015). https://academic.oup.com/jsh/article/49/2/471/929070

“Pacific Islands.” 1914-1918-Online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War. http://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/pacific_islands

“Review of Bernard D. Cole, Asian Maritime Strategies: Navigating Troubled Waters.” International Journal of Naval History XII 2 (July 2015). https://www.ijnhonline.org/book-review-asian-maritime-strategies-navigating-troubled-waters/

“Review of John A. Wolter, David A. Ranzan, and John J. McDonough, eds., With Commodore Perry to Japan: The Journal of William Speiden Jr., 1852-1855.” International Journal of Naval History XII 1 (January 2015).   https://www.ijnhonline.org/book-review-with-commodore-perry-to-japan-the-journal-of-william-speiden-jr-1852-1855/

“Review of Robert Erwin Johnson, Far China Station: The U.S. Navy in Asian Waters, 1800-1898.” International Journal of Naval History XI 1 (July 2014). https://www.ijnhonline.org/book-review-far-china-station-us-navy-asian-waters-1800-1898/

In Spencer Tucker, ed. Encyclopedia of World War I. Denver: ABC-Clio, 2005.

Articles: Alekseev, Mikhail Vasilievich (1857-1918); Dukhonin, Nikolai Nikolaevich (1876-1917); Goremykin, Ivan Longinovich (1839-1917); Gōtō Shinpei (1857-1929); Haus, Anton von (1851-1917); Katō Takaaki [Kōmei] (1860-1926); Kuropatkin, Alexei Nikolaevich (1848-1925); Miliukov, Pavel Nikolaevich (1859-1943); Montecuccoli degli Erri, Rudolf Count von (1843-1922); Protopopov, Aleksandr Dmitrievich (1866-1918); Rodzianko, Mikhail Vladimirovich (1859-1924); Skoropadsky, Pavlo Petrovich (1873-1945); Stürmer, Boris Vladimirovich (1848-1917); Sukhomlinov, Vladimir Aleksandrovich (1848-1926).

In Spencer Tucker, ed. Encyclopedia of World War II. Denver: ABC-Clio, 2005.

Articles: Ambrosio, Vittorio (1879-1958); Bastico, Ettore (1876-1972); Bose, Subhas Chandra (1897-1945); Chen Yi (1898-1972); Doihara Kenji (1883-1948); Graziani, Rodolfo (1882-1955); Ishiwara Kanji (1886-1949); Itagaki Seishirō (1885-1948); Koiso Kuniaki (1880-1950); Kuribayashi Tadamichi (1891-1945); Molotov, Vyacheslav (1890-1986); Pavelic, Ante (1889-1959); Sorge, Richard (1895-1944); Suzuki Kantarō (1868-1948); Tōgō Shigenori (1882-1950); Tōjō Hideki (1884-1948); Tsuji Masanobu (1903-1968); Wang Jingwei (1883-1944); Yan Xishan (1883-1960).

“Review of Timothy Brook and Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi, ed., Opium Regimes: China, Japan, and Great Britain, 1839-1952.” Journal of World History XV 2 (June 2004): 269-271. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/170885

“Japanese Colonial Rule in Korea and its Legacy.” Japan-America Society of Southern Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO, 24 April 2003.

In Encyclopedia of Asia. New York: Scribner’s, 2002.

Articles: Tōjō Hideki (1883-1948); Wang Jingwei (1883-1944); Yamamoto Isoroku (1884-1943).

Panel Commentator. “Collision Over Hainan: The 2001 Crisis in U.S.-China Relations.” Fifty-Third Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Washington DC, April 2002.

In Charles Messenger, ed. Reader's Guide to Military History. London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001.

Articles: China: Opium Wars; China: Civil Wars, 1927-1949; World War II: Armed Forces, Japanese Navy.

In Dennis Showalter, ed. History in Dispute: World War II. Columbia SC: Gale, 2000.

Articles: Viewpoint: No, Hirohito had little influence on the Japanese decision to go to war and on the conduct of military affairs because constitutional and political constraints limited his role as emperor; Viewpoint: No, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East imposed “victor's justice” on Japan's wartime leaders.

“Review of Kathryn Meyer and Terry Parsinnen, Webs of Smoke: Smugglers, Warlords, Spies, and the History of the International Drug Trade.” American Historical Review CV 1 (February 2000): 187-188. https://booksc.eu/book/58058876/cb4865

“Review of Andrew D. Carson, My Time in Hell: Memoir of an American Soldier Imprisoned by the Japanese in World War II.” Military Review LXXIX 5 (September-October 1999): 87.

“The Forgotten Colonialism: Japan in Asia, 1895-1945.” Eighth Annual World History Association International Conference, Victoria, Canada, June 1999.

“Integrating East Asia into World History at the US Air Force Academy: The Lectinar Experience.” Seventh World History Association International Conference, Fort Collins, Colorado, June 1998.

Panel Discussant. “Irresistible Poison: Chinese State Policy and Popular Opinion Toward Opium, 1729-1997.” Fiftieth Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, Washington, DC, March 1998.

“The Rise and Fall of the Japanese Narcotics Industry, 1910-1945.” Conference on Opium in East Asian History, 1830-1945, Toronto, Canada, May 1997.

“The Forgotten Plague: Opium and Narcotics in Korea under Japanese Rule, 1910-1945.” Modern Asian Studies XXIX 4 (October 1995): 795-815. https://www.jstor.org/stable/312805