The Pritzker Military Library

February 11, 2008 3:07 PM

The Pritzker Military Library, a "public institution for the study of the citizen-soldier as an essential element for the preservation of democracy." Found while doing some after-film research on Charlie Wilson's War, the site is a trove of largely non-partisan, often refreshingly candid military perspectives. Particular highlights are video and audio interviews with Jim Lovell and Congressional Medal of Honor winners.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul (5 comments total)

Great link, thank you.
posted by vorfeed at 4:24 PM on February 11, 2008

Look forward to digging into this. Thanks.
posted by Cyrano at 6:01 PM on February 11, 2008

James Pritzker
posted by timsteil at 8:59 PM on February 11, 2008

Worth a read is the citation for Robert L Howard - the most decorated serviceman in American history. Three nominations for the Medal of Honour in the space of 13 months - not to mention the rest of them.
posted by longbaugh at 3:39 AM on February 12, 2008

timsteil, while I almost always appreciate learning more about anyone or anything, one possible subtext of your link is "We shouldn't use this resource because James Pritzker is a billionaire who donates to Republican causes."

Now, maybe if I was recommending a paid membership to the site, I would agree with you - I try to avoid shopping at Home Depot for much the same reasons. But the Pritzker library is, as I said, free, non-partisan and largely unaligned with Pritzker the man, as far as I can determine. If anything, by using the website you're causing Pritzker to lose money through bandwidth costs (assuming he can't write it off as a non-profit donation).

Not using a free site simply because of the political affiliations of the donor is like not attending a free expressionist art exhibit just because it's sponsored by George Soros - myopic and narrow-minded.

I apoligise if this wasn't the implication you intended, but it read that way to me.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 12:00 PM on February 12, 2008