Douglas V. Mastriano Wins Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award

Lexington, KY-University Press of Kentucky author Douglas V. Mastriano has been named the recipient of the 2014Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award for Biography for his book Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne. The AHF recognizes six books and three articles each year as outstanding achievements in writing on U.S. Army history. The awards were presented at the AHF's Eighteenth Annual Members' Meeting, held 18 May 2015 at the Army Navy Country Club in Arlington, VA, and General William Hartzog, USA-Ret., announced the winners.

The other books award winners for 2014 are: An Army Doctor on the Western Frontier: Journals and Letters of John Vance Lauderdale, 1864­1890, edited by Robert M. Utley (Journals, Memoirs, and Letters); The U.S. Military Intervention in Panama: Operation JUST CAUSE, December 1989-January 1990, by Lawrence A. Yates (Operational/Battle History); "Good Tuberculosis Men": The Army Medical Department's Struggle with Tuberculosis, by Carol L. Byerly (Institutional/Functional History); The West Point History of the Civil War, by Clifford J. Rogers, Ty Seidule, and Samuel J. Watson (Reference); and Richmond Redeemed: The Siege of Petersburg, the Battles of Chaffin's Bluff and Poplar Spring Church, September 29-October 2, 1864, by Richard J. Sommers (Reprint). The book award winners received a plaque honoring the book and a $1,000 cash award.

The Army Historical Foundation, a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, is dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of the American soldier. Its goal is to promote greater public appreciation for the contributions that America's Army-Active, Reserve, and National Guard-has made to the nation in 238 years of service. The Foundation is the principal fundraiser to build the National Museum of the United States Army, which will be located at Fort Belvoir, VA.

In Alvin York, Douglas V. Mastriano sorts fact from myth in the first full-length biography of York in decades. He meticulously examines York's youth in the hills of east Tennessee, his service in the Great War, and his return to a quiet civilian life dedicated to charity. As a devout Christian, conscientious objector, and reluctant hero of World War I, Alvin York is known as one of America's most famous and celebrated soldiers.

York's capture of 132 German soldiers earned him the award of Congressional Medal of Honor, and continues to spark controversy among historians who think York has received more recognition than he deserves. By reviewing artifacts recovered from the battlefield using military terrain analysis, forensic study, and research in both German and American archives, Mastriano reconstructs the events of October 8 and corroborates the recorded accounts.

Alvin York was also awarded the 2015 William E. Colby Award and the 2015 Crader Family Book Prize in American Values. The Colby Award honors a first work of fiction or non-fiction that has made a significant contribution to the public's understanding of intelligence operations, military history, or international affairs. The Crader Family Book Prize recognizes a first book that best exemplifies the values of the Crader Family Endowment for American Values: individual liberty, constitutional principles and civic virtue.

Douglas V. Mastriano, Ph.D., is a Colonel in the U.S. Army.

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