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An award-winning writer looks at the hidden history of the World War I, the Civil War eras, elite education and leadership development.
Travels From: New Haven, CT
Areas of expertise: Military History, Aviation, WWI, The Civil War, Leadership
Author of:
About the speaker:
Marc Wortman is the author of The Bonfire: The Siege and Burning of Atlanta and The Millionaires' Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys Who Fought the Great War and Invented American Air Power, published by PublicAffairs. The Millionaires' Unit is being developed as a feature motion picture. As an award-winning freelance journalist, Marc has written many magazine articles for popular and specialized publications. He has spoken to audiences around the U.S. and appeared on CNN, NPR, C-SPAN bookTV, CPTV and many other radio and television outlets. He was born in St. Louis and grew up in the Washington, DC, area. Following college at Brown University, Marc received a doctoral degree from Princeton University. He lives in New Haven with his wife and two children.
Wortman Speech Topics:
Click the "+" sign next to each topic for more information
Leadership — "When the Wealthiest Went First to War" Once upon a time, America's elite lived by a now quaint-sounding motto, from those to whom much is given much is expected. A spirit of self-sacrifice motivated America's most privileged who believed they needed to lead the way in battle. What happened to that outmoded notion of noblesse oblige? ::
Cities in Crisis — "The Siege and Burning of Atlanta" A historical look at how one city, long before 9/11 or the Great Depression, coped with disaster. No American city has ever faced the challenges Atlanta confronted during the Civil War, including violent dissent, military occupation, a doubling of the population with accompanying housing and sanitation crises, along with the greatest inflation in history, huge increases in crime, and deadly disease epidemics. That was nothing, though, compared to the urban fight and siege that eventually brought down Atlanta. ::
Early Entrepreneurs — "The Rise of American Air Power as a Model of Disruptive Technology" In 1916, an entrepreneurial group of young aviators battled to bring the new mode of aerial warfare into the Navy's tradition-bound organization. How they created their own innovative organization within a resisting military framework and, as a result, transformed the entire American navy serves as a model for today's corporations and other large organizations contending with new technologies. ::
American Spirit — "How a College Flying Club Invented American Air Power" Based on his book The Millionaires' Unit, Wortman illustrates the grit and determination of Americans during World War I, through the long forgotten story of a collegiate flying club which became the founding squadron of the Navy Reserve and the nucleus of the Navy's Air Service. Survivors of the Millionaires' Unit went on to play leading roles in the rise of U.S. air power, including the assistant secretaries of war and navy for air who built the World War II air forces that so amazed the world and the Secretary of Defense during the Korean War. ::
Civil War History and Myth — "The True Story of Gone with the Wind" Based on his new book, The Bonfire, Wortman shows why everything you think you know about Civil War Atlanta is wrong. A city not even on the map 15 years before the Civil War, Atlanta became the essential city in the lower South and the Citadel of the Confederacy, yet it was led by an anti-secession mayor and some of its wealthiest residents were slaves. The Confederates themselves were the first to destroy large portions of the city with Sherman's army applying the coup de grace. ::
Additional information:
Video Samples:
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The Millionaires' Unit
The Bonfire