Maloney, Sean M. 1967–

PERSONAL:

Born 1967. Education: Holds a doctorate.

CAREER:

Royal Military College of Canada, War Studies Programme, professor; Canadian Defence Academy, Strategic Studies Advisor. Has also worked as the historian for 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade; as a director in the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Army; and a consultant to NATO and Canada's Privy Council Office. Military service: Former Canadian Army combat arms officer.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

WRITINGS:

Securing Command of the Sea: NATO Naval Planning, 1948-1954, Naval Institute Press (Annapolis, MD), 1995.

War without Battles: Canada's NATO Brigade in Germany, 1951-1993, McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited (New York, NY), 1997.

Operation BOLSTER: Canada and the European Community Monitor Mission in the Balkans, 1991-1994, Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies (Toronto, ON, Canada), 1997.

(With John Marteinson and Michael R. McNorgan) The Royal Canadian Armoured Corps: An Illustrated History, Royal Canadian Armoured Corps Association in cooperation with the Canadian War Museum (Toronto, ON, Canada), 2000.

The Hindrance of Military Operations Ashore: Canadian Participation in Operation Sharp Guard, 1993-1996, Centre for Foreign Policy Studies (Halifax, NS, Canada), 2000.

War with Iraq: Canada's Strategy in the Persian Gulf, 1990-2002, Centre for International Relations (Kingston, ON, Canada), 2002.

(With John Llambias) Chances for Peace: Canadian Soldiers in the Balkans, 1992-1995: An Oral History, Vanwell (St. Catharines, ON, Canada), 2002.

Canada and UN Peacekeeping: Cold War by Other Means, 1945-1970, Vanwell Pub. (St. Catharines, ON, Canada), 2002.

(With Douglas L. Bland) Campaigns for International Security: Canada's Defence Policy at the Turn of the Century, McGill-Queen's University Press (Ithaca, NY), 2004.

Enduring the Freedom: A Rogue Historian in Afghanistan, Potomac Books (Washington, DC), 2005.

The Roots of Soft Power: The Trudeau Government, De-NATOization, and Denuclearization, 1967-1970, Centre for International Relations (Kingston, ON, Canada), 2005.

Learning to Love the Bomb: Canada's Nuclear Weapons during the Cold War, Potomac Books (Washington, DC), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Sean M. Maloney has worked for the Royal Military College of Canada as a teacher in the War Studies Programme and as a Strategic Studies Advisor for the Canadian Defence Academy. As a war historian, Maloney has worked as the historian for 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade, as a director in the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Army, and as a consultant to NATO and Canada's Privy Council Office. Throughout his work in advisory roles, Maloney has conducted field research in the Middle East and the Balkans, as well as throughout Asia. Maloney's area of expertise is reflected in his books. In Canada and UN Peacekeeping: Cold War by Other Means, 1945-1970, published in 2002, Maloney gives a thorough examination of Canada during the Cold War years. Canada's peacekeeping, according to Maloney, had little to do with goodwill, and more to do with the practical necessity of keeping the Soviet Union under control. Maloney cites several such instances in which Canada acted in its own self-interest while appearing to promote a foreign policy of neutrality. Discussing the conflicts in Kashmir in 1948, Report Newsmagazine critic Nathan M. Greenfield commented that "Hindu-Muslim violence in the disputed territory may have appalled all, but what moved the UN to authorize the use of Canadian (and other) forces was Pakistan's veiled threat to seek help ‘elsewhere’ if war broke out. This simply could not be allowed, for as Prof. Maloney shows, Pakistan hosted three U.S. strategic bomber bases."

One of Maloney's most widely reviewed works is Enduring the Freedom: A Rogue Historian in Afghanistan, which was published in 2005. The volume is a memoir and travelogue of the time Maloney spent in Afghanistan during the Afghanistan War. As a historian who worked with the German, Canadian, Irish, Romanian, and Dutch troops via the International Security Assistance Force, Maloney has an unusual perspective on the conflict and its participants. Maloney also has a vast understanding of Afghanistan's history, both leading up to and through 2003. Reviewers applauded the book, commenting on the memoir's unique perspective, especially the in-depth historical analysis that is lacking in many similar memoirs by journalists. Furthermore, Lester W. Grau, writing in the Military Review, found that the memoir is "a hoot," adding: "Blunt, uncompromising, and a brilliant analyst without a speck of political correctness about him, [Maloney] covers the good and the bad with a measured sense of proportionality."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Maloney, Sean M., Enduring the Freedom: A Rogue Historian in Afghanistan, Potomac Books (Washington, DC), 2005.

PERIODICALS

Canadian Book Review Annual, January 1, 1998, review of War without Battles: Canada's NATO Brigade in Germany, 1951-1993, p. 300.

Canadian Defence Quarterly, December 22, 1997, review of War without Battles p. 36.

International History Review, November 1, 1996, Eric Grove, review of Securing Command of the Sea: NATO Naval Planning, 1948-1954, p. 973; November 1, 1997, Desmond Morton, review of War without Battles, p. 970; March 1, 2003, Desmond Morton, review of Canada and UN Peacekeeping: Cold War by Other Means, 1945-1970, p. 200.

International Journal, June 22, 1998, review of War without Battles, p. 588.

Journal of American History, June 1, 1996, Jeffrey G. Barlow, review of Securing Command of the Sea, p. 282.

Journal of Military History, April 1, 2003, Grant Dawson, review of Canada and UN Peacekeeping, p. 629.

Maclean's, August 12, 2002, "Battling Trauma: Are Canada's Troops Suffering from Burnout?," p. 18.

Military Review, November 1, 2006, Lester W. Grau, review of Enduring the Freedom: A Rogue Historian in Afghanistan, p. 106.

Reference & Research Book News, December 1, 1995, review of Securing Command of the Sea, p. 74; August 1, 2006, review of Enduring the Freedom; May 1, 2007, review of Enduring the Freedom.

Report Newsmagazine, November 4, 2002, Nathan M. Greenfield, "Moral Equivalent of War; Canadian Peacekeeping after Hitler's Defeat Was about Containing Communism."

ONLINE

Sean M. Maloney,http://www.seanmmaloney.com (June 13, 2008).