Necessary Background Info

When I was a teenager, I was close to my maternal grandfather, Milton M. Brown. I was fascinated by the time he spent as a "delegate" in Herbert Hoover's WWI Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB). He was one of only 185 American supervisors who ever worked for the CRB. After he died in 1979, I inherited all his diaries, correspondence and photographs from that period (1916-1917).

From 1986 through 1989, I worked full time researching the time period, WWI, the CRB, and numerous delegates. From those efforts, I wrote an 850-page historical novel, Honor Bound. I had a few nibbles -- agents and publishers who asked for the entire manuscript -- but no one offered a contract. In the late 1990s, I made a half-hearted attempt to rewrite the novel, but it didn't go far.

After my second book, Facing Your Fifties: Every Man's Reference to Mid-life Health came out in 2002 (and was included in Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2002), my agent looked at Honor Bound. He suggested the topic would do well -- and fit my writing strengths -- if it was a history book written in novel-like style.

At the end of 2012, as I turned 60 years old, I came to the conclusion that it was time to take up this incredible humanitarian story again and see if I could make it work.

After more than a year of researching and writing, and with the help of a talented book team, I published Behind the Lines: WWI's little-known story of German occupation, Belgian resistance, and the band of Yanks who helped save millions from starvation. 1914. It detailed the complex and chaotic beginnings of the CRB and CN during the critical first five months of the war (August to December, 1914). It was released in October 2014 in time for the 100-year anniversary of the start of WWI and the CRB.

Since then, I'm happy to report that Behind the Lines has garnered national recognitions and reviews that include a Kirkus Starred Review (only 750 out of 10,000 books annually reviewed by Kirkus are awarded a Starred Review) and inclusion in Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2014. The last sentence of the review states: "An excellent history that should catapult Miller to the top tier of popular historians." You can read all the reviews at the book's website, which can be reached by clicking here.

Since 2015, my main goal has been to finish researching and writing WWI Crusaders, which tells the riveting full story in one volume of the American CRB delegates from August, 1914 to May, 1917, when the last Americans had to leave Belgium because of America's entry in the war.

Below are my blog posts. Each week through to the end of 2018 I’ll start each blog post with a “Don’t-Forget-WWI-Project” item. It’s my way of honoring all those who participated (willingly or unwillingly) in World War I (1914-1918).

It's also my way of drawing attention to my new book, WWI Crusaders: A band of Yanks in German-occupied Belgium help save millions from starvation as civilians resist the harsh German rule. August 1914 to May 1917.

After the "Don't-Forget-WWI-Project" item, my blog post will be about my self-publishing WWI Crusaders and my PR and marketing efforts to get national media exposure for this incredible humanitarian story that has all but been forgotten today.

I hope you find something of interest within this blog. For more information about Behind the Lines and WWI Crusaders, please go to the books' website by clicking here.

Post #42: Anxieties and Frustrations March On

Friday, August 10, 2018

DON’T-FORGET-WWI-PROJECT: Invasion. During the past week, 104 years ago on August 4, 1914, the Germans invaded Belgium to get to their real goal, France. Belgium was no stranger to invading armies. Before the country was established in 1830, the region was known as the cockpit of Europe because it had witnessed many other nations’ battles across their land—most notably Napoleon’s Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Now in August 1914, the Germans were disregarding Belgium’s neutrality, so the little Belgian army fought back. More than 7.5 million Belgians were in harm’s way and faced possible mass starvation. Learn more at www.WWICrusaders.com

My Post: Truth be told, I’ve been stressed and tense over a number of things since my new book WWI Crusaders completed the production stage and entered the promotions/marketing/PR stage.

Like the tramp-tramp-tramp of German soldiers marching into Belgium in August 1914, my anxieties
and frustrations have been recently goose-stepping through my life. Everything from the printer being slow to print the book, to a lack of replies on critical emails, to frustrations over trying to set up pre-orders on Amazon.com

Okay, I have to admit I can be melodramatic at times (a trait not unknown to my siblings as well). So, things aren’t really that bad.

One reason I might be overreacting to these numerous niggling challenges is because the book came out of the production stage looking SO great. Every time I pick up the book, I’m still impressed with the wonderful presentation my book team created. Such success led me to feel like I was cruising on the downside of any publishing problems. I should have known better!

Anyway, while there have been – and continue to be – numerous points of contention in my life, I have to say I’ve spent a few productive weeks working on updating my book’s website, revising my Facebook and Linkedin pages, and developing marketing strategies for getting as much exposure as possible for the book and its great story.

This week, with the help of expert Eric V. van der Hope, the Amazon pre-order page for print books got up and running. You can see it here at https://www.amazon.com/WWI-Crusaders/dp/0990689387

That page is also now linked to my Amazon Author page as well. I hope to have pre-orders for the ebook version set up in a few weeks.

The really good news, as mentioned in my previous blog post, is that I have a national book publicist on my side. Smith Publicity, with team leader Marissa Eigenbrood, is doing a great job making initial media contacts, distributing advance review copies (ARCs) to the right outlets, and circulating a press release and a short article I’ve written.  

Now, comes the hardest part—waiting!

It takes 4-8 weeks, if not longer, for reviewers to get to my book (if at all). It’s even worse with the all-important industry leader, Publishers Weekly, which will only consider self-published books through its BookLife program. And BookLife says it takes 6-12 weeks to merely decide if they will review you book or not. If you’re lucky enough to be told they will review it, THEN it takes an additional 4-8 weeks to get the review!

If you’re lucky enough to get reviewed, there’s no guarantee it will be a good review. I, of course, have a strong belief that WWI Crusaders is a good book, but I’m the author so I don’t really count!

The reason why good, national reviews are hard to come by is because of the sheer volume of books published every year. About 15-20 years ago, before self-publishing became so popular and easy to do, traditional book publishers generated about 340,000 new titles a year. That was impressive by itself. But now, adding in the explosion of self publishing, more than 600,000 NEW books are produced every year in America alone!

These stats are staggeringly depressing for any author who is hoping to get some exposure. They certainly explain why the odds are very low for any author to gain any media attention, and why garnering any such exposure is an incredible feat.

So, with those happy thoughts tramping-tramping-tramping through my head, I’ll get back to work and leave you ‘til next week.  

End of Post.

Post #41: Thanks to All Those Who Have Helped Me

Friday, August 3, 2018

DON’T-FORGET-WWI-PROJECT: Pre-war Belgium. 104 years ago this week, the European powers were blustering toward the Aug. 4, 1914 start of World War I (1914-1918). The little country of Belgium was secure in knowing its neutrality was guaranteed by a treaty that all major players had signed. Belgium was the most industrialized country in Europe and imported more than 75% of its daily food, so being caught in the conflict would be disastrous for its 7.5 million civilians. Unfortunately, disaster was about to strike, with the possibly of mass starvation not far behind. Learn more about the small band of Americans who saved an entire country from starvation at www.WWICrusaders.com

My Post: After finishing my new book, WWI Crusaders, on April 26, 2018, I realized I had to self-publish if I wanted the book out by 2018 to honor the end of World War I. So, I brought back together most of the book team that had done such a wonderful job on my first book about the topic, Behind the Lines.  

For WWI Crusaders, Laurie Shields (of Laurie Shields Design) refashioned a new front cover to remind readers of the previous book but in a bold new way. She also helped me create an infographic that could visually explain the relief program.

Tom Locke once again did tremendous work on copy editing my huge manuscript.

New to the team Rod Manuel was an editorial consultant who plowed through the entire book offering suggestions on how to improve it and cut it down.

Dan and Jim Pratt (of Pratt Brothers Composition) continued from the previous book their great design work of the interior pages and the back cover. They also came up with the dramatic idea of putting a little girl on the spine of the book to grab attention when the book is on bookstore shelves.

Laura Furney and her super-human powers of proof reading caught all the errors I had missed during my numerous readings of the text.

New to the team Doug Easton did the necessary but un-fun (to me, at least!) job of indexing.

And Mike Bren and Seth Daire (of Crown Point Solutions) revamped the website they had designed for the previous book. To see the book’s website visit www.WWICrusaders.com

Additionally, I had tremendous help from those I call “intelligent readers” who took the time and effort to read through the entire book and then answer lots of questions from me. They included my cousin David Newell, friend David Hiller, and brother-in-law Gene Zimmerman.

Lastly, I would never have been able to complete this book without the financial support of a small group of family and friends who believe in me more than I believe in myself. They are: friend Jim Torrey (who is the son of one of the CRB delegates, Clare Torrey); cousins and siblings Evie Newell and David Newell; my generous and kind sister Tina Miller; my incredible wife Susan Burdick; and a friend who wishes to remain anonymous.

Thanks to all of the people mentioned in this blog post for making WWI Crusaders possible and for making it much better than I ever could have on my own.

To wrap up this thank-you blog post on a high note, I want to mention that I’ve taken the important step of hiring Smith Publicity to help me get national media exposure for this important humanitarian story that has all but been forgotten.

My publicity team leader is Marissa Eigenbrood. Two Mondays ago they sent out the first review copies and made the first media contacts. Two days later the first positive reply was from a reporter for the New York Times! A great start! Let’s hope it’s only the beginning.

End of Post  

Post #40: A New World Is Coming

Friday, July 27, 2018

Don't-Forget-WWI-Project: Pre-war world. Less than two weeks before the August 4, 1914 start of World War I (1914-1918), the world was a much different place than today. 100 years ago, there was no commercial radio, no TV, no cell phones, no commercial airplanes, and motorcars were still outnumbered by horses, wagons, and people on foot. The fastest form of transportation was the train. The only way to get to Europe from America was by ship on a voyage of 10 days or more. People received national and international news only from newspapers, magazines, or word-of-mouth.
 

The world was about to be reshaped in the most painful of ways, and soldiers weren't the only ones who would feel the changes. How would civilians fare when the war started? 
 

My Post: The title of this post, "A New World Is Coming" not only refers to the start of World War I and the havoc it is about to bring to an unsuspecting world. The title also implies what I hope will be a new world of possibilities that will open up for me since finishing my opus, WWI Crusaders.
 
For readers to fully understand, I need to step back a moment and explain. A lot has happened since my last post on this blog back in October 2017. After that post, I became single-minded in my focus to finish researching and writing my new book, WWI Crusaders.
 
The book tells the full story of the Commission for Relief in Belgium, it's Belgian counterpart, the Comite National (CN), and the Belgians who created the underground newspaper, La Libre Belgique (the Free Belgium).
 
After what felt like countless days of spending every waking hour thinking, reading, and writing about this topic -- mostly in my 7-foot by 7.5-foot office space two miles from my house -- I finally finished the massive manuscript at 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 26, 2018.
 
Having found no traditional book publisher that could publish the book by November 11, 2018 (the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI), I had decided to self-publish the book, just like I did Behind the Lines back in 2014.
 
In later posts, I'll go into the joys and pains of self-publishing, and the acknowledgments to all those who helped me make the book better than I could have on my own. And I'll go into hiring a nationally known book publicist to give this book the best chance for gaining national media exposure.
 
For now, just know that the book is completely done and that I have held a copy in my hands. What an incredible feeling!
 
I hope to have pre-orders for the book set up on Amazon by late August or early September, while regular sales will begin on November 11, 2018. To learn more about the book, visit the book's website at www.WWICrusaders.com

Post #39: America's Charitable Heart

Friday, October 20, 2017

The Don’t-Forget-WWI Project: On October 22, 1914, 103 years ago Sunday, eight Americans came together in London and committed to trying to do what had never been done before—save an entire nation from starvation as the most horrific war the world had ever seen was raging around it. The private-citizen run Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB) was founded that day and with the help of its Belgian counterpart, the Comite National (CN), they fed nearly 10 million civilians trapped behind German lines every day during World War I. To learn more about the CRB, CN, and my book, Behind the Lines, which details the start of relief, go to www.WWIBehindTheLines.com 

 


Post #38: George Washington's Birthday and Book Publishers

Sunday, February 19, 2016

Don’t-Forget-WWI-Project: George Washington’s birthday – To foreigners 100 years ago, it led to an act of defiance against a prison state.
During the harsh German occupation of Belgium during WWI, all acts and events reflecting Belgian patriotism were outlawed. Civilians couldn’t even wear or display the tricolors of their country’s flag.
Baron von Bissing, German Governor-General
 of Belgium who outlawed all displays of patriotism.  


Because nearly 7 million Belgians were being saved from starvation in large part through the efforts of the American-led Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB), the Belgians spontaneously decided to celebrate their own patriotism by honoring the birth of George Washington.
On Monday, February 22, 1915, all over Belgium, schools closed, people dressed in their Sunday best, and strolled through their towns and villages proudly displaying the colors red, white, and blue in suit button holes, women’s blouses, and hats and coats. The U.S. Legation office in Brussels was overwhelmed by thousands who came to pay their respects.

The Germans were furious, and would take their revenge.
To learn more about one of America’s greatest humanitarian efforts—the CRB—and to read a sample of my first book on the subject, Behind the Lines, go to my book’s website, www.WWIBehindTheLines.com   

My Post: It has been an eventful start to the new year. I have continued to work on my next CRB book, WWI Crusaders. It was going to be the second in a proposed trilogy of the CRB and Belgium. Unfortunately, I’m running out of my own money to do this project, and I also believe it’s important to get a traditional book publisher interested so that I can reach the widest possible audience.
After talking with a few book publishers, I learned that they don’t want book two in my trilogy, nor book three. They were all impressed with Behind the Lines (which covers August to December 1914), but felt that the CRB topic was a “small slice” of World War I that does not warrant a trilogy and cannot, in their opinion, sustain reader interest that long.

While I, of course, disagree, I can also see the handwriting on the wall (and in my bank balance).
So, I’ve now pivoted to what these traditional book publishers want – ONE book for the entire story, which will cover August 1914 through April 1917 when America enters the war and the CRB delegates have to leave Belgium.

I’m reshaping the 150 pages I’ve already written and have built a one-book outline.
Through most of December, I spent a great deal of time preparing a book proposal, which turned out to be 75 pages. (Fifty of those pages are the first 50 pages of WWI Crusaders.)  I did all that because the American Historical Association held its annual conference in Denver in early January. As part of the AHA conference there was an exhibit hall where more than 30 book publishers displayed their newest titles.

I, of course, saw this as a great opportunity to approach publishers about WWI Crusaders—hence my book proposal.
I also prepared a one-page book proposal summary for those who weren’t sure of their interest. Following is that one page:  

One of America’s Greatest Humanitarian
Efforts—Unknown Today

Narrative Nonfiction Book Proposal—Summary

Working
Title:              WWI Crusaders: The little-known story of German occupation, Belgian
                        resistance, and the band of Yanks who helped save millions from starvation, by
                        Jeffrey B. Miller

The Story:      During WWI (1914-1918), a small band of neutral Americans in the Commission
                        for Relief in Belgium (CRB) worked with the Belgian Comité National de Secours et
                        d’Alimentation (CN) to create the largest food relief the world had ever seen, saving
                       nearly 10 million civilians trapped behind German lines. It’s a story few have heard.

The Book:      In the narrative nonfiction tradition of books by Laura Hillenbrand, Erik Larson, and David McCullough, WWI Crusaders tells this humanitarian story through multiple American CRB volunteers, individual Belgians, and the editors of the underground newspaper, La Libre Belgique—all within the context of the brutal German occupation. This is not a treatise or dissertation, it is an accurate re-creation of events as they happened so that general readers will feel the spirit and suspense of the time.   

Marketing:    A significant base of buyers/readers includes members of WWI organizations, war-history enthusiasts, and libraries. Working with the publisher, the author plans to reach that base and expand it by implementing a targeted PR/marketing plan to attract general readers who have bought bestselling narrative nonfiction such as Dead Wake, The Boys in the Boat, and the perennial bestseller, The Guns of August. 

Jeff Miller’s
Credentials:   * Kirkus Best Books of 2014; Kirkus Starred Review: “An excellent history that
                             should catapult Miller to the top tier of popular historians.” Behind the Lines;      
                        * History Finalist, Foreword Reviews’ Book of the Year Awards, 2014 (eight
                             other finalists were from university presses) (Behind the Lines);
                        * Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2002 (co-authored men’s health book);
                        * Forty years as a professional writer, magazine editor, and book author;
                        * More than eight fulltime years researching, writing, and public speaking about this
                             little-known humanitarian story. 

Available
On Request:  The complete book proposal, which includes the book’s first fifty pages,
                        descriptive outline, targeted PR/marketing plan to stand alone or complement a
                        publisher’s efforts, an overview infographic, author’s resume, and reference letter.  

More Info:     Jeffrey B. Miller: 1265 South Columbine St., Denver, CO 80210; cell: 303-503-
                        1739; email, jbmwriter@aol.com; website, www.WWIBehindTheLines.com      

That’s it for my one-page book proposal summary. I’ll keep you posted on if any traditional book publisher is interested in helping me tell this great American humanitarian story.

End of Post. 

Post #37: Slave Raids and My Grandfather

Don’t-Forget-WWI-Project: While many people know about the horrors of World War I’s trench warfare on the Western Front 100 years ago, most people do NOT know about the horrors endured by Belgian and Northern French civilians trapped behind German lines.

Some Belgian children waiting for the CRB/CN food.
At the start of the war, when the Germans occupied most of Belgium and a thin slice of Northern France, they refused to feed any civilians. The non-governmental American-led Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB) and its Belgian partner the Comite National took on the task of trying to feed and clothe nearly 10 million people trapped behind German lines.
After Herculean efforts that included getting the Allies and the Germans to agree to the program and dealing with periodic hurdles thrown up by both sides, the CRB and CN had a system in place for buying, shipping, preparing and distributing tens of thousands of tons of food per month. The civilians were staying alive, at least until the next crisis showed itself.  

In late 1916, a major crisis did appear, and one that would not only threaten many civilians but jeopardize the entire relief effort as well.
The Germans decided to deport Belgian workers to Germany where the Belgians would take over jobs so that Germans workers could join the fighting. These “slave raids” were carried out all across Belgium, from the biggest of cities to the smallest hamlets.

The scenes at countless train stations were horrifying similar, as lines of men from teenagers to those in their late 50s were first reviewed, then commanded to go either left or right. Left in most cases meant freedom, while right meant being herded and shoved into cattle cars for a journey of unknown duration and destination. (Shades of WWII’s Holocaust only 25 years later!)
The Germans defended their actions by saying they were simply giving work to the unemployed. The CRB, CN, the Allies, and the rest of the world felt otherwise. Brand Whitlock, the U.S.  Minister to the Legation in Belgium, summed up how many felt when he said it was “one of the foulest [deeds] that history ever records.”

The deportations, and the reactions to them, would become a major part of the story of Belgium and the CRB during World War I. They are also an important part of my next CRB/Belgium book, which I’m working on right now. To learn more about this great American humanitarian program, and to read a sample of my first CRB/Belgium book, Behind the Lines, go to www.WWIBehindTheLines.com 

 My Post: I currently have written about 150 pages of my second CRB/Belgium book, tentatively titled WWI Crusaders. While I am not completely happy with all the pages, I am glad that the book is off to a relatively good start. Most important, I’m now getting a better handle on where the book is going (beyond just the simple outline I had done earlier).

I know that one of the critical parts to the new book will be the deportations mentioned above. I’ve already amassed a tremendous amount of research material about them. Most are heartrending primary accounts of what happened. Some of these are from Belgians and others are from CRB delegates who were only observers.
One of the CRB delegate accounts is from my grandfather, Milton M. Brown. It has been a fascinating experience to read his impassioned prose about the event. While he spent every day in Belgium trying hard to act completely neutral (a lynchpin of the relief work), his true feelings came out in the deportation account he wrote:

“Even to us who had no personal interest in the scene, no private grief to result from what was happening about us there came a stinging hate, an almost irrepressible impulse to revolt against this relic of barbarism in a modern world, this savage treatment of an innocent people. And I know that at that crossroads on that misty, dreary day, I learned more of hatred for the Germans than I had ever felt before.” He was 26 years old.
I also have all his diaries and correspondence from that time. Because I was only a teenager/young adult when I knew him in his late 70s/early 80s, it has been an interesting process reconciling in my mind those two different people I’ve come to know.  

Milton only became a CRB delegate in January 1916, so he was not in Behind the Lines, which covered only 1914. I’m happy to report that I can finally write about him in this second book. I’m looking forward to that.
While I could not write about my grandfather in Behind the Lines, I was able to write about my grandmother, Erica Bunge. She was a 22-year-old Belgian woman.

For those who might worry that my books are about my family, I should say that my family is merely a thread in the tapestry of each book. I have researched more than 50 individuals—most of them CRB delegates—so that their stories well out number my family tales.
Anyone who wants to read a sample of Behind the Lines can find one at the book’s website, www.WWIBehindTheLines.com

End of Post.

Post #36: The Bloody Somme, the 1916 Belgian Harvest, and an NEH Rejection

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Don’t-Forget-WWI-Project: Many know that in August 1916 World War One’s bloody Battle of the Somme had just started. It would last until November and have a mind-bogglilng 1.5 million causalities.

But most don’t know that at the same time the American-led Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB), and its Belgian partner, the Comite National, were fighting their own epic battle to provide
Belgians outside a Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB) store
in German-occupied Brussels.
food to nearly 10 million Belgian and Northern French trapped behind German lines.

One example: In July and early August 1916 there was a major fight to determine who was going to get the coming harvest from Northern France—the German army or the civilians of Northern France. Hoover fought both the Allied governments and the German government over the issue. After repeated requests for a decision from the German government in Berlin, an answer came back—take it up with the German military authorities.

So Hoover went to Charlesville, France (headquarters of the German military forces) on August 1 to force a decision. The arguments on each side were intense, with no resolution in sight. To break the stalemate, Hoover and his deputy, Vernon Kellogg, went to Berlin with representatives of the military government to have it out once and for all. The tide was turned in the CRB’s favor when Hoover came face-to-face with the general who had ordered the execution of English nurse, Edith Cavell. Hoover’s personal appeal to the emotionally conflicted general is one of the great moments in CRB history.

This scene will be an important part of my Volume II in my CRB trilogy. To learn more about this great American humanitarian program, and to read a sample of my first book in the trilogy, Behind the Lines, go to www.WWIBehindTheLines.com 

My Post: Admittedly, it has once again been a long time since I wrote a post. My only excuse is that I’ve been working so hard on researching that I haven’t had time for much else. My wife and my dog complain that I’ve forgotten them!

Every day I immerse myself in1915 wartime Europe and America. Friends who have seen the history books, official reports, and reams of correspondence that I’m reading say they appear to be incredibly dry and boring. To me, they are fantastically illuminating snapshots into life-and-death scenes that few people know about today. They reveal so much to those who take the time to let them speak fully.

Even the lists of statistics about tonnages, and bushels, and calories all tell their own unique stories. From these numbers on yellowed pages comes visions of young children and new mothers and out-of-work men and elderly grandparents—all standing in lines waiting for the food that will sustain them for another day. It is a time of great desperation and of tremendous courage.

The hardest part to me of researching and writing is the filtering. What will go into my books and what will have to wait patiently for others to use some other day?

Because of the sheer quantity of material I’ve been trying to absorb, I’ve had to develop an extensive filtering system to help me remember what I’ve read and to make crucial decisions about inclusion or exclusion. This system includes four major components:

1.     Index cards. Yep, old-fashioned 3x5 index cards identifying the material I’ve reviewed. Currently I have more than 2,000 such cards.

2.     Cast of Characters excel spread sheets. I have more than 100 pages that identify all the various people involved in this complicated story. Each person has a row that includes a column for a photo (whenever possible), their age in 1915, their educational background, how they got to the CRB or CN or to Belgium, and stories about them from all the various sources.

3.     Great Quotes document. In all my reading, I continually come across great quotes that I don’t want to forget. I began typing them up and putting them into categories years ago. I currently have more than 60 categories and more than 800 pages of single-spaced typed quotes! Yes, it’s a bit overboard, but it’s a tremendous resource that I believe will make my books that much better.

4.     Monthly Narrative excel spread sheets. I have a row for each month of the year from 1914 through 1917, and each row has three columns: one for world stories; one for Belgium stories; and one for CRB/CN stories. I enter shorthand notes into each of these that reference all the great stories that I’ve discovered from my research.

So, when I sit down to read any material—whether it be a book, a document, or a letter—I first create a two-character ID for the item. Then I read it and take notes by hand. I then type up the notes. I then take those typed notes and enter them, where relevant, into the four components listed above.

It is laborious and time consuming, but when I finally sit down to start writing, all the work will pay off handsomely (I hope!).

I began a short sketch or two in June and wrote more in July. Now, as the third week of August comes upon me, I find that I have about 50 pages. Nothing completed, or in order, but it’s a good start that I hope to shape into a dynamite book.

And, finally, I have to say that I was knocked for a mighty loop a few weeks ago. At the end of July I found out I was NOT accepted into the NEH Public Scholar program for 2016/2017. I knew I had a slim chance at best, but I was ever hopeful that my topic – American’s largest private humanitarian relief effort that’s unknown to most – would make the cut. Sadly, it did not.

It took me a long week and weekend to get over the news. I will be interested to read the judges' written assessment of my project that I should be receiving in a few weeks.

As for Book Two: I’ve started the process of picking myself up and getting back into the project. It certainly helps that I had already started some writing. And I've decided to re-phrase an old adage that most people know: The best revenge is writing a best seller! (as opposed to living well). My goal will be to write such a great, page-turning, NY Times best seller that the NEH administrators will say, "Wow, we were really wrong in our assessment of Jeff Miller and his CRB/Belgium project!"  

Thanks to all those friends and family who send kind condolences on the NEH situation. And a special thanks to Professor Branden Little and George Nash who wrote reference letters for me.  

End of Post.

Post #35: Poison Gas vs. Food Relief

Friday, April 15, 2016

Don’t-Forget-WWI Project: One hundred and one years ago, from April 22 until May 25, the Second Battle of Ypres reminded the world of the horrors of trench warfare. The 35 days of fighting saw the first use of poison gas on the Western Front. The Germans released chlorine gas on April 22
French soldiers with improvised gas makes. Source: Greatwarproject.org
from thousands of 90-pound cylinders and watched as the deadly mist floated on the wind across No Man’s Land and into the Allied trenches. Altogether, the fighting for control of the Belgian town of Ypres resulted in more than 120,000 casualties from both sides, with little movement of the trench lines.

At the same time, counteracting such death and destruction, the American-led Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB), and its Belgian counterpart, the Comite National (CN), agreed in April 1915 to provide food for nearly 2 million northern French trapped behind German lines. This brought the total number of people it was feeding every day to nearly 10 million. By the end of the war, the efforts of the CRB and CN had saved millions from starvation and had become the largest food relief the world had ever seen. Few Americans know this incredible story. You can read the first 12 pages of my WWI nonfiction book about the CRB and CN, Behind the Lines,  by clicking here; while anyone interested in buying the book (print or ebook) can do so by clicking here.

My Post: A lot has happened to me and my CRB project since I last wrote a post Dec. 6, 2015. The biggest news is that I’ve applied for the National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar Program.

The NEH describes the program as “intended to support well-researched books in the humanities that have been conceived and written to reach a broad readership. Books supported through the Public Scholar Program might present a narrative history, tell the stories of important individuals, analyze significant texts, provide a synthesis of ideas, revive interest in a neglected subject, or examine the latest thinking on a topic. Most importantly, they should present significant humanities topics in a way that is accessible to general readers.”

To my way of thinking, this program was written for me and what I’m trying to do with my CRB trilogy.

Best of all, it can provide up to $4,200 a month for up to a year. A princely sum for this starving author.

When I attended the annual conference of the American Historical Association in Atlanta in January, the NEH made a presentation about multiple programs, including the Public Scholar program. I was fortunate enough to meet with one of the NEH administrators of the Public Scholar program who was very helpful in guiding my approach to my application.

He did say, however, that the competition is fierce. Last year—the first year of the program—the NEH had anticipated 200 applications. They received 500. From those, only 36 were accepted in the program. I bet they’ll receive twice as many applications for this year’s competition.

I did get my application in by the February deadline and also secured two references from two kind and generous colleagues—Professor Branden Little (who teaches at Weber State University and wrote the foreword to Behind the Lines), and Dr. George H. Nash, the preeminent biographer of Herbert Hoover. Thank you to both!

Now it’s a waiting game—a long waiting game. The NEH will announce the 2016/2017 recipients in August. The program begins in September.

In the meantime, I am continuing my research on the CRB, Comite National, Belgium, and World War One. I hope to begin writing Book Two in June.

End of Post.  

Post #34: Rhodes scholars Head into German-occupied Belgium

Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015

Don’t-Forget-WWI Project: During World War One, exactly 101 years ago today, on Sunday, Dec. 6, 1914, 10 young American students on Christmas break from Oxford University were in Rotterdam preparing for the adventure of a lifetime.
1914: Belgians in a food relief line.

They had been chosen to be the first 10 official “delegates” in the CRB (Commission for Relief in Belgium), which would ultimately become the largest food and relief drive the world had ever seen. These early twenty-somethings (eight of whom were Rhodes scholars) were about to go into German-occupied Belgium to help organize and supervise the delivery and distribution of food to 7 million near-starving Belgians.

With all communications cut between Belgium and the outside world, no one knew what to expect. One of the ten, Emile Hollmann, wrote, “We had visions of sitting on the top of box cars or sleeping on the decks of small canal barges in their long journeys from Rotterdam into Belgium. . .We expected to see German savages prowling around ready at the slightest provocation to scalp women and children and perhaps provoke a quarrel with us for the same purpose!”

What they found—and much more—is in my nonfiction book, Behind the Lines, which was included on the nationally recognized Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2014. (More about my book by clicking here.

Here's an excerpt from page 279 of  Behind the Lines about the Oxford students on Sunday, Dec. 6, 1914, in Rotterdam, Holland:

Getting Their Assignments
It’s probably best that no one recorded when the men finally got back to the hotel, but the next day, even though it was Sunday, they were up early, dressed appropriately, and ready to find out what all this Belgian work was about. They walked the short distance from the hotel to the CRB office, which was on a “tree-bordered Dutch lane lying beside a busy canal where the schools of herring used to run, and where nowadays market carts and fisherwomen, motor-cars, delivery wagons, and peasant farmers in whitewashed wooden shoes clatter leisurely by.” To the east, and nearly within throwing distance, was the city’s major Maas train station.

The building that the CRB occupied was a 100-year-old mansion The house still bore some luxurious paneled walls and painted ceilings that were adorned with allegorical figures. The dining room had been converted into a waiting room but maintained its “massive fireplace, with long vertical Dutch mirrors and wall paintings in the style of 1750, showing quiet landscapes, Ruskin’s ‘fat cattle and ditch-water,’ or violent storms at sea.”

While the house maintained some of its previous accoutrements, it was no longer a quiet, stately mansion; it was the bustling business office of the rapidly growing shipping arm of the CRB. A large staff of Dutch, Belgian, and American clerks were scattered throughout the building, and Dutch and Flemish barge captains and dock laborers were always waiting in line for an audience with someone who could either put them to work or solve a problem they had encountered while employed by the commission. The halls and various offices were filled with a nearly constant cacophony of ringing phones, clattering typewriters, and buzzing conversations.

Overseeing it all was forty-year-old Captain Lucey, who occupied the best office in the building. The large room on the second floor overlooked the Meuse River and the harbor. From his  windows he could see many of the 300 barges that the CRB had already chartered. Some were being loaded by floating elevators, others by hand; others waited for their cargoes while still more were being towed upriver by canal tugs toward Belgium. All were draped with huge canvas flags bearing the protective inscription “Belgian Relief Commission.”

Even though it was Sunday, people were working in the office, and Lucey was there to greet the ten Oxford students. As one CRB delegate described Lucey, he was a “nervous, big, beardless American . . . who left his business . . . to organize and direct a great trans-shipping office in an alien land for an alien people.” The captain spent little time on the preliminaries, getting straight to work on instructing the ten students as to what he knew of Belgian conditions, what he thought they would be doing, and what he felt needed to be done.

Nelson wrote his parents that Lucey “gave us a fairly good idea of what our work would be like, besides telling us in a general way of the situation in Belgium. You will be surprised when you hear of the magnitude of this undertaking, and of the extraordinary difficulties under which it must be carried on.” 

In a confident tone that marked so many Americans of the time, Nelson stated, “The Americans have been hampered so far by lack of men and lack of supplies, but when our men get established throughout the country, and the organization is perfected, we will be able to handle the situation, for we already have some thirty or forty ships on the way to Holland.”

Nelson was so impressed with the operation and with Lucey that he wrote, “One feels prouder of being an American after meeting and talking with him.” The young first-year Rhodes scholar already knew, before he had started doing any relief work, that “our work goes on day and night,
seven days a week.” He even predicted that for the Oxford students this would not be a six-week jaunt, as they had signed up for: “This job is not a three month’s or six month’s job; it is a one or two year’s job, for even if the war should stop today, the Belgians must be fed until they can gather in the next harvest.” And he was already clear on his intentions, even before experiencing one day in occupied Belgium: “I shall very likely stay by this work for six months or longer, if I can arrange matters at Oxford.” He had become a convert to the cause and even ended one of his letters to his parents by stating, “I hope North Dakota, which is prospering because of this war, will be generous in her aid to the Belgians.”

End of Excerpt

My Post: In my last post way back in early October, I wrote about the Antwerp part of our incredible visit to Belgium in September. After a wonderful day exploring Antwerp, and a great day of meeting with local historians Raymond Roelands, Roger Van den Bleeken, and Andre De Vleeschouwer (see my previous post for details), my wife and I moved south to spend a half day and night in Brussels.

When we arrived, we immediately pulled out my 1914 Brussels map. As I explained in my last post, back during my research stage I had taken a tiny Baedeker’s city map from 1914 and blown it up to 3 feet by 3 feet so I could see every detail of the map. Then, as I found place names and street mentions in my research, I’ll jot down the significant ones in red on the map. By the time I was finished writing Behind the Lines, the map was covered with red notations of where people had walked, worked, lived, or hidden during the German bombardment and occupation.

Armed with my 1914 blown up Brussels map, I wanted to find two places:

            * 66 Rue des Colonies, which had been home to the main CRB office, and where my
                        grandfather, Milton M. Brown, had worked during his days as a CRB delegate.

            * Galeries Royales St. Hubert, a beautiful late 1800s metal-and-glass-covered shopping
                        arcade. This was the location, during WWI, of a bookshop whose owner had been
                        a distributor of the underground newspaper, La Libre Belgique.  

For a while, my search for 66 Rue des Colonies, wasn’t going so well. I couldn’t seem to find the right streets on my map and match them to where we were walking. Just when I was the most frustrated, and I was hot and tired and hungry and my wife was a few paces behind me, something magical happened. I swear I heard my long-dead grandfather whisper in my ear, “You’re almost there, boy.” A moment later, I turned the corner and the building and number were right there.

A sense of relief and wonder overtook me. I had the strangest – but nicest! – sensation that my grandfather and some other CRB delegates and Belgians in my book, Behind the Linesarching for 66 Rue des Colonies, which was home to the CRB offices. Just before I reached the spot, I swear I heard my long-dead grandfather whisper in my ear "You're almost there, boy." I turned the corner and the building and number were still there. And I felt happy that my grandfather and some of the other CRB delegates and Belgians in my book, Behind the Lines, seemed to be walking with me.arching for 66 Rue des Colonies, which was home to the CRB offices. Just before I reached the spot, I swear I heard my long-dead grandfather whisper in my ear "You're almost there, boy." I turned the corner and the building and number were still there. And I felt happy that my grandfather and some of the other CRB delegates and Belgians in my book, Behind the Lines, seemed to be walking with me., were walking with me. It was a great feeling.

And that feeling continued as we made our way to the lovely Galeries Royales St. Hubert, which is still standing and is magnificent to see. My wife loved the shopping and I loved the sense of walking in the footsteps of people I had come to admire. We both marveled at the workmanship and artistry that had created such an arcade back in the late 1800s. I was also happily surprised to see that there was a bookshop in the arcade, although I was not able to find out if it was in the same location, or had any ties, to the WWI bookshop.  

Later that afternoon, local historian Marc Brans met us at our hotel and we three went out to an early dinner. What a wonderful evening it was! I truly enjoyed finally meeting the man who I had been emailing for more than a year about WWI, Belgium, the underground, and my book. In our email correspondences, Marc had always been a kind and generous person, freely sharing his knowledge and resources. In person he continued to be so as we shared some good Belgian beers and seafood and talked about our various research projects. My wife sat back and enjoyed the wine and seafood!

I have now been home months since the Belgium trip, but the images and memories are still strong in my mind. They will help me, no doubt, as I move forward in writing Book Two, which I am now earnestly working on.

End of Post.