Edward J. K. Gitre

An associate professor of history at Virginia Tech, Edward J.K. Gitre is also director of The American Soldier in World War II. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, this Virginia Tech-based interdisciplinary digital initiative uses crowdsourcing and machine-learning to offer scholars and the public a remarkable collection of uncensored handwritten commentaries composed by American service personnel during World War II.

Gitre is currently working on several book manuscripts. One explores World War II, soldier-to-veteran readjustment, and the war’s long-term social and cultural legacy. The second is an intellectual history of interdisciplinarity and transnational dialogue in the social and behavioral sciences, focused on the “Culture and Personality” movement. The third focuses on David Riesman Jr., his book The Lonely Crowd, and America’s postwar conformity.

Gitre would welcome working with students interested in these and other topics in modern American society and culture.