Michael Gannon (historian)

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Michael V Gannon is an American military historian, academic and former war correspondent. He was born in 1928.

During World War II, Gannon was a member of the American Field Service, in the 1950s he wrote on European military topics and in 1968, he was a war correspondent in Vietnam. In the early 1990s Gannon was a professor of history at the University of Florida, where he taught the history of World War II, and became Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of History.^{[1] [2]}

Gannon is also known for his study of Spanish colonial history. Among numerous awards and honours, he is a Knight Commander of the Order of Isabel the Catholic, granted by King Juan Carlos I of Spain.^[3]

One well known work by Gannon is Operation Drumbeat (1990), sub-titled The dramatic true story of Germany's first u-boat attacks along the American coast in World War II. Although written, in large parts, as a dramatic story, Gannon had researched the subject extensively, travelling to Europe to view sites and interview surviving participants. Official documents, on both sides of the Atlantic, were obtained to provide further information and the work is supported by significant notations. It chronicles the u-boat cruise of U-123 in January 1942 to the American east coast and analyses the factors behind a major naval defeat for the United States which could have upset the western allies' war strategy.

Gannon's other works include:

• Pearl Harbor Betrayed
• Black May 1943, a chronicle of the major defeat of u-boats in May 1943
• Florida: A Short History
• The Cross in the Sand: The Early Catholic Church in Florida, 1513-1870
• Secret Missions
• Rebel Bishop: Augustin Verot, Florida's Civil War Prelate
• Florida's Menendez: Captain General of the Ocean Sea

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