Kenneth Quandt holds a Ph.D. in Classics from the University of California Berkeley. He writes commentaries on the Greek text of Plato’s Dialogues and translates books by contemporary European thinkers.

Born on March 3, 1948, Bruce H. “Doc” Norton, USMC (Ret.) grew up in the rural township of North Scituate, Rhode Island. He served on active duty from 1968 to 1992. A combat veteran and a career Marine infantry and reconnaissance officer, he is a nationally recognized historian, playwright, and author of 15 books on the United States Marine Corps and other military subjects. Enlisting as a U.S. Navy Corpsman in 1968, he served with distinction in both 3rd Force Reconnaissance and 1st Force Reconnaissance Companies during the Vietnam War, participating in more than 20 long-range reconnaissance missions in 1969-1970. Both “Jump” (parachute) and Scuba qualified, he was the only Navy corpsman designated a Force Recon team leader during the Vietnam War and was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat “V” Device, the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, the Navy Achievement Medal, with Combat “V” Device, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, the Combat Action Ribbon, and the Valorous Unit Award. Major Norton is the recipient of five San Diego Author’s Awards and the General Robert L. Denig Memorial Distinguished Service Award, presented to him by the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondence Association. He was the 2022 recipient of the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust and Civil War Round Table of Fredericksburg Heritage Award for distinguished service as an educator and military historian. Along with Dr. Harry J. Kantrovich, he has co-written the script for the play Voices from Vietnam, which premiered in Virginia in 2024, and has now co-written the script for a new play based on this book, Saving Lives: The Stories of Medics, Corpsmen, Nurses, Doctors, and Dustoff Pilots Who Served in the Vietnam War. This play will premiere in May 2026 at the Castaways Theatre in Woodbridge, Virgina.

Dr. Harry J. Kantrovich retired from the Navy after 23 years of service as a Command Master Chief. Harry is an award-winning actor, director and playwright who has been involved with theatre for over 50 years, working in college, community, and professional theatres throughout the United States and Europe. Harry’s first two original plays SHOAH (in cooperation with the Claude Lanzmann family and his estate) and The Greatest Generation Speaks (in collaboration with renowned journalist Tom Brokaw) have been nationally and internationally acclaimed. His third play, co-written by Major Bruce “Doc” Norton, USMC (Ret), Voices From Vietnam, had its world premiere in November 2024, and a companion book was released simultaneously. Saving Lives will again be released simultaneously with the play of the same name’s world premiere.

Ruth Morris has written five academic books and numerous journal articles about the works of the nineteenth-century novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Her research has been widely disseminated in libraries and research institutions around the world.

James Maxlow was born in Middlesbrough, England, in May 1949. His passion for geology was no doubt inherited from a family history of “ironstone workers” who supplied iron ore mined from the Eston Ironstone Mine to the foundries and steel rolling mills of Middlesbrough, England, during the early 1800s to mid-1900s. James immigrated to Australia with his parents in 1953 and grew up in Melbourne. He studied Civil Engineering at what was then Swinburne College but soon became disillusioned with engineering and redirected himself to geology at the then Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, graduating in 1971. During his research years, James met and communicated with many wonderful scientists from around the world, including Professor Samuel Warren Carey from Tasmania, the father of modern Earth Expansion, Jan Koziar from Poland, the first scientist to measure and calculate an ancient Earth radius using modern seafloor mapping, and the late Klaus Vogel from Germany, the father of modern small Earth modelling studies. It was during James’s studies that Professor Carey recognized the potential of his research into tectonics. Carey then kindly “passed on his baton” to James in order to further his ongoing research into tectonics. James received his Master of Science in geology in 1995, followed by a Doctor of Philosophy in 2002, from Curtin University of Technology, in Perth, with a letter of commendation from the university chancellor for his original and thought-provoking research.

Suheyb Öğüt was born in Mecca in 1982. He studied Political Science at Istanbul Bilgi University and completed there a Cultural Studies M.A. program he had begun at Sabancı University with a thesis titled Pornography and Veiling: Two Differentials of Sovereignty. Following sustained mobbing at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, he withdrew from the Sociology Ph.D. program there and transferred to Yıldırım Beyazıt University, where he completed his doctoral dissertation, Leviathan as the Symptom of Being. His doctoral dissertation was published by Academica Press under the title Being and Symptom: The Intersection of Sociology, Lacanian Psychoanalysis, and Continental Philosophy. During his doctoral studies, he also received a classical theology education. For nearly ten years, he has given seminars on philosophy, sociology, psychoanalysis, and film analysis for various civil society organizations. He is currently a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at Marmara University in Istanbul.

Khadija Muhammad Hussain Marvi is an M.Phil. graduate of the National University of Modern Languages in Islamabad, Pakistan. She has authored multiple articles on education and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. She earned a master’s degree from Hamdard University and her bachelor’s degree from Rana Liaquat Ali Khan Government College of Home Economics. Khadija Marvi’s work has been featured in the American Journal of Education and Practice, Creative Education, the International Journal of Social Science Bulletin, and Nurture Publishing Group. She has also taught as a science teacher and worked as an academic coordinator.

Ambassador Michael Gfoeller is a distinguished American diplomat, scholar, and innovative thinker with a 26-year Foreign Service career (1984–2010). Serving in Warsaw at the Cold War’s end, as well as in Moscow, Riyadh, Manama, and as Deputy Chief of Mission in Saudi Arabia (2004–2008), he navigated complex political dynamics in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. As Senior Political Advisor to General David Petraeus at U.S. Central Command (2008–2010), Gfoeller shaped Middle East and Central Asia strategies. After his retirement from government service, Gfoeller advised ExxonMobil, consulted for Henry Kissinger, and lectured at Georgetown University. An accomplished scholar, he has authored books on the traditional architecture and antiquities of Armenia, where he has established an archeological foundation and museum. His recent books of mathematical philosophy include Consciousness is Curvature (2025), which models human and artificial intelligence as dynamic geometric curvature in informational spaces, inspired by relativity and quantum theory. He has also authored Faster Than Light (2025), which explores how recent advances in theoretical physics can enable feasible interstellar travel, inaugurating a new Age of Exploration that may never end.

Gavriel Shapiro is Professor Emeritus of Comparative and Russian Literature at Cornell University. He is the author of Nikolai Gogol and the Baroque Cultural Heritage (1993), Delicate Markers: Subtexts in Vladimir Nabokov’s “Invitation to a Beheading” (1998), The Sublime Artist’s Studio: Nabokov and Painting (2009), The Tender Friendship and the Charm of Perfect Accord: Nabokov and His Father (2014), and Thanksgiving All Year Round: A Memoir (2016), and the editor of Nabokov at Cornell (2003). He has also contributed numerous articles and chapters to various scholarly periodicals and critical collections, most of which are devoted to Nabokov and his literary legacy.

Gino Neil Lupini was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, to an Italian father and British mother. He was educated at South African College Schools (SACS), the oldest school in the country, where he developed a lifelong passion for history, education, and sports. Upon completing his schooling, Lupini embarked on a professional rugby career that led him to Italy, where he proudly represented the Italian National Rugby Team. After retiring from professional sports, he transitioned into the field of education, where he continues to inspire young minds through teaching and writing. Lupini’s literary journey began under a pen name with a fantasy novel for young adults, followed by two additional works that reimagined the ideals of folklore through a modern lens. His enduring fascination with history led to a pivotal encounter with Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, the de jure King of Italy. This meeting marked the beginning of Lupini’s close collaboration with the Italian Royal House, to which he contributed to charitable, cultural, and traditional initiatives across Europe. His service to the House of Savoy earned him recognition in the form of a Knighthood in the dynastic order of chivalry. He continues to advocate for the transformative power of education and the enduring relevance of historical consciousness in shaping modern identity.

Born in 1988 in Türkiye, Dr. Orçun Keçeci completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in Sports Management at Ege University. He earned his Ph.D. in Sports Management and Recreation at Anadolu University, with a dissertation focused on leadership in esports. He currently serves as a faculty member in the Department of Recreation Management at Osmaniye Korkut Ata University, a public university in Turkey. Dr. Keçeci has published scholarly works in the field of esports, with a particular focus on leadership, team dynamics, and organizational structure. In addition to his academic background, Keçeci is a professional esports athlete in the field of simulation racing. He is also a former soccer player and coach. His interdisciplinary work, which bridges traditional and digital sports, enables him to make original contributions both in practice and in theory.