CANFIELD ALUMNUS Historian's goal: To write books that people enjoy

The Canfield High graduate tries to make history readable for everyone.
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- Canfield native Dr. Stephen Taaffe wrote his latest book mostly for his dad.
"I always try to write for people like my dad," said Taaffe, son of Richard Taaffe and Tonya Stanfar of Canfield.
"He has a degree and reads a lot, but he's not an academic. He likes stories with characters and books that are readable. I try to write books that people actually enjoy to read," the younger Taaffe said.
"The Philadelphia Campaign, 1777-1778" received an outstanding achievement award from the Army Historical Foundation in Arlington, Va.
It was one of three books to win the 2003 Distinguished Writing Award.
The book chronicles the Philadelphia Campaign, an event that Taaffe, a 1985 Canfield High School graduate, says was a significant turning point in the war because it helped establish George Washington as an astute military strategist.
Taaffe uses the campaign to analyze British and American strategies, evaluate Washington's leadership and assess the role of officers such as Nathaniel Greene and Anthony Wayne.
History of warfare
Taaffe also offers insights into 18th-century warfare and the internal challenges Washington faced.
"In the history profession, military history is a politically incorrect field," Taaffe said. "There seems to be a suspicion that you're somehow promoting American warmongering, but it's just a popular topic. People enjoy reading about it and taking the courses."
Taaffe's first book, "MacArthur's Jungle War: The 1994 New Guinea Campaign," penned in 1998, was the History Book Club's Main Selection for January of that year.
Taaffe joined the Stephen F. Austin State University faculty in 2000, and holds a doctorate in history and master's degrees in political science and international affairs from Ohio University in Athens.
His bachelor's degree is from Grove City College.