Sometimes we are at a loss to describe the essence of the U.S. Naval Institute—the parent organization of Naval History—and the importance of the discourse found in its magazines, seminar programs, and books. A few of the staff even have become jaded by our access to military leaders, government officials, and well-known historians. That is why it is so much more effective to have someone from the outside explain it for us.
Naval History's Author and Illustrator of the Year, Don Wallace and Jan Adkins, respectively, were the composers of the 16-part serial, "The Log of Matthew Roving," a fictional journey in time for young people that ended in the April issue. On 2 April, we brought them to Annapolis—Wallace from New York and Adkins from California—to receive their awards at the Naval Institute's 129th Annual Meeting.
Both seemed happy enough to be here, but neither gave us a sense of exactly how they felt. In fact, Adkins vanished after the ceremony, even though he was due to stay for the entire two-day seminar event. Not until weeks later did we find out why. In an e-mail with the subject line "Cognizance," he wrote, in part:
I want to assure you that I'm now cognizant of the honor you and the Institute have given me. I was not prepared for it. I am one of those throwbacks who still believes in national character, courage, honor, and nobility of spirit, and I've found it over and over in naval history. I believe in the pressing necessity of giving young imaginations this powerful tapestry of drama and deeds. Rock stars simply aren't heroes, compared to real heroes of such towering dimensions. Very few authors or illustrators are awarded by two serving admirals. That's big medicine for me. I was flattered, not to say flustered. My son was surprised himself that I was so short-winded. I told him, "I didn't know this was so . . . large."
An e-mail followed from Wallace, who took in the entire two-day program:
The passionate and informed discourse during such a moment of history gave us all a giddy charge that we were still talking about a week later. The ramifications of what was being discussed were fairly mind-boggling and still have to be dealt with in the national media. And the proximity of so many players, who made clear their commitment to open-ended analysis and argument, was the best demonstration anyone could want of how the United States really is a source of lasting hope in the world. We carry the experience with us—talk about it at dinner, over the newspaper—and use it as a benchmark for what passes for argument on the tube and in the magazines.
We cannot come close to saying it better.
—Fred L. Schultz, Editor-in-Chief