John A. Lynn II earned his Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles. He is the author of Bayonets of the Republic: Tactics and Motivation in the Army of Revolutionary France, 1791-94 (1984); Giant of the Grand Siecle: The French Army, 1610-1715 (1997); The Wars of Louis XIV, 1667-1714 (1999); The French Wars 1667-1714: The Sun King at War (2002); and Battle: A History of Combat and Culture (2003 and 2004). He has edited The Tools of War: Ideas, Instruments, and Institutions of Warfare, 1445-1871 (1990) and Feeding Mars: Logistics in Western Warfare from the Middle Ages to the Present (1993). He has also published eighty chapters, articles, and papers. He has served as president of the United States Commission on Military History and as vice-president of the Society for Military History. In addition he has been awarded the Palmes Academiques at the rank of chevalier from the French government and the Wissam al Alaoui at the rank of commander from his Majesty, King Mohammed VI of Morocco.