Michael Gannon (historian)

Michael V. Gannon (born 1928) is an American military historian, academic and former war correspondent. He was born in Oklahoma and attended high school in St. Augustine, Florida. He has spent most of his career in Florida.

During World War II, Gannon was a member of the American Field Service, in the 1950s he wrote on European military topics. Gannon later studied theology at the University of Louvain in Belgium and became a priest in 1959. He received his PhD in history from the University of Florida in 1962. In 1968, he was a war correspondent in Vietnam for the Catholic magazine America. He taught at the University of Florida since 1974 with a teaching career spanning 38 years. He taught about the history of World War II, and became Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of History.

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 GS U-123 (1940) in January 1942 under Reinhard Hardegen 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 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.

Publications
Gannon's published works include:
 * Pearl Harbor Betrayed
 * 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
 * Rebel Bishop: Augustin Verot, Florida's Civil War Prelate
 * Florida's Menendez: Captain General of the Ocean Sea