Mary Kathryn Barbier received her Ph.D. from the University of Southern Mississippi in December 1998 a two-year postdoctoral fellowship from International Security Studies at Yale University. While at Yale, Barbier worked on two popular books. The first, "Kursk: the Greatest Tank Battle Ever Fought 1943," has also been published in five other languages. The second, "Strategy and Tactics: Infantry Warfare: The Theory and Practice of Infantry Combat in the 20th Century," was a collaborative effort with Andrew Wiest. In the summer of 2002, she attended a three-week seminar at West Point before starting an appointment at the University of Guelph, where she taught the US history survey and a War & Society course. Since accepting the position as an Assistant Professor at Mississippi State University, she has published numerous books and articles. Barbier has co-organized several regional conferences, one of which led to the publication of a collection of essays that she co-edited with Richard Damms, and has developed courses on the History of Grand Strategy and Intelligence Gathering. She also co-edited "America and the Vietnam War: Re-examining the Culture and History of a Generation” (2010) with Andrew Wiest and Glenn Robins. Barbier is currently engaged in several research projects, including “A Candle in the Wind: The Life of World War II Double Agent Lily Sergueiew,” which is related to a recent publication, “I Worked Alone: Diary of a Double Agent in World War II Europe” (2014). Prior to her promotion to professor, she published “Spies, Lies, and Citizenship: The Hunt for Nazi Criminals” (2014). A second book project – “Following Sinatra’s Lead: Determined Women Who Did It Their Way” – is in its early stages. In addition to her academic engagement, Barbier is involved in other professional endeavors. In January 2014, she assumed co-editor duties at War in History. She is also co-director of the Second World War Research Group – North America (SWWRG-NA), which hosts monthly virtual reading group sessions during the academic year in order to promote new Second World War scholarship, and co-series editor of a six-volume cultural history of war, which is slated for publication in 2024. Finally, Barbier is a member of the North American Society for Intelligence History (NASIH) board.  She was recently elected to a two-year term as vice-president, after which she will become president of the organization. Finally, Barbier is a member of the Society for Intelligence History, or SIH, (formerly the North American Society for Intelligence History or NASIH) board.

• Ph.D. University of Southern Mississippi, (History).
  Dissertation: "D-Day Deception: Operation Fortitude and the Normandy Invasion." December 1998.
• M.S.Loyola University, New Orleans, 1990 (Secondary Education).
• M.A.Louisiana State University, 1983 (American History).
• B.A.University of New Orleans, 1979 (History).

• Distinguished Visiting Professor, United States Air Force Academy, 2021-2022

• Professor, Mississippi State University, 2018

• Associate Professor, Mississippi State University, 2009-2018.

• Assistant Professor, Mississippi State University, 2003-2009.

• Assistant Professor, University of Guelph, 2002-2003.

• Guest Lecturer, The University of Southern Mississippi, 20 March 2002.

• Lecturer, Yale University, 2001-2002.

• World War II; the Normandy Invasion, Intelligence Gathering; 
• Twentieth Century American and British Military History; 
• Military figures who influenced the development of military Professionalism.

Books

• 

  Spies, Lies, and Citizenship: The Hunt for Nazi Criminals in America and Abroad. Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press, 2017.

• 

  I Work Alone: Diary of a Double Agent in World War II Europe. By Lily Sergueiew. Edited. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publishing, 2014.

• 

  Culture, Power, and Security: New Directions in the History of National and International Security. Newcastle upon Tyne, Co-edited with Richard Damms.Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012.

• 

  America and the Vietnam War. Routeledge. December, 2009.

• 

  D-Day Deception: Operation Fortitude and the Normandy Invasion. Wesport, CT: Praeger Security International. December, 2007. Paperback Ed. Stackpole Press, April 2009

• 

  America's Armed Forces: Army. A history of the US Army for fifth grade students.

• 

  Kursk: The Greatest Tank Battle Ever Fought 1943. Part of the Campaigns in World War II Series. St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Company, 2002. Also published as Die Schlacht im Kursk'er Bogen: Die Grosste Panzerschlacht der Geschichte. Slovenia: Zeitgeschichte, 2002.

• Strategy and Tactics: Infantry Warfare: The Theory and Practice of Infantry Combat in the 20th Century. Co-written with Andrew Wiest. St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Company, 2002.

Articles and Chapters of Books

• “Uncovering Secrets: Spies, Double Agents, and Codebreakers.” Chapter included in the Routledge History of the Second World War. Edited by Paul R. Bartrop. Routledge, 2021.

• “Making a Difference: Intelligence and Counterintelligence for D-Day.” Desperta Ferro Contemporánea, Issue No. 41 (July 1, 2020).
• "War in the West, 1943-1944. Chapter to be included in The Cambridge History of the Second World War: Tactics, Operation, Armed Forces. Edited by Professors Evan Mawdsley and John Ferris. Cambridge University Press. 2015.
• "Cold War, 1945-1990." Oxford Bibliographies Online (OBO) Military History Module. Ed. Dennis Showalter. New York. Oxford University Press, 2013.
• "Commemoration." Oxford Bibliographies Online (OBO) Military History Module. Ed. Dennis Showalter. New York. Oxford University Press, 2013.
• "'Clash of the Titans': Law vs. Deception in World War II Britain. In Arms and the Man: Military History Essays in Honor of Dennis Showalter. Edited by Michael S. Neiberg. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2011.
• Introduction: Vietnam in History and Memory. In America and the Vietnam War: Re-examining the Culture and History of a Generation. Co-edited with Professor Andrew Wiest and Associate Professor Glenn Robins. New York: Routledge Press, 2010.
• Deception and Planning of D-Day. Normandy 1944: Sixty Years On. Edited by John Buckley. London: Frank Cass Press, 2006. "Marshall and Montgomery: Promoters of Military Professionalism." Defence Studies Journal (8/3), September 2008: 369-380.
• "George C. Marshall and the 1940 Louisiana Maneuvers,"  Reprinted in the International Library of Essays in Military History: US 1865-Present, ed. Jeffery A. Charleston. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited. Publication date November 2006.
• "Deception and Planning of D-Day."Normandy 1944: Sixty Years On. London: Frank Cass Press, November 2005.
• "D-Day: Planning, High Command, and Deception." Everyone's War. 9 (Spring/Summer 2004): 29-34.
• "My Year Teaching at a Canadian University: A Clash of Academic Cultures." Academic Questions. 17:3 (Summer 2004): 63-76.
• "George C. Marshall and the 1940 Louisiana Maneuvers." Louisiana History, XLIV (Fall 2003): 389-410.
• "The 1940 Louisiana Maneuvers." Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South V (Fall & Winter 1994): 69-82 [Issued 1998].

Conference Presentations

• "Emil Kliemann, aka Ernest Killburg, von Kaerstaedt: Slick Operator of Incompetent Handler?" North American Society for Intelligence History (NASIH) Conference, July 2023.

"The Lost Lives of WASPS and the Preception of Pilot Error," Society for Military History (SMH) Conference, March 2023.

“Teaching Intelligence History during COVID: A Modified Approach.” Presented at the North American Society for Intelligence History virtual conference, July 2022.

•“No Risk Too Great: Lily Sergueiew and Photographing the Scuttled French Fleet.” Invited talk to the Rocky Mountain Military Affairs Society, Colorado Springs, January 2022.

•“’Fly Me to the Moon’: How the Fab Four Helped Forge a New Transatlantic Relationship.” Presented at the Transatlantic Studies Association virtual conference, July 2021.

•“Good Wartime Policy? Double Agents, a Deception Plan, and an Invasion.” Presented at the Society for Military History conference, Norfolk, VA, May 2021.

•“A Single Misstep with a Big Consequence.” Presented at the D-Day Story  Museum, public event, Portsmouth, England, July 2019.
• “The Best Laid Plans: The Perils of Implementing a Deception Plan.” Presented at the Normandy 75 Conference, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, England, July 2019.
• “We Can’t All Be James Bond: Spies, Double Agents, and the Normandy Invasion.” Presented on the Plenary Session: Second World War Intelligence Research Group: Intelligence and Operation Overlord, Normandy 75 Conference, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, England, July 2019.
• “The ‘Right’ of the Occupied vs the ‘Might’ of the Occupier: The Propaganda Message in WWII-era Movies.”  Presented at the Society for Military History Conference in Columbus, Ohio, May 2019.

• “New Beginnings: Crossing the Atlantic to Escape the Past.” Presented at the Transatlantic Studies Association (TSA) Conference in Dalonega, GA, July 2018.
• “From ‘Why We Fight’ to ‘Aventure Malgache’: Frank Capra, John Steinbeck, Alfred Hitchcock, and Propaganda Films.” Presented at the SWWRG Conference in London, England, June 2018.
• “Truth Will Out: OSI Investigations of Nazi War Criminals.” Invited paper. Presented at the Associations of Holocaust Organizations (AHO)  Conference in Mobile, AL, June 2018. 
• “The Peaceful Cold War: Freya Stark, the Brotherhood of Freedom, and Cairo, 1945-1954.” Presented at the Society for Military History Conference in Louisville, KY, April 2018.
• “East is West: Freya Stark and British Wartime Propaganda Activities in the Middle East.” Presented at the Second World War Research Group (SWWRG) Conference, London, June 2017.
• “Blind Justice? National Interest vs Rejection of Nazi War Criminals.”  Presented at the Society for Military History Conference, Jacksonville, FL, March/April 2017.
• “Spoils of War: German Scientists with Bloody Hands.” Presented at the Waging Peace Conference 2016, Dale Center for the Study of War & Society, University of Southern Mississippi, New Orleans, LA, 8-10 September 2016.
• ‘‘Risky Business: Challenging the Odds to Document History in Occupied France.” Presented at the 1940-1942: The Fulcrum of the Twentieth Century? SWWRG (Second World War Research Group)  Workshop, KCL, Defence Studies Department, 1 June 2016.
• “No Risk Too Great: Photographing the Scuttled French fleet.” Presented at the Society for Military History Annual Meeting, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 14-17 April 2016.

• “Quiet Neighbors, Secret Nazis: Exposing Nazi Collaborators in America.” Invited presentation. Second World War Research Group, Defence Studies Department, Joint Services Command and Staff College, Defence Academy, Shrivenham, England, 4 June 2015.

• “She Worked Alone: One Double Agent’s Struggles to Make a Difference.” Invited presentation. National World War II Museum, 4-6 December 2014.

• “Black Ops: Cloak, Dagger, and WWI Spy Films.” Presented at the Foreign Language Film Conference VII, University of Alabama, Birmingham, 30 October – 2 November 2014.
• “The Price of Resistance: Coerced Cooperation or Coerced Collaboration?” Presented at “1944: Seventy Years On” Conference, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, 14-17 April 2014.
• ‘Are They For Real?’: Women Who Take a Proactive Approach to War.” Presented at the Society for Military History Annual Conference, Kansas City, 3-6 April 2014.
• “The Two ‘Lilies’: Double Agent versus Resistance Fighter.” Presented at the Eighth Regional International Security/Internal Safety (IS/IS) Conference, New Orleans, 8-9 February 2014.
• "La Chatte, aka Victoire: The Mata Hari of World War II." Presented at the Seventh Annual Regional IS/IS (international Security/Internal Safety) Conference, 22-23 March 2013.
• "Code Name Victoire: Willing Collaborator or Coerced Resistance Fighter." Presented at the Society for Military History annual meeting. New Orleans, 14-17 March 2013.
• "War in the Shadows: Spies, Special Operations, and Intelligence in the Second World War." Organized panel accepted for inclusion in the 2013 Society for Military History program. New Orleans, 14-17 March 2013.
• "Soaring to New Heights, Plunging to New Depths: Operation Backfire and V-2 Rocket Scientists" Presented at the Southern Conference on British Studies, November 2012.
• "Arthur Rudolph: NASA Hero or Nazi Criminal?" Presented at the Sixth Regional International Security/Internal Safety (IS/IS) Conference, Northwestern State University of Louisiana, Natchitoches, LA, 23-24 March 2012.
• "'Clash of the Titans': Law vs. Deception in World War II Britain." Presented at the Society for Military History annual meeting, June 2011.
• "Operation Foxley: Is the Forceful Removal of a Political Leader during Wartime Legal?" Presented at the Southern Conference on British Studies, Charlotte, North Carolina, November 4-7, 2010.
• Commented on panel, "Science and Policy Making in Twentieth Century Britain," North American Conference on British Studies, Louisville, Kentucky, November 5-8, 2009.
• "Leadership and Grand Strategy." Presented at the Yale-Olin Reunion Conference, Yale University, October 2009.
• "Was She a Treasure? Lily Sergueiew, British Intelligence, and a Relationship Failure." Presented at the Society for Military History Annual Meeting. Murfreesboro, Tennessee. April 2-5, 2009.
• "Writing in the Humanities." Office of Research and Economic Development, Mississippi State University, Research Seminar Series, November 2008.
• "Operation Foxley: Can Reality Imitate Fiction?" Paper presented at the Obersalzberg Conference, July 29 – August 1, 2008.
• “From ‘The Quiet American’ to ‘Full Metal Jacket’: Vietnam in Film.” Paper presented at the Society for Military History Annual Meeting, Ogden, Utah, April 17-20, 2008.
• “‘Why Did We Fight?’: Propaganda and Motivation through Film.” Invited talk. Real to Reel: World War II in Film, Documentaries Newsreels Conference hosted by the National World War II Museum, New Orleans, April 10-12, 2008.
• "Spies, Lies, and Deception: British Intelligence and the Use of Double Agents during World War II." To be presented at the Southern Conference on British Studies annual meeting, November 2007.
• "Trouble in Paradise?: Anglo-American World War II Intelligence Cooperation." Presented at the Transatlantic Studies Association annual meeting, July 2007.
• "Playing in the Civilian s Backyard: War Games in Louisiana, May 1940," Presented at the Society for Military History annual meeting, April 2007.
• "Marshall and Montgomery: Promoters of Military Professionalism."  presented at the American Historical Association annual meeting, January 2007. Chaired panel entitled, POW Narratives as Military History,  Society for Military History Conference, May 2006.
• "When Is the Use of Military Force Acceptable Internationally?" Invited talk. Public policy conference organized by the Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs. August 2005.
• "George Catlett Marshall and Bernard Law Montgomery: Contributions to the Establishment of a Professional Military." Presented at the Society for Military History Conference, February 2005.
• "Deception and the Planning of D-Day." Presented at the Normandy 1944: Sixty Years On conference, University of Wolverhampton, England, July 2004.
• "Job Market Challenges." Presented at the Society for Military History Conference, May 2004.
• "British Double Agents and the Normandy Invasion." Presented at the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations conference, June 2003.
• "British Intelligence and the Use of Double Agents During World War II." Presented at the Society for Military History Conference, May 2003.
• "The D-Day Deception: A Reassessment of Operation Fortitude." Presented at the International Security Studies Colloquium, Yale University, April 2002.
• "George C. Marshall and the 1940 Louisiana Maneuvers." Presented at the Louisiana Historical Association Conference, March 2002.
• "Operation Fortitude and Normandy Reassessed." Presented at the New York Military Affairs Symposium, February 2001.
• "Allied Deception and the Invasion of Normandy." Presented at the "Recent Works in International History" conference, International Security Studies, Yale University, December 2000.
• "George C. Marshall and the Development of GHQ Maneuvers." Presented at the "World War II - a 60 Year Perspective" conference, Siena College, June 1999.

Reviews in the following

• Cercles
• H-Fiplo
• Global War Studies
• Michigan War Studies Review
• Journal of Cold War Studies
• Journal of Military History
• Military History of the West
• Military and Naval History Journal
• Southern Historian
• "No Simple Victory : A New Interpretation of World War II in Europe." A Review Essay, History: Reviews of New Books 37:2 (Winter 2009): 49-52.

• Vice-President, Society for Intelligence History, January 2023-December 2024
• Vice-President, International Council (IC), Second World War Research Group (SWWRG). Appointed to a five-year term in 2019.
• Co-Director, Second World War Research Group, North America (SWWRG, NA), 2017 - present
• Co-editor, War in History.
• HARP Research Fellow, Mississippi State University, January-December 2013.
• Editorial Board, War in History
• Standing Editorial Board, Oxford Bibliographies Online. Military History module.
• Dean's Eminent Scholar, Mississippi State University, Fall 2010
• HARP Research Fellow, Mississippi State University, July 1, 2008 – June 30, 2009.
• Center for International Security and Strategic Studies (CISS) Fellow, 2007 – present.
• William E. Parrish Outstanding History Faculty Award, Spring 2004.
• Smith Richardson Fellowship, International Security Studies, Yale University, Summer 2001.
• John M. Olin Postoctoral Fellowship, International Security Studies, Yale University, 2000-2002.
• William David McCain Fellowship, University of Southern Mississippi, 1997- 1998 (Dissertation fellowship).

World Civilization I & II; American Military History; American History I & II; Intelligence Gathering in the Twentieth Century; World War II and the Arts; The Impact of World War II on Women; War and Society; US History, 1917-1945; America's Viet Nam War; Twentieth Century American Military History.