Author Description

Changes Amidships chronicles over sixty years of change at the historically conservative United States Naval Academy. The book speaks not just to alumni who seek a respectful yet unvarnished look at the Academy’s past, but it also tells, through informed eyes, what the much improved Academy has become. Comparing Jack Lynch’s observations of the experiences of the class of 1960 with Robert Leam’s observations of what his class of 2020 went through, the book covers a range of topics from academics, to life in the nation’s largest dormitory, to the diverse student experiences on summer deployments. Most of all, the book explores whether the school’s essence has changed as it strives to serve a considerably changed nation. In writing the book, Jack and Robert realized that the changes in the ethnic and gender make-up of student body demography were profound and important. More than that, they were best discussed by members of the new cohorts. So Robert recruited a diverse group of friends to contribute “tell it like it is” narratives from their perspective. All in all, Changes Amidships is a well presented and enjoyable tale of lives lived in one of our country’s deservedly treasured institutions.