NEW ORLEANS (press release) – “Building The National WWII Museum,” a new retrospective book by Museum Founding President & CEO Emeritus Gordon H. “Nick” Mueller, PhD, and research historian Kali Martin Schick will be released Oct. 6. Published by LSU Press, “Building The National WWII Museum” tells the story of the institution’s remarkable progress, taking readers on a decades-long journey from the early days as The National D-Day Museum to the unveiling of its final exhibit hall, Liberation Pavilion, on Nov. 3.
Founded by Mueller and his friend, fellow historian and best-selling author Stephen Ambrose, The National D-Day Museum first opened in 2000. By 2004, the Museum was designated by Congress as the United States’ official museum for World War II, initiating a massive expansion to tell the complete story of the American experience in the war. Mueller and Schick highlight the exhibits, grand openings, and numerous benefactors who helped bring The National WWII Museum to life. This beautiful hardcover book — with 192 pages of anecdotes, images and renderings, many never seen before by the public — not only showcases the Museum’s development as envisioned in the 2004 Master Plan but also documents its important and ongoing mission of celebrating the American spirit and the teamwork, optimism, courage, and sacrifice of the men and women who won World War II.
Mueller is the author of “Everything We Have: D-Day 6.6.44,” which recounts the Battle of Normandy based on eyewitness accounts, artifacts and documents from the Museum’s archives. Before turning to the museum world, Mueller enjoyed a career in higher education with a B.A. from Stetson University, M.A. and PhD from the University of North Carolina, and served as a professor of European history and vice chancellor at the University of New Orleans for 32 years.
Schick is a former research historian at The National WWII Museum. She earned a bachelor’s degree in international studies and German at the University of Miami, and a master’s degree in military and public history at the University of New Orleans.
Signed copies of “Building The National WWII Museum” are available for purchase through The National WWII Museum store.
