Albert Nofi Albert A . Nofi ( born January 6 , 1944 ) , is an American military historian , defense analyst , and designer of board and computer wargaming systems . A native of Brooklyn , he attended New York City public schools , graduating from the Boys ' High School ( now Boys and Girls High School ) in 1961 . Nofi attended Fordham University , earning a bachelor ' s ( 1965 ) and a master ' s ( 1967 ) , and then received a Ph . D . in Military History from the City University of New York ( 1991 ) . From 1965 through 1995 , Nofi was a teacher and later administrator in the New York City public schools . Working primariliy in alternative programs , such as the Harlem Preparatory School , Park East High School , and Unity High School at the Door , he retired as an assistant principal in 1995 . During this period he also built a parallel career as an independent historian , defense analyst , and wargame designer , working primarily with James F . Dunnigan , Redmond A . Simonsen , and David C . Isby at Simulations Publications ( SPI ) . As research director for SPI and associate editor of the military historical simulations journal Strategy and Tactics for over a decade ( 1969 – 1982 ) , he produced numerous articles and a number of wargames . In addition to work for SPI , Nofi has authored , co - authored , or edited over 30 books on a wide variety of topics . Among his collaborators are Dunnigan , Bela Kiraly , Richard L . DiNardo , Kathleen Broome Williams , and others . In 1999 Nofi became a research analyst with the Center for Naval Analyses ( CNA ) , in Alexandria , Virginia , where he worked with game theorist Peter P . Perla . Nofi was the CNA field representative to the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group , in Newport , Rhode Island , from 2001 until mid - 2005 , before returning to CNA . While at CNA he wrote " Recent Trends in Thinking About Warfare " and several other analytical papers . He retired from CNA at the end of 2006 . Nofi has lectured at the University of Paris - Sorbonne , the Smithsonian Institution , the Library and Archives Canada , the Admiral Nimitz State Historic Site , home of the National Museum of the Pacific War , the Air War College , the Command and Staff College of the Marine Corps University , a number of other colleges and universities , and numerous Civil War Round Tables and local historical societies . For many years an Associate Fellow of the U . S . Civil War Center , a Director of the New York Military Affairs Symposium New York Military Affairs Symposium since its formation , a member of the Society for Military History and a number of other military and historical societies , Nofi is also a founding member of the American Italian Historical Association From 1997 to 2013 , Nofi contributed a regular column to " North & South " magazine . In 1998 , he became a contributing editor to " StrategyPage " , for which he writes a regular column . In 2011 Nofi ' s book " To Train the Fleet for War : The U . S . Navy ' s Fleet Problems , 1923 - 1940 " ( see review ) was awarded the John Lyman Book Award in Navy History by the North American Society for Oceanic History and given " Honorable Mention " by The New York Chapter of the Navy League of the United States for its Theodore and Franklin D . Roosevelt Prize in Naval History . Select bibliography . In Collaboration with Jim Dunnigan : Other collaborations