Suddenly [passed away] after a brief illness on Monday, June 11 at the age of 69. Michael was born in Madison, Wisconsin and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan. After receiving a Ph.D. from Northwestern University he moved to Vancouver in 1969 to take up a position in the History Department at Simon Fraser University where he taught until his retirement in 2008. He was renowned as a historian of the American Civil War, a bold and provocative scholar who challenged the academic status quo constantly and put forward new and illuminating interpretations in such books as Inside War: The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri During the American Civil War and In the Name of God and Country....