John Prados


John Frederick Prados was an American author, historian, and wargame designer who specialized in the history of World War II, the Vietnam War, and current international relations.

Early life and education

Prados was born in Queens, New York on January 9, 1951. His father, Jose Prados-Herrero, moved the family to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where John graduated from high school. He returned to New York to attend university, and received a B.A., an M.A. in 1975 and a Ph.D. from Columbia University, all in political science with an emphasis on international relations. His doctoral thesis about the successes and failures of American intelligence assessments of Soviet military power, "The Soviet Estimate: U.S. Intelligence Analysis and Soviet Strategic Forces," became his first book.

Scholarly career

After graduation, Prados became an independent scholar who used the 1967 Freedom of Information Act to access government documents. This often required carefully perusing boxes of documents to find nuggets of essential information. Prados's ability to ferret out revelations that were sometimes an embarrassment to the American government was noted by one official, who predicted in 2011 that if the government redacted the Pentagon Papers, Prados would "likely scope out the 'declassified' page very quickly" and "parade this discovery like a politician on the 4th of July." The Washington Post noted that Prados's books "broadened and sometimes challenged the known history of World War II, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and the CIA." He told The New York Times in 1993 that his devotion to this work was because "the American people not only have a need but a right to know their history."
Prados collaborated with the National Security Archive for many years as an independent scholar, then joined as a senior fellow in 1997, where he led its Intelligence Documentation Project and its Vietnam Project.
Prados wrote over 20 books, as well as articles and book reviews for Vanity Fair, Scientific American, Naval History, the Journal of American History, Diplomatic History, Intelligence and National Security, Naval Institute Proceedings, The Journal of National Security Law & Policy, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the Journal of East-West Studies, Survival, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe.

Wargame designer

During high school, Prados started to play board wargames, and while at university, he expressed his interest in World War II and the Vietnam War by designing wargames. His first, in 1972, a collaboration with Jim Dunnigan titled Year of the Rat: Vietnam, 1972, was a simulation of the Easter Offensive in Vietnam that had happened only weeks before. His second game, Rise and Decline of the Third Reich, earned him critical acclaim, with reviewers calling it "an innovative and challenging game which allows a player to experience the complexity of events in a total war" and "a refreshing change from the sometimes hackneyed design features of many modern wargames." Third Reich won the "Charlie"—the Charles S. Roberts Award—for "Best Professional Game of 1974" and also became the focus of Chilean author Roberto Bolaño's novel El Tercer Reich. Prados designed another eleven games while at university, and two of them were finalists for a "Charlie"; Von Manstein: Battles for the Ukraine and Spies!
Prados continued to design wargames for the rest of his life; the final one, Monty's D-Day, was published the year before his death. Of the more than twenty wargames created after university, ten were nominated for a "Charlie", and three of those were winners: Khe Sahn, 1968, Fortress Berlin, and Beyond Waterloo. Prados was also awarded a "Robbie" for "Best Game Review or Game Analysis of 2007" for his article "The Evolution of Cards and Wargames" that appeared in Issue 19 of Against the Odds.
As reported in the Washington Post, Prados's purpose in designing wargames was not to breed militarism, but to reveal "the difficulty of conducting war" as well as its "horrendous costs." An active member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, he combined, according to his partner Ellen Pinzur, "an avid enjoyment of wargaming" with "a loathing of war itself."

Personal life and death

In 2000 Ellen Pinzur moved from Boston to Silver Spring, Maryland to live with Prados; they remained a couple until his death from cancer on November 29, 2022, at age 71. He is survived by his partner, his daughters, his brother, Joe, and his sister Mary.

Literary awards

Combined Fleet Decoded was named by New York Military Affairs Symposium as the recipient of The Arthur Goodzeit Book Award in 1995. Combined Fleet Decoded was also named a Notable Naval Book of the Year by the United States Naval Institute.
Valley of Decision: The Siege of Khe Sanh written with Ray W. Stubbe was named "Notable Naval Book of the Year" by the United States Naval Institute in 1991.

Charles S. Robert Awards

List of Charles S. Robert Awards for excellence in historical wargaming:
  • "Best Professional Game of 1974": Rise and Decline of the Third Reich
  • "Best Post–World War Two or Modern Game of 2002": Khe Sahn, 1968
  • "Best Magazine Game of 2004": Fortress Berlin
  • "Best Game Review or Game Analysis of 2007": "The Evolution of Cards and Wargames" in Against the Odds #19
  • "Best Magazine Game of 2012": ''Beyond Waterloo''

    Selected works

Books

The following are the board wargames designed by John Prados.