American newsource ABC.com has published an AP story about strange doings involving the doctoral dissertation of the far-right, Christian Nationalist/Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania. Doug Mastriano, a retired US Army officer, received a doctorate in history from the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, for a dissertation that has been criticized by other scholars for alleged weaknesses in its research into American military hero Alvin York.
A January 6th marcher, Mastriano secured the Republican nomination for governor of Pennsylvania with support from Donald Trump. His online biography credit him as the author of two books on American participation in the First World War, one based on the doctoral dissertation
The military history dissertation, oddly, has been embargoed from public circulation almost since it was written, but a member of the UNB faculty -- who says he was removed from Mastriano's doctoral committee after he identified weaknesses in it -- has now released the text to American media, according to the AP story.
The AP story reports that the University of New Brunswick declares Mastriano's credentials have not been impacted by a review undertaken after criticism of the dissertation arose. Most online news and commentary so far seems to be from American sources.
