It’s been a long time coming, but today is the official release of * A Glorious Fate: The Life and Legacy of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw*.
You can purchase the book at Amazon, UNC Press, Barnes & Noble, and Indiebound.
The book has been shipping for the past few weeks and I really appreciate those of you who have shared your initial thoughts and your photographs of the book on social media. It’s always gratifying as an author to see something you produced in the hands of readers.
But you are more than a generic reader. This is my third book and like the previous two, it has benefited enormously from your support and encouragement and especially your feedback. So much of my thinking about the Crater, Black Confederates, and now Shaw were first shared on this site as sketches waiting to be fleshed out with your help.
I have never taken this community for granted and have always relied on it to help spur new thoughts and push me along to the finish line.
Thank you.
At the same time, this book arrives at a difficult point in my life. A Glorious Fate is dedicated to a dear friend and fellow historian, who passed away unexpectedly in the summer of 2024.
A few months later I lost my father unexpectedly. The time since then has largely been a blur and, at times, a struggle to maintain my footing. I have very little memory of even finishing this book and likely would not have been able to do so without the love and support of my mother, brother and especially my wife.
In short, my relationship with this book is overshadowed by the empty space that my father’s passing has left and, at times, I don’t mind admitting that I wish I could just move on to the next project and put it behind me.
Don’t get me wrong, I look forward to doing a bit of traveling to talk about Robert Gould Shaw. I’ve given two public talks over the past week and they’ve gone extremely well. I hope I have a chance to meet some of you in person over the next few months.
It’s complicated.
For now, I hope you enjoy the book. My hope is that it challenges some of your preconceptions about Robert Gould Shaw and the war that he struggled to find a place in and make sense of as it evolved in ways that few people could have anticipated.
