The official publication date is still two weeks away, but the excitement is certainly building with news that * A Glorious Fate: The Life and Legacy of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw* is shipping to those of you who have pre-ordered. Thanks to all of you for doing so as it makes a big difference to rankings on Amazon and elsewhere and it will certainly help signal to the publisher whether a second printing is likely.
I really appreciate your sharing pics of the book in hand. It’s nice to see the book in the wild after all these years.
Today I chatted with my good friend, John Heckman, (aka the Tattooed Historian) about the book. John does a fantastic job with these interviews. We talked about working together to record more podcasts in the future.
John’s viewers were able to take advantage of a special 30% discount when ordering the book directly through UNC Press. Use the code 01UNCP30 at checkout.
You can order signed copies of the book through the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago. I will be doing a live chat on September 30 with Bjorn Skaptason, but you can reserve your copy today.
Next week I head to my former home of Charlottesville, Virginia, where I will deliver the annual Crozier lecture at the University of Virginia. I am looking forward to catching up with some really good friends and colleagues and spending the time talking all things Civil War.
It’s still a ways away, but for those of you in the DC area I wanted to share information about my book talk and book signing at Ford’s Theater on November 6 at 7pm along with a walking tour of Civil War monuments the following morning, which will end at the National Gallery of Art to explore their replica of the Robert Gould Shaw/54th Massachusetts Memorial. This will be a great chance for me to meet some of you who live in the area. This promises to be a fun weekend.
You can find all my upcoming appearances at my personal website. Please feel free to contact me to set up an event in your community.
Many of you know that I am in the beginning stages of what I hope will be a groundbreaking book about the Gettysburg Campaign as told from the perspective of the thousands of enslaved laborers in the Confederate army. I’ve never been more excited about a project. I hope to be able to make a major announcement about it in the very near future. For now, I am planning research trips to various archives.
I could really use your support. As I’ve shared many times before, I am an independent historian working with zero institutional support. One of the ways I’ve been able to do this work, including researching and writing the Shaw book, is through paid subscriptions. If you have any inclination to upgrade and support my work on this site, now is the time. Please know that it will go far in helping me to complete this next book.
You can also throw a couple bucks into my Venmo account. You can find me @Kevin-Levin-37. Thank you very much.
I am completely immersed in Megan Marshall’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Margaret Fuller. Her name emerged a few times as a close correspondent of Robert Gould Shaw’s mother. Fuller was one of the most outspoken women of the first half of the nineteenth century, writing about a wide range of topics concerning women, education and a host of reform movements. She interacted and befriended some of the most prominent intellectuals among the transcendentalists. Truly a remarkable young woman.
Unfortunately, Fuller died much too young in a shipwreck of Fire Island. This is a beautifully written book, easily one of the best biographies that I have ever read.
Tim Smith is one of our most prolific Civil War historians of military operations in the western theater. This extended interview touches on the many subjects that Smith has written on over the years.
Let me know what you’ve been reading and watching in the comments below.
