Washington post columnist and thriller writer and then the Pulitzer Prize winner last month and this month we are joined by jeff shaara military historical fiction author. Ranging from the American Revolution to the korean war and we will talk about all those in just a minute but we will start with a facebook comment that a viewer has posted on our facebook page. What exactly is historical fiction . Guest i have had this conversation with other authors it is an accurate historical setting but the people are totally made up thats a little different from what i do because i take you to these places with a lot of the real people with historical figures with names that you know like George Washington or Dwight Eisenhower were robert e. Lee it is fiction by definition because i put words in their mouth. My job is to tell you a story and not just do a textbook or names dates places facts and figures but to put you in the hands of the characters to tell you the story the way they would tell i
Weve got a great speech for our second session this morning. Dr. Timothy smith is a veteran of the National Parks service and currently teaches history at the university of tennessee. In addition to numerous articles and essays, he is the coeditor of 18 books, including Champion Hill, decisive battle of vicksburg, which won the Nonfiction Book award from the mississippi arts and letters. You can buy a copy in our bookstore. I am pleased to introduce dr. Timothy smith. [applause] thank you. Appreciate that. Appreciate the opportunity to be here. This is my first time to be here. I am a believer now. You have got a great place here. We are going to talk about the western theater here. Vicksburg, Champion Hill. How many of you have been to vicksburg . I figured that. A good number of you. Champion hill is one of those great battlefields, if you have been watching the news, listening to the American Battlefield trust, they are doing a lot of work there. The state of mississippi has just tu
Fixbering campaign. He discusses how the leadership contributed to a victory. This event was part of historical parks small battles big results symposium. Weve got a great speech for our second session this morning. Dr. Timothy r. Smith is a veteran of the park service and currently teaches history at the university of tennessee at martin. In addition to numerous articles and essays hes the author and editor and coeditor of 18 books including Champion Hill, the decisive battle of vicksburg. His book comes out this fall and actually is now out, and you can buy a copy of it out at our bookstore at battlefield center. So im pleased to introduce dr. Timothy smith. [ applause ] thank you. Appreciate that. Appreciate the opportunity to be here. Ive always heard about it and its my first time to be here. Ive always heard about it and how nice it was and im a believer now. I believe you. Youve got a great place here and appreciate the invitation to be here. Were going to talk about the western
Gettysburg College Annual summer conference. It is my pleasure this afternoon to introduce earl hess. Earl is the stuart w. Mcclelland chair in history at Lincoln Memorial university in tennessee. He is the author of more than 20 books. I have a long list here. Actually, one of my favorite books of earls. One of earls books i read in graduate school and is one of the finest and one of the very first books to explore soldier motivation and ideology. It is an outstanding book. But he has done any others that include pickets charge, a book on field fortifications. A book on Braxton Bragg as well. A lot of people dont love Braxton Bragg. Im not sure you will love him after you read earls book, but it is a fair and well researched, deeply analytical look at that controversial general. Earl has won a number of awards, including the tom watson price for his book on civil war tactics, something he will be speaking about today. And i should note, this book fighting for atlanta, is published by
Annual summer conference. It is my pleasure this afternoon to introduce earl hess. Earl is the stuart w. Mcclelland chair in history at Lincoln Memorial university in tennessee. He is the author of more than 20 books. I have a long list here. Actually, one of my favorite. Ooks of earls books i read in graduate school and is one of the finest and one of the very first books to explore soldier motivation and ideology. It is an outstanding book. But he has done any others that include pickets charge, a book on field fortifications. A book on Braxton Bragg as well. A lot of people dont love Braxton Bragg. Im not sure you will love him after you read earls book, but it is a fair and well researched, deeply analytical look. A number of awards, including the tom watson price for his books on civil war tactics, something he will be speaking about today. And i should note, this book fighting for atlanta, is published by the university of North Carolina press. That will be his topic. Let me welc