NF Civil War Authors at the 2019 Mississippi Book Festival

Non-Fiction

7th Mississippi Infantry

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
Location
Southwest Mississippi
This weekend, the Mississippi Book Festival is being held at our State Capitol in Jackson.

It's like a large scale lawn party on the Capitol grounds, with various authors conducting book signings ect. about every imaginable subject in the current Mississippi Literary world.

Inside the capitol building, authors hold panel discussions about their works.
One session included Civil War writers.

The writers were all very interesting, and included:

Shelby Harriel, Behind the Rifle: Women Soldiers in Civil War Mississippi

John F. Marszalek, Hold On with a Bulldog Grip: A Short Study of Ulysses S. Grant

Ben Wynne, The Man Who Punched Jefferson Davis: The Political Life of Henry S. Foote, Southern Unionist

Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, Sisters and Rebels: A Struggle for the Soul of America



I thought some may enjoy the CSPAN 2 Book TV broadcast from today, which can viewed at this link:


 
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This weekend, the Mississippi Book Festival is being held at our State Capitol in Jackson.

It's like a large scale lawn party on the Capitol grounds, with various authors conducting book signings ect. about every imaginable subject in the current Mississippi Literary world.

Inside the capitol building, authors hold panel discussions about their works.
One session included Civil War writers.

The writers were all very interesting, and included:

Shelby Harriel, Behind the Rifle: Women Soldiers in Civil War Mississippi

John F. Marszalek, Hold On with a Bulldog Grip: A Short Study of Ulysses S. Grant

Ben Wynne, The Man Who Punched Jefferson Davis: The Political Life of Henry S. Foote, Southern Unionist

Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, Sisters and Rebels: A Struggle for the Soul of America



I thought some may enjoy the CSPAN 2 Book TV broadcast from today, which can viewed at this link:


Thank you so much @7th Mississippi Infantry for highlighting this event and providing a link to some of the discussion. The books you mention all sound very interesting, and I'm hoping to hear something about the Grant book in the broadcast, too. Great share!
 
I'm hoping to hear something about the Grant book in the broadcast, too.
You will indeed !

Most people are in shock when they find out that Grant's Presidential Library is at a Mississippi University.
Older thread:

 
You will indeed !

Most people are in shock when they find out that Grant's Presidential Library is at at Mississippi University.
Older thread:

I know I was shocked when I discovered that ... I imagined one of his hometowns, definitely not Mississippi. Not sure how Mississippians feel about it, but it's an excuse to come visit if nothing else :smile coffee: Appreciate you linking that thread as well.
 
I didn't see Grady in attendance?
 
Thank you so much @7th Mississippi Infantry for highlighting this event and providing a link to some of the discussion. The books you mention all sound very interesting, and I'm hoping to hear something about the Grant book in the broadcast, too. Great share!
Well, I have finished watching this discussion and there's quite a variety of authors with different stories to tell. My top picks would be the Grant book and Shelby Harriel's book on women soldiers. It seems the Grant book offers a differing connection to Grant's presence in Mississippi with a friendship that developed between his eldest son, Fred, and Stephen D. Lee who conducted Confederate forces there during the CW. If I am not mistaken, Forrest was under the command of Stephen D. Lee at one point.

Shelby's book would always be interesting to me as a woman, to know more about how women experienced the war in terms of making the decision to become combatants which we know was unusual at the time. She obviously has a real passion for the subject and I think the anonymity of these women due to the circumstances was one of the things she mentioned that really stood out for me.

I do have one gripe with the filming of the discussion which is that on two separate occasions when John Marzalek was speaking the camera focused on audience members who were clearly disengaged from the discussion while he was speaking. I didn't notice this happen with any of the other speakers.

Apart from that, I thought the moderator asked some great questions which led to some interesting answers.

Thanks again for the share.
 
I was there and enjoyed it. I was sitting in the back and had problems hearing some of the panelists though. The room echoes pretty bad. Forgot C-Span was filming. When I found out, I watched it on C-Span last night to see if I missed anything. Good gracious if the camera guy didn’t get a close up of me for a few seconds! Whoa!! All I can say is I was not picking my nose and I seemed to be paying attention. But Gees, felt like I was ambushed!!

But overall the festival is awesome. I’ve been every year (except first year) and it seems to grow with each. It’s incredible to see so many book lovers and authors in one place! It is A literary lawn party for sure!!
 
I do have one gripe with the filming of the discussion which is that on two separate occasions when John Marzalek was speaking the camera focused on audience members who were clearly disengaged from the discussion while he was speaking. I didn't notice this happen with any of the other speakers.

I agree.

To be blunt, the CSPAN network is not about exciting TV shows.
While very good at what they do, they are not filming events for entertainment value.

Their topics appeal more to the academic crowd than to the general public.

But I'm glad you enjoyed it !

I learned quite a bit about General Grant.
I had no idea the Grant & S D Lee families became close friends after the War.
 
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I did notice one gentleman who stood up and wanted to let John Marzalek know that his GG Grandfather was part of the surrendering army at Vicksburg, was paroled, and instead of going home went straight to Alabama to rejoin the Confederate army there. He said he was making this as a statement, and then went on to ask his question. I don't think Grant is the only one who had the 'bulldog' in him!
 
No. I was well behaved - thank goodness!! My momma raised me right I guess :bounce:
:laugh: She did good!

Guess I shouldn't blame the cameraman for someone's 'bad behaviour'. Seriously, pretty sure there was a request at the start for all phones to be switched off which is just a common courtesy. Apart from that, two women were discussing something from a pamphlet, which was probably a list of the other discussions going on that day. It sounds like a veritable smorgasbord of options for people to choose from to be honest.
 
I did notice one gentleman who stood up and wanted to let John Marzalek know that his GG Grandfather was part of the surrendering army at Vicksburg, was paroled, and instead of going home went straight to Alabama to rejoin the Confederate army there. He said he was making this as a statement, and then went on to ask his question. I don't think Grant is the only one who had the 'bulldog' in him!
Yeah. I inferred that he thought his grandfather lied to Grant about taking up arms against the North again. But, technically, the guy’s grandfather likely did not lie. The Confederates who surrendered just swore not to take up arms again until properly “exchanged.” I suspect that’s what the gentleman’s grandfather actually did. There was a big parole camp in Alabama. So there was probably no lying too it at all. But I get the “unreconstructed Rebel” sentiment behind the man’s statement.
 
It sounds like a veritable smorgasbord of options for people to choose from to be honest.

It is indeed! It’s impossible to see and hear all the authors and panels. Several occur at the same time. It always reminds me of the first day at college. You have your schedule in one hand and a map of the campus in another. You hurry to one panel held in some building down the street, gulping coffee along the way. You hustle to get a seat. It ends and you have about 15 minutes to skedaddle to another building down the street in hopes of finding a good seat. Then you repeat this all day long. It’s non-stop. But it’s fun for us book nerds!! Wouldn’t change a thing about it!
 
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