Friday, May 29, 2009

ThisMightyScourge Interview

Earlier this evening I had the pleasure of being interviewed by my good friend, Mike Noirot, for his blog ThisMightyScourge. The focus was the new book by me and Steve Stanley, The Complete Gettysburg Guide, and it was an honor to be able to discuss the book with Mike. A month or so ago, when Mike offered to interview me for his very popular blog, I sent him electronic files of the book (since we didn't have any hard copies yet) to give him a chance to see it.

Mike's digitally-reproduced interviews are a very popular feature of his blog. Visitors to the site are able to hear these interviews, and because their presentation is much more personal and candid than a text-only interview, I believe readers will enjoy them very much. Mike is actually breaking ground with these interviews - the only similar presentation, for instance, are venues such as Civil War Talk Radio (on which I appeared a couple years ago). In these interviews, you get to hear authors and historians talk personally about their projects, and I predict that Mike's readership will grow enormously as these interviews become more and more popular.

I first met Mike a couple years ago in Gettysburg, through a mutual friend, Duane Siskey. Mike is a very dedicated student of the Civil War and history, and our interview discussion shows that he is a very well read Gettysburg scholar. He asked me really terrific questions about the book, and it was enjoyable talking about how the project began, and how co-author Steve Stanley and I worked through the process of making the book the way it is in its final form. And as I told Mike at the end of the interview, the first time I see someone using the book out on the Gettysburg battlefield, my heart will skip a beat and I'll know that all of our effort was more than worth it.

Mike expects to have the interview up on his blog by Monday, June 1. Please check it out and I hope listeners enjoy it as much as I did. It will give you a lot of background information and behind-the-scenes stuff about the book, and Steve and I are very grateful for Mike's support and appreciation for it. I was humbled when he said he couldn't wait to get back out on the battlefield with the book, and that's the nicest compliment that anyone can receive. Steve and I did this book for everyone from the newest visitor to the most informed student of Gettysburg, and we hope that everyone enjoys and learns from it.

Mike, thank you again for the interview and the great discussion!

5 comments:

  1. JD - Hope this comment finds you safely arrived at or returned from Gettysburg. GREAT interview with Mike on Mighty Scourge. The G'burg content was great but I really appreciated your comment about the discipline you gained from writing shorter pieces. I agree most wholeheartedly! While I've had the privilege of penning a few "feature" articles (2000-3000 words), most of my other writing - for N&S and for The Civil War News - has been shorter pieces (1000-1500 words) and I think that has helped me very much, indeed.

    Keep up the great work and you deserve a lot of success!

    Jim Schmidt

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  2. Hi JD
    Great interview on MightyScourge.Mike has a great web site.The interview only makes me want the books yesterday.I can',t wait.
    Regards
    Roy

    PS: Save me copies of your next books.Consider this an order

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  3. Thank you Jim and Roy - and the next Guide is the Maryland Campaign! Ted Alexander has already offered to write the Preface. We're getting cracking on it in the next couple of months...
    J.D.

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  4. Hi J.D.,

    I've been really busy lately and am just getting the opportunity to listen to the interview. I was actually struck by similarities between us that I never realized before --- both of our history interests started, not with the Civil War, but with cavalry "cowboys and indians" and John Wayne movies. One of these days we should do a road trip out west.

    Great jobs always,

    Jim Hessler
    Sickles at Gettysburg

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  5. Absolutely! I have yet to get to Little Big Horn (flew over the area once, but they wouldn't let me jump out to tour it). I'm up for it.

    J.D.

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