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!