Overland Park, KS Appearance This Saturday
I’ll be at Border’s Books, 93rd & Metcalf in Overland Park this Saturday from 1 – 3 p.m., signing copies of the book. Hope to see you there!
Reenactment @ Baldwin City, Kansas
I will b
e appearing at the 154th Anniversary of the Battle of Black Jack in Baldwin City, Kansas for a lecture and book signing. Arguably the first skirmish of the Civil War, the Battle of Black Jack (1856), focused the lens of national anxiety in antebellum America on Kansas when John Brown’s anti-slavery forces defeated Henry Pate and his pro-slavery guerrillas.
This will be a first class event with something of interest for everyone.
New Review in Scottish Rite Journal
Jim Tresner r
eviews Better Angels in the latest issue of Scottish Rite Journal.
Anson Jones Lecturer, Texas Lodge of Research
Perfect Union Lodge No. 10, located in the Scottish Rite Temple in San Antonio, will host the Texas Lodge of Research on June 18 – 19, 2010, and they have graciously invited me to be the 2010 Anson Jones lecturer. I will present a paper on aspects of Texas military Masonry 1861-65 and will have copies of Better Angels on hand for signing.
Founded in 1977, the Anson Jones lecture series has featured such Masonic scholars and luminaries as Alphonse Cerza, the late Forrest Haggard (a fellow Kansan), Brent Morris, Rex Hutchens, James Tresner, Robert G. Davis, Thomas Jackson, and many others. I’m honored to be included in such company and I am distinctly looking forward to the occasion. Hope to see you there.
Wichita, April 8 – Kansas Center for the Book event
Dinner and small talk with librarians from all over the state, the 2010 “Speed Dating with Kansas Authors” sponsored by the Kansas State Library’s Center for the Book, is the ultimate bibliophile’s dinner-date in Kansas, and I’m happy to report that I’ve received an invitation.
Held this year as part of the KLA Awards Banquet at the downtown Hyatt Hotel in Wichita on April 8, 2010 at 7.00 p.m., tickets are available at a cost of $25. For further information contact the Center for the Book at 800.432.3919.
Barnes/Noble Reviewer Critiques Better Angels
Like o
ther online booksellers, Barnes & Noble invites reviews by unaffiliated reviewers. One of Barnes & Noble’s reviewers has posted a new review of the book. You can check it out here. Scroll down.
Book Excerpt In this Month’s Scottish Rite Journal

The March/April 2010 issue of the Scottish Rite Journal includes an excerpt from the book – “The Rebellion Came on Like a Cyclone,” published with permission from the University of Alabama Press.
An on-line copy is available here.
Better Angels on Facebook
The FaceBook group for Better Angels now has 1,275 members! Pretty amazing to me. According to The Civil War Gazette – it is one of the larger Civil War groups on FB, and it seems to be growing exponentially. Thanks for plugging in.
Internet Lodge of Research – Canada
Thanks to Hugh Young at Canada’s Internet Lodge of Research for taking notice of the book.


