Michael Halleran

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!

I will be 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.

Event details here.

Video here.

Jim Tresner reviews Better Angels in the latest issue of Scottish Rite Journal.

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.

Like other 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.

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.

Thanks to Hugh Young at Canada’s Internet Lodge of Research for taking  notice of the book.

I will be speaking at the Spring 2010 Truman Lecture Series hosted by the Missouri Lodge of Research in Columbia, Missouri on May 22, 2010.

For registration information, check out the Missouri Lodge of Research website at http://www.momason.org/LOR/

The Kansas Grand Lodge session in 2010 will be held at the Ramada Inn in Topeka, and I’ll be there signing books on Friday, March 19, throughout the day.

I will also be appearing at the Lawrence Public Library on Tuesday, March 30 from 7.00 – 9.00 p.m. for a book signing and a short presentation.

The book is now in the final stages of production and advanced reviews are in:

“Tales of Masonic brothers helping each other, even across battle lines, have long been part of Civil War lore. Michael Halleran’s wonderful study reveals the history behind these mythical stories. He discovers a surprising number of these accounts, subjects them to careful analysis, and shows how much Masonic fraternity made a difference in the experiences of Civil War soldiers.”
– Steven C. Bullock, Ph.D., Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

“Michael Halleran has set a new, high standard for scholarship on Freemasonry in the Civil War. His stories are compelling, the research is impeccable, and his analysis gives fresh insights on the “mystic tie” of the fraternity.”
– S. Brent Morris, Ph.D., 33° Managing Editor, The Scottish Rite Journal.

“ The Better Angels of Our Nature accomplishes what few books about Freemasons are able to do: it explores the legends and long-told tall tales of the fraternity in an academic fashion, with both dispassionate analysis of the facts, and an obvious passion for the subject. Personal accounts from the Civil War have the effect of personalizing the experience, instead of being able to hold it at a polite distance, perhaps because it was the first war that had, not just commanders, but so many enlisted men educated enough to write letters and diaries. Along the way, Michael shatters several longstanding and cherished Masonic fables, but he reinforces and illuminates far more than he buries. The result is a strong affirmation of the bond between warring Masonic brethren, in the war that brought more of them together on opposing sides than any in our history.”
– Christopher L. Hodapp, Editor, The Journal of the Masonic Society.