Authors Dave Powell and Frank Varney will be presenting and signing copies of their newly released books, The Chickamauga Campaign-Glory or the Grave: The Breakthrough, Union Collapse, and the Retreat to Chattanooga, Sept. 20-23, 1863 and General Grant and the Rewriting of History: How the Destruction of General William S. Rosecrans Influenced Our Understanding of the Civil War.
Author Dave Powell’s book signing is on Sept. 18 and 19 starting at 9:30 a.m. He will be giving a presentation on Sept.19 at 1 p.m. Author Frank Varney’s book signing is on Sept. 19 and 20, starting at 9:30 am. He will be giving a presentation on Sept. 20 at 1 p.m.
The events take place at the Chickamauga Chattanooga National Military Park (3370 Lafayette Road.
About Dave Powell and his book, The Chickamauga Campaign-Glory or the Grave:
David Powell’s The Chickamauga Campaign—Glory or the Grave: The Breakthrough, Union Collapse, and the Retreat to Chattanooga, Sept. 20-23, 1863 is the second volume in his magnificent projected three-volume study of this overlooked and largely misunderstood campaign. Mr. Powell’s magnum opus, complete with original maps, photos, and illustrations, is the culmination of many years of research and study, coupled with a complete understanding of the battlefield’s complex terrain system. For any student of the Civil War in general, or the Western Theater in particular, Powell’s trilogy is a must-read.
Mr. Powell is a 1983 graduate of the Virginia Military Institute with a B.A. in history. After graduating from VMI, he went to work for CBS Messenger—a family business in the Chicago area—but never lost his intense interest in military history, especially in the American Civil War. Mr. Powell has written numerous articles for a variety of magazines, more than 15 historical simulations of various battles, and regularly leads tours of the Chickamauga battlefield. His previous books include The Maps of Chickamauga: An Atlas of the Chickamauga Campaign, Including the Tullahoma Operations, June 22-Sept. 23, 1863 (2009), and Failure in the Saddle: Nathan Bedford Forrest, Joseph Wheeler, and the Confederate Cavalry in the Chickamauga Campaign (2010), the recipient of the Atlanta Civil War Round Table’s Richard B. Harwell Award.
About Frank Varney and his book, General Grant and the Rewriting of History:
In 1885, a former president of the United States published one of the most influential books ever written about the Civil War. An entire generation of Americans had eagerly awaited his memoirs and it has remained so popular that it has never gone out of print. Historians then and now have made extensive use of Grant’s recollections, which have shaped how we understand and evaluate not only the Union army’s triumphs and failures, but many of the war’s key participants. The Memoirs of Ulysses Simpson Grant may be a superbly written book, Dr. Varney persuasively
argues in General Grant and the Rewriting of History, but is so riddled with flaws as to be unreliable.
Dr. Varney earned his Ph.D. at Cornell University. He regularly leads student groups to Civil War battlefields and makes frequent speaking appearances before Civil War Roundtables and historical societies. Dr. Varney is currently developing a course to be taught onsite at Gettysburg, and will do the same for a course on Chickamauga. He teaches U.S. and classical history at Dickinson State University of North Dakota, where he is also the director of the Theodore Roosevelt Honors Leadership Program. This is his first book.