My Latest Book

I am pleased to share that my latest book, Remembering Virginia's Confederates, is in the final stages of editing and will be released to the public on January 11, 2010. It is also now available for pre-order on sites such as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. The book is part of a larger series with Arcadia Publishing that includes works on North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and Arkansas. My book is a 128 page, 200-plus captioned photograph volume that chronicles the wide range of Virginians who served the Confederate cause in military and/or political capacities during the Civil War (including those who served in the Confederate Navy). It highlights many of the high-ranking generals and politicians, but also provides a compelling sampling of junior officers and enlisted men. The book also touches on the important work of Southern women (the wives, daughters, and sisters of Confederate veterans) in preserving the memory of the Confederacy in the decades after the war. Overall, the book is meant to provide a non-biased, analytical look at what motivated these individuals to serve this particular cause.

The photographs for this book came from a variety of sources, including Virginia Military Institute, the Library of Congress, Gettysburg National Military Park, and from private collections. Staff from the Museum of the Confederacy also provided valuable guidance and consulting support for this project. Further, I am particularly grateful to my friend Col. J.E.B. Stuart IV (the great-grandson of famous Confederate Cavalry General J.E.B. Stuart) for writing the book's foreword. For more information on Remembering Virginia's Confederates, please visit Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com, or the Arcadia Publishing website.

An Interview with a Former CNU President

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Dr. James Windsor (shown here), who served as Christopher Newport University's president from 1970 to 1980. The interview was part of an assignment in one of my doctoral classes at William and Mary. I have had the privilege of working with Dr. Windsor before on other projects and am very fond of him and his wife. He is highly regarded at CNU and considered by many to be the university's "elder statesman". During Dr. Windsor's presidential tenure, he was instrumental in guiding Christopher Newport toward independence from William and Mary. CNU (then CNC) was until the mid-1970s a two-year division of W&M. Dr. Windsor and his allies in the community felt that it was important that Christopher Newport achieve independence as a full-functioning four-year public college in order to continue evolving and determine its own destiny. It took a great deal of work and determination, but CNU officially became independent in 1977, and is still Virginia's youngest public higher education institution.

Apart from Dr. Windsor's service at CNU, he has also had a distinguished career as a faculty member and college administrator. Joining Christopher Newport in 1962, he founded the psychology department as well as the student counseling center. He also served as Dean of Students and established summer and evening class programs. Prior to his work in higher education, he also served his country as a U.S. Marine during the Korean War. As a non-commissioned officer, he led anti-tank assault platoons and saw extensive combat while laying and removing mines and other explosives. Overall, Dr. Windsor serves as an excellent role model for those of us who serve in higher education. For more information on him and his service at CNU, please refer to my book, "Christopher Newport University" (2009, Arcadia Publishing).