Civil War-Era Authors at the Gaithersburg Book Festival

I was lucky enough to moderate a great panel of Civil War authors at Gaithersburg’s Fourth Annual Book Festival. Charles Mauro spoke about his book, The Civil War in Fairfax County: Civilians and Soldiers, and was kind enough to provide a thoughtful answer to my question “If you had to choose between doing historical research and eating pie that didn’t make you gain an ounce, which would you choose?” John Muller, who wrote Frederick Douglass in Washington, D.C.: The Lion of Anacostia, told a funny story about going to the Library of Congress and asking them for everything they had on Frederick Douglass. He didn’t describe the volume of resultant laughter, but I imagine it echoed along those hallowed halls.

Needless to say, the panelists were passionate about historical research. The New York Times tells me research rapture is a condition. I consider myself one of the happily afflicted, and it seems Mauro and Muller might also be true devotees.