Watch Virtual Book Signing Dec. 5: The Maps of Chickamauga

One of the best things about the world of Lincoln enthusiasts is the neat people you meet. Among those I count as my friends is Daniel Weinberg of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago. Dan and his staff host Virtual Book Signing, a wonderful online program where they interview authors about their latest books.

If you've got time at noon Central Time today, Saturday, Dec. 5, log on to watch the interview with Dave Powell, author of The Maps of Chickamauga: An Atlas of the Chickamauga Campaign, Including the Tullahoma Operations, June 22 - September 23, 1863. Now that's a title!

Information on the Virtual Book Signing Web site says The Maps of Chickamauga is the third in a new series of campaign studies that take a different approach toward military history. The book explores this largely misunderstood battle through the use of 126 full-color maps, graphically illustrating the complex tangle of combat's ebb and flow that makes the titanic bloodshed of Chickamauga one of the most confusing actions of the American Civil War.

One of the really cool things about watching the book signing live is that you can submit questions for the author. I've done it before, and, when time allows, they really do answer them - right while you're watching. It's pretty neat. But, if you are just too busy holiday shopping or decorating to watch the book signing live today, don't despair. After a few days, the signings are archived. You can watch many past book signings with numerous Lincoln, presidential and Civil War authors.

Are you reading Lincoln?

Those of you who visit Lincoln Buff 2 regularly have noticed my recent absence from the blogosphere. I hope you all enjoyed my blog posts and tweets from Washington, D. C. and Gettysburg in November. I promised you more in depth accounts of the places I saw and the people I met. They're coming ... really.

Right now, I'm catching up on things I missed during my two-week Amazing Abe Adventure - things like raking leaves, going grocery shopping, paying bills and reading a book for which I've promised a book review. The leaves are raked, the pantry is stocked, this month's financial obligations are met. Just one major obligation remains to be fulfilled, and I'm about 50 pages from the end of the book. So, it won't be long and I'll be back.

In the meantime, are you reading Lincoln? In the sidebars to my blog, you'll find lots of suggestions of books by my favorite Lincoln authors and of blogs and research sites where you can read more about Lincoln or, in some cases, read his own words. So, don't set Lincoln aside in my absence. Keep on keepin' on with your own Amazing Abe Adventure in this bicentennial year. Remember, books are adventures, too.

Till next time....