It's OUT!!!

I am pleased to announce that Deeds Publishing has just released my new book: Broomsticks to battlefields. To paraphrase Al Nofi:


Bill Speer has done something interesting. He has used Robinett’s life to throw some light upon several aspects of the American experience and society in the mid-nineteenth century that have not yet been fully explored.
Unlike many who returned to civilian life after the war, Robinett pursued a career in the Regular Army. That career, however, was marred by increasingly erratic behavior that ended in his suicide just three years after the war - the result of complex psychological problems that are carefully discussed in the book. From Broomsticks to Battlefields gives us a little more insight into the extent to which the horrors of war affect the personality and reminds us that historians and psychologists have barely begun to study the question of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury among Civil War veterans.


If you are interested in purchasing a copy you can go to the Deeds website:  http://www.deedspublishing.com/  and place your order.  I am very interested in hearing what you have to say about this piece.

bs

New Title?

Al Nofi has a new title for my book with some modifications by me:

Broomsticks to Battlefields, being the True and Concise History of Henry Clay Robinett, Captain, USA, in the late Rebellion, with some comment on the social mores of mid-century Americans, the state of military education in the United States, and sundry other subjects, among which may be the First U.S. Infantry, General Ulysses Grant, the battle of Corinth, New Orleans, Freemasonry, Delaware Military Academy, with additional information on courts martial, and military suicide, with some supporting maps and details never before seen in print, published by Mr. Robert Babcock and Deeds Publishing, purveyor or fine offerings in military history.

What do you think?

I worked all day Sunday re-reading my draft. I am not quite done but getting there. Later this week, I will be mailing it to Al Nofi and Susannah Ural, both outstanding historians in the hopes that they can get me on the right track, presentation & style wise. Susannah works at Southern Miss. where she is an Associate Professor & Senior fellow @ the Center for the Study of War & Society. We met a about 4? years ago at a conference. Al, well I have known him quite a while. He is now retired from teaching but is not really retired (after all, what teacher can afford to do so?). He has his hands in many endeavors: writes for StrategyWorld.com, has numerous publications to his credit, back in the day he designed numerous wargames with Jim Dunnigan and others, he is also a defense consultant and, unless it has changed, currently works for the Navy. He helped my students in Texas on a few projects as well; most notably a trip to Bracketville, TX and the "John Wayne" Alamo where we worked on a project for the Institute of Texan Cultures. I will also be sending various excerpts to others including Tom Parson at the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center.

On the downhill side and hope to have the "final" draft for AMU by the end of Thanksgiving weekend.

Keep History Alive.

bs