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Next Meeting: Tuesday, April 11, 2021
The Executive Committee has decided that there will be no dinner meeting in May.
However, we will have an online meeting.
Subject: Andersonville
Presenter: Dr. Daniel Cudnik
Dr. Cudnik is a former member of our organization and, under the heading of “it’s an ill wind that blows no good”, our online meeting will allow us to share the evening with and listen to the presentation of our former colleague from his home far away.
Dr. Cudnik is a seasoned speaker at our group. In 1999, he presented Civil War Medicine; in 2001, The Constitution of the United States; in 2007 Medicine in the Civil War; and in 2011, Guerilla Warfare During the Civil War: the Kansas-Missouri Border.
Join us for another of his interesting talks.
- Canteen at 6:00 PM — Dinner at 6:45 PM
- Pine Ridge Country Club, 30601 Ridge Road (Ohio 84), Wickliffe, OH (1/2 mile west of Ohio 91)
- Cost $25.00 for an excellent family-style dinner and speaker. Cash bar.
- Reservations are required. Email Franco Sperrazzo at francomichael2414@yahoo.com.
Last Presentation
Subject: Field of Dreams
Presenter: Dwier Brown
I must admit I was a little concerned when Dwier Brown ended his formal presentation and threw the meeting open to questions after about a half hour. But Mr. Brown knows better, and the presentation proceeded in the directions his audience wanted to go. There was interest and questions enough to take the meeting well over an hour.
The talk went many places and covered a variety of interesting topics, but what stood out for me were the insights into movie making. Movies are like a duck on the water: everything flows smoothly and with no apparent effort, but there is a lot of work going on out of sight. What we realized through Mr. Brown’s stories was how much thought and effort goes into even a seemingly simple scene. For a brief, but important scene, the director wanted just the right evening light, so, if the light was right, everything stopped and the scene set up. By the time they got a few short takes, the light was gone, the setup was broken down, and they waited for the next good evening. It took about two weeks to film the scene.
This was just one of a number of fascinating stories and insights Mr. Brown gave us into his life and his experiences filming Field of Dreams and Gettysburg. Mr. Brown includes many of these stories in his book If You Build It which is available on his web site dwierbrown.com.
Schedule of Speakers for 2021
- January 12
- The Bixby Letter
- Presenter: Howard Taub
- February 9
- The Battle of Irish Bend
- Presenter: Paul Siedel, Secretary
- March 9
- ‘Pray for the Oblivion of his Memory’; Frederick Douglass on the Legacy of Robert E. Lee
- Presenter: Codie Eash
- April 13
- Field of Dreams
- Presenter: Dwier Brown
- May 11
- Andersonville
- Presenter: Dr. Daniel Cudnik
- September 7
- Presenter:
- October 12
- Presenter:
- November 9
- Presenter:
- December 14
- Presenter:
2020 Spring Outing – to be rescheduled
Lunchtime Series: Leaders and Legacies of the Civil War
These talks normally take place on the second Wednesday of the month, and may now be viewed online. Register at www.mentorpl.org and click on “Events”. Registration is required.
May’s presentation will take place on the second Wednesday, May 12, at 12 noon and is titled A Slave No More: Two Narratives of Emancipation.
In 2007, Pulitzer Prize winning historian David W. Blight published the personal accounts of two young men who found their way to freedom in the war-torn South. Their stories, apparently written just for their families, provide unusual insight into the strength, courage and persistence of men seeking futures in freedom. This presentation will review their narratives, and the lives they forged for themselves after the Civil War.
James A. Garfield National Historic Site Civil War Music Festival
The first Civil War Music Festival presented by the James A. Garfield National Historic Site was held in 2019 on Saturday, July 6. Several bands and performers presented era-appropriate music and discussed the role of music in the Civil War armies.
Themocracy
I came across your Civil War Round Table and thought you might be interested in a true story about an 82nd Ohio soldier told in the first person in dramatic form. The ebook is written with a discussion guide for Civil War Round Tables and you may want to check it out.
Hiram’s Honor: Reliving
Private Terman’s Civil War, ISBN 978-0615-27812-4.
Hiram’s Honor can be examined at http://www.amazon.com/Hirams-Honor-Reliving-Private-Termans/dp/0615278124/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239221935&sr=8-1
Ebook
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/50674
The unique thing about this book is that I assume the identity of my ancestor in all of his battles and prison misery. It was quite a challenge to match every detail that actually happened (dairies, letters, first-hand accounts) with a first person dramatized and riveting story of how I would have reacted in his situation. Best wishes in your work.
Greetings from Delafield, Wisconsin, Birthplace of Lt. Alonzo Cushing. Just a quick update on the Medal of Honor. Although it was widely reported that the Secretary of the Army had approved the nomination, the process is still ongoing. The Secretary of Defense has not yet made his recommendation. Additionally, the President would still have to sign off. I would be happy to keep you updated if the situation changes.
Best Regards
Dave Krueger
Delafield, WI
I’m very interested in your group. May non-members attend meetings?
Many thanks,
George Richards
George — yes, non-members may attend. Because we take the summer off, our next meeting is not until Sepetember 11. Closer to the meeting date, make a reservation (see above) and look me, Tom Horvath, up at the meeting. I’ll be glad to introduce you to some of our members. Meanwhile, you may be interested in the symposium being held at Lawnfield on July 13, also described above.
Hello NEOCWRT. My name is Jonathan Hennessey. I am author of a new Civil War nonfiction graphic novel from HarperCollins. I would like to let members of your group know I will be doing a reading from my book at 6 pm Thursday, August 8 at the Barnes & Noble bookstore on Medina Road in Akron.
THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS: A GRAPHIC ADAPTATION (www.graphicgettysburg.com) is a bold and innovative use of the comics medium. It uses the words from Lincoln’s iconic speech to tell the “whole story of the Civil War, 1776 – The Present.” I will be presenting a chapter of the book mostly examining the Confederacy’s legal case for secession, Lincoln’s counterargument, and how both the language of both the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence informed those two different positions. I will be projecting still and animated segments of the book on a movie screen.
Kirkus Reviews called the book, “Engaging, provocative and deftly nuanced. … This second collaboration by Hennessey and McConnell again finds them probing the implications of history through incisive analysis and compelling art.”
Library Journal hailed it as, “An excellent work. … Not a simplification but a detailed and nuanced analysis of Lincoln’s famous speech.”
Thank you for your consideration!
All best,
Jonathan Hennessey
Thanks for the invitation to speak at the CWRT again. My topic this year will be Confederate General William “Extra Billy” Smith: From Virginia’s Statehouse to Gettysburg Scapegoat.