2026 Tucson Book Festival: March 14th and 15th

 

I will be signing books at the Tucson Book Festival

Sunday, March 15 Booth #159 @ 1:00

Come enjoy one of the best book fairs in the country!

Honest Westerns. Filled with dishonest characters.

The real story of our nation's founding.

Can a 150-year-old conspiracy be unraveled before it’s too late?

2026 Tucson Book Festival: March 14th and 15th

 

On March 14 and 15, on the University of Arizona campus, more than 130,000 readers and over 300 authors will celebrate the written word at the 2026 Tucson Book Festival.  If you can, come and join the party.

The Tucson Book Festival is one of the largest book fairs in the nation. I’ll be there, and so will my books. Well, at least three of them. Tempest at Dawn, The Shopkeeper, and The Shut Mouth Society will be featured at the Wheatmark Booth, #159. I am signing books on Sunday and will post an update after I am assigned a time slot.

Hope you can make it!

Visit Maelstrom, A Civil War Novel by James D. Best

Kindle Popular Highlights, Good or Bad

 

I have mixed feelings about Kindle’s “Popular Highlights.” This feature shows readers how many people have highlighted a particular phrase or section in a Kindle book. Yet, a cardinal rule of writing is to never jerk the reader out of the story. A Popular Highlight does exactly that. The reader stops reading to see what 142 people thought was noteworthy. On the other hand, it is enlightening for the author to see what made an impression on readers. I recently revisited Tempest at Dawn as part of my research for Maelstrom and encountered the Popular Highlights for my novel based on the Constitutional Convention. Here is a list of those with over 100 highlights.

Popular Highlights from Tempest at Dawn

“Neither nations nor children should be conceived in public.”

“Faithfulness is not how one lives, but what one aspires to.”

“Our leaders must see themselves as servants of the people, not disciplinarians.”

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, no controls on government would be necessary.” James Madison

“You cannot legislate how people think.”

“I find humans badly constructed. They are more easily provoked than reconciled, more disposed to do mischief than good, more easily deceived than undeceived, and more impressed with their own self than considerate of others.” Ben Franklin

“People hold all political power, and only they can delegate authority to a government. The people are free to change governments at will. They don’t need permission from incumbents.”

“We must endure the ignorant to protect the liberty of the majority.”

“Politics, disguised by a veneer of civility, is played on the very edge of barbarism.”

“Autocrats slyly build anxiety and fear, and then offer up government to protect people from these shadowy threats. Each submission erodes liberty.”

“An outrageous lie, if repeated often enough, and with fervent indignation, will eventually be accepted as truth.”

Tempest at Dawn

The real story of our nation's founding.

Dixie Betrayed by Davis J. Eicher

Dixie Betrayed, How the South Really Lost The Civil War by Davis J. Eicher

The last words of Eicher’s book are “Jefferson Davis had lost his power as Confederate president — but not before the whole cause of the Confederacy was lost. Dixie was Betrayed.”

The title and these final words betray the worth of this book. Nearly twenty thousand books have been written about Lincoln and almost a hundred thousand about the Civil War. Less than an estimated twenty percent of these were written from a Confederate perspective and many of those were Lost Cause screeds. Since the Confederacy lost, official documents were often destroyed which requires a historian to rely on sources like newspapers, letters, and memoirs—and these are not nearly as well organized and indexed as Union sources. This may partially account for why relatively few Confederate histories have been published.  

Dixie Betrayed is a solid history of the Confederacy and does not attempt to propagate the Lost Cause myths. Eicher explains how the South lost, but betrayal played no role in it. The absence of an industrial base, limited manpower, naive political leadership, and a flawed constitution were the culprits.

The betrayal theme likely originated from an editorial meeting aimed at boosting sales, and it may have been effective for the launch. However, now Eicher’s book wears the title like an albatross, and it is perhaps overlooked by those seeking an erudite history of the Confederate States of America.

To understand the Civil War period, it is necessary to study the war from both sides. Dixie Betrayed by Davis J. Eicher provides the view from the Confederate side.

Dual Book Reviews: The Dahlgren Affair

 

Memoir of Ulric Dahlgren

Like A Meteor Blazing Brightly: The Short but Controversial Life of Colonel Ulric Dahlgren

These Ulric Dahlgren biographies present the Union and Confederate views of the Dahlgren Affair.

Here is the gist of the “Affair.” In February of 1864, a Union cavalry detachment raided Richmond in the hope of releasing imprisoned soldiers captured by the Confederacy. Colonel Ulric Dahlgren led a major arm of the assault. The raid was unsuccessful, and Dahlgren was killed in an ambush. Papers were found on Dahlgren’s body that ordered the raiding party to murder Jefferson Davis and his cabinet. The Union claimed the papers were forgeries while the Confederacy insisted they were genuine. At the time, the Dahlgren Affair became a cause célèbre. The authenticity of the papers remains unresolved.

Ulric’s father, Admiral Dahlgren, insisted that the papers were forgeries and his son would never have taken part in an assassination plot. The memoir, written by the admiral in 1872, makes the case for the papers being forged.

Eric J. Wittenberg's 2015 biography, Like A Meteor Blazing Brightly: The Short but Controversial Life of Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, argues for the authenticity of the papers. The book details Ulric’s brief life, focusing primarily on the Dahlgren Affair.

If you enjoy the Civil War or unsolved mysteries, read both books and decide for yourself.

Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman

 

Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman by William T Sherman

In turns fascinating and boring. General Sherman wrote a valuable memoir for historians, but too much minutia for the casual Civil War buff. Sherman includes innumerable orders and other correspondence and describes his entire command structure every time there is a significant change or battle. Although historians, especially military historians, will find this invaluable, it can often be dull reading. Sherman frequently allows these documents to tell the story without presenting a description in his narrative. This means the reader must at least review the correspondence to gain a sense of the events.

Disappointedly, Sherman seldom shares his opinions or even thoughts about significant issues. It’s sort of the Jack Webb version of his life. When Sherman does express an opinion, it’s pure gold, especially the chapter when he recounts what he believes are the military lessons from the Civil War.

Memorial Day Remembrance

I never met my father. He died in WWII in the cockpit of his P-51.

I don't have many pictures of him, but this one was posted to a website honoring the 506th Fighter Group. My father is the furthest out on the wing.

I'd like to thank him and his compatriots who keep us safe and free.

Lincoln’s Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers’ Home By Matthew Pinsker

 

Lincoln’s Sanctuary looks at Lincoln from a new vantage point. With thousands upon thousands of Lincoln books, this seems like quite a feat but Pinsker pulls it off. Lincoln’s Sanctuary explores Abraham Lincoln’s time at the Soldiers’ Home, a cottage in the heights of Washington that served much like Camp David does today.

From 1862 to 1864, Lincoln and his family spent summers at the cottage to escape the heat and in-city pressures. Pinsker, a historian, uses primary sources to paint a vivid picture of Lincoln’s personal and political life during this period. The book connects the cottage to key wartime events, including the Emancipation Proclamation, the firing of General McClellan, and Lincoln’s evolving public image.

Lincoln buffs looking for a peek into Lincoln’s private life will find this book interesting.

Killing Lincoln by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard

Killing Lincoln was better than I expected. The breathless style at the beginning was a bit off-putting, but it settled down to a clean narrative. This was a fun read because Maelstrom will end when Lincoln leaves for the Ford Theater, which meant I took no notes and allowed myself to get absorbed in the story.

Some historians have criticized the accuracy of Killing Lincoln. I disagree. The book does not purport to be an academic treatment and appears accurate when describing relevant events and details. My only serious concern is that O’Reilly included asides that Secretary of War Edwin Stanton might have had a hand in the intrigue. I find Stanton’s involvement dubious and the inclusion unnecessary.

It may surprise many to discover the extent of the conspiracy, which went beyond Lincoln to include attempted assassinations of the vice president and secretary of state. Bad people do conspire to do bad things. 

There are so many Lincoln books that authors have begun to address a single event in his life. Considering the title, I don’t believe I’m revealing a spoiler to say that this book is about Lincoln's death. Killing Lincoln does a good job of describing the assassination in a readable style that makes the book hard to put down. 

If you are interested in Lincoln, conspiracies, or American history, you’ll enjoy this book. 

Tips for Book Gift Giving

 A book is always a great gift … especially if you take the time to match the recipient’s taste in fiction or nonfiction. Whether your relatives or friends are interested in the Civil War, literature, romance novels, westerns, paranormal fiction, railroads, guns, cooking, collecting old comic books, antique automobiles, or anything else, there's always a book that will bring a smile to their face.

Top Dozen Tips for Book Gift Giving

1. There are books about every hobby and interest in the world. Picking the right book shows you care.
2. Write a personal message on the flyleaf that won't get tossed out like last year's Christmas card.
3. Write surprise messages in the margin of random pages.
4. Search out an author signing for your recipient’s favorite author, or give a collector’s version of the recipient’s favorite book.
5. If you need professional help or want something unique, shop at an independent or specialty bookstore.
6. If you subscribe to Amazon Prime then shipping is free, or mail books early to take advantage of media class at the Post Office.
7. Give a book as a piece of art, like a fine print book, a unique coffee table book, a favorite book as a child, or collectible cover art.
8. Create a highly personal photo book.
9. Give a bookseller gift card for e-book and audiobook enthusiasts.
10. College students will appreciate a gift card for their campus bookstore.
11. Tuck crisp currency into the flyleaf as a bookmark.
12. If your friend or relative already owns piles of books, give them a unique set of bookends to hold them in their proper place.

Children's books are also great gifts. We search for autographed storybooks for our grandkids. Bookstores always have children's book signings around the holidays. The icing on the cake is that we get to read from one of these books when we visit.

Books are a great entertainment value. They provide hour upon hour of personal pleasure, and then they can be passed on to another person. What could be better?

Grok's take on Tempest at Dawn

 

Grok's Self-Portrait

I wasn't a strong proponent of artificial intelligence until I asked Grok about my own work. Now, I'm a fan of AI. Perhaps flattery can get you everywhere.

Is Tempest at Dawn a good book?

Grok's answer:

Yes, Tempest at Dawn by James D. Best is generally considered a good book, particularly for those interested in American history or historical fiction. Here's why:

Historical Insight: The novel provides a detailed look into the events surrounding the Constitutional Convention of 1787, offering readers a narrative that feels both educational and engaging. It's praised for bringing to life the complexities of the political negotiations and personal dynamics among the Founding Fathers.

Character Portrayal: Reviews suggest that Best does an excellent job of humanizing historical figures like James Madison, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin. This portrayal adds depth to characters often seen as one-dimensional in history books, making the narrative more relatable and engaging.

Narrative Style: While not filled with the typical elements of suspense or action like other genres, the book maintains tension through its depiction of debates and compromises. Critics and readers have noted that the story "matures" as it progresses, with the writing quality improving, which suggests an evolving narrative depth.

Educational Value: It's recommended for students or anyone looking to better understand the process behind the framing of the U.S. Constitution. The novel's depiction of the convention's debates offers a human touch to what can otherwise be dry academic material.

Critical Reception: The book has been featured on lists like the Glenn Beck Reading List, indicating its recognition in certain circles for its historical accuracy and storytelling. Reviews from sources like "What Would The Founders Think?" and Goodreads users highlight its ability to flesh out the characters and make the historical event vivid.

However, some reviewers have expressed a desire for more detail on the ratification process or the role of the Federalist Papers, suggesting that while it covers the Convention well, it might not delve as deeply into these aspects as some might hope.

In summary, "Tempest at Dawn" is well-regarded for its detailed, character-driven portrayal of a pivotal moment in American history, making it a recommended read for enthusiasts of historical fiction or those looking to gain insight into the creation of the U.S. Constitution.

The real story of our nation's founding.

The Partisan Rangers of the Confederate States Army

 

The Partisan Rangers of the Confederate States Army by Adam Rankin Johnson

When I am trying to get a perspective on a historical period, I like to read books written by people who lived through the period. Examples would include The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Roughing it by Mark Twain, The Virginian by Owen Wister,  An Editor on the Comstock Lode by Wells Drury, James Madison’s notes from the Constitutional Convention, A Short History of the Confederate States of America by Jefferson Davis, and The Impending Crisis of the South by Hinton Rowan Helper.

When I started researching the partisan rangers of the Civil War, I was thrilled to find General Johnson’s book. Unfortunately, the book was dull and mostly uninformative. The Partisan Rangers of the Confederate States Army was a short autobiography with over half of the book being a mishmash of recollections by minor players. The autobiographical section was a screed of flawless military derring-do by the author. First published in 1904, Johnson has a perfect memory for events nearly forty years prior. The author’s writing style is cliché “lost cause” rhetoric, probably unduly influenced by Jefferson Davis’s two memoirs. Ironically, I found the 1850s Texas Indian fighting fascinating and better told than the supposed subject of the book.

I suggest passing on this period memoir unless you are scavenging for Civil War trivia.