Today’s prompt is….authors I’ve met! Well, this will be a short list. but first, a Teaser Tuesday!

On the morning of the first trip to school, it was icy, which meant a fast ride but a cold one. Coolidge and his father climbed into the sleigh while it was still dark. A calf happened to ride with them, going to market in Boston; John admonished his son that the animal would reach the great city now, but the boy would have to wait for years to be ready. COOLIDGE.

(1)  Tom Woods, sort of.   I mean, I’ve seen him in person and I’ve talked to him on Zoom, so by those powers combined….I have met Tom Woods?   Tom Woods is an historian, libertarian advocate, and podcaster who I’ve been listening to since 2013-2014.   I’m not sure how I found him, but his show is so varied (history, politics,  literature, etc) that he’s been a long habit. In 2015 I attended a Young Americans for Liberty conference (back when I qualified as young) where he spoke, and later I became a Supporting Listener of his show, so I get invited to monthly zoom chats and such. I’ve read most of Woods’ books, from Real Dissent to Diary of a Psychosis.  

(2)  Rod Dreher. Dreher is unique in that I’ve met him on multiple occasions,   first at a book launch event for Paul Kingsnorth, and then for the first public airing of a series based on his book, “Live Not by Lies”.  Dreher is a journalist, author, and substacker who has written for a variety of American and European institutions; his books focus heavily on meaning, religion, and culture. 

(3) Paul Kingsnorth. I hadn’t actually read much of Kingsnorth beyond his preface to The World Ending Fire, a collection of Wendell Berry Essays, when I met him. I soon remedied that, though: I’ve since read all of his nonfiction.

(4) Wayne Flynt.  Flynt is an Alabama historian who has visited my library numerous times; my favorite work of his is Poor but Proud, on Alabama’s poor whites. 

(5) Jason M. Baxter. Author of The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis, I met him at the same Dreher-Kingsnorth event  and later read his book.

(6) Mike Bunn. Author of numerous works about the colonial Gulf, including Early Alabama and The Fourteenth Colony. Fun fact: I met him before I knew I’d read his books, because his name hadn’t registered in my memory. I arrived at an event he was doing in town (associated with America @ 250) and said “Huh, I’ve read some of the books on his table!” He does boat tours of the Mobile-Tenesaw delta, including one to a large Mississippi-culture mound, so I may see him again in future. 

(7) John Sledge, author of The Mobile River, Cities of Silence, etc. He visited the library for research and later did an author event here.

(8) Chuck Fager, author of Selma 1965.   I didn’t get to pester him with questions, but he spent a lot of time researching in the library when he was working on a third edition of his book, and we talked a bit.

(9) Susan Besser, author of Selma: An Architectural Field Guide.  I helped with fact-checking for her, and later met her when she did an author event. She also makes jewelry and gave me a necklace to give to my girlfriend! 

(10) Al Benn, author of Reporter. I didn’t know Al was an author when we met; he was just a guy at the church breakfast table with a lot of stories and a manner that some describe as ‘direct’ and others ‘abrasive’. He had worked as a reporter since the end of the Korean War, and loved talking about his adventures or misadventures. He was also a huge cinephile and would often have me over to his house to watch movies with him and his wife.

(11) I attempted to meet Frederica Mathews-Green at the Kingsnorth-Dreher event by hanging around the coffee urns. (I think I managed a hello at one point, but not an actual conversation.)

(12) I literally sat behind James Howard Kunstler eating breakfast but hadn’t  attended a lecture he’d give that night, so  I didn’t know who he was. Manalive, if I could go back –

Okay, that list wasn’t as short as I thought, and frankly more names are popping up as I sit here and reflect on how many authors have come to the library for research!