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New book on the way
It’s been nearly five years since I first heard from Kirk Goolsby, a resident of Warrenton, Va. Kirk invited me to meet him at the Warrenton Cemetery to see what he believed was the tree from which Arthur Jordan was lynched. I accepted Kirk’s invitation, and now I trace a direct line from that visit…
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These are a few of my favorite things
Here are three things that this writer is happy about: The story about my book by Pam Kamphuis, editor of the Piedmont Virginian magazine. Pam asked me to write about Fauquier County’s reaction to publication of The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia. I did, and last week she posted that piece on the magazine’s website.…
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For me, fall will be for the book
I’m glad that my first book event this fall will be in Fauquier County, where The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia is set. The summer has been quiet, but I have scheduled seven appearances beginning in September. The first occurs just after Labor Day at the Philip Carter Winery in Fauquier. The winery is off…
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Two reviewers take the measure of my work
Two reviews of this book appeared recently, and both authors made similar observations: that The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia is instructive for its recounting of a long-ago lynching, but also for how it describes the lingering effects of that incident. As Mark Tooley wrote, the book is a “window into a time that seems…
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The sun is shining for me, despite the day-long rain
I am grateful to Margaret Sullivan and The Washington Post for the story about me in today’s paper. Sullivan is the media columnist, and her work usually appears in the Style section. When she called, she said my experience with The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia was not the type she usually writes about–her most recent columns…
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The university and the library: Two places I like
I remember how happy and proud I was when I found my name on the shelves at the University of Mary Washington bookstore in Fredericksburg. The year was 1993, and I had agreed to teach there. One of my responsibilities as a new adjunct was to tell the bookstore which texts I would use in…
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Have thumb drive, will travel
I expected to promote The Last Lynching in Northern Virginia after publication, but I didn’t realize that promotion would take the form that it has. I thought I would go to signings, sit behind a table, and talk to those who wanted to buy the book. I’ve done that and enjoy it very much. But I’m…
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A story of persistence is supposed to end this way
David Sam asked an interesting question last week: Is it persistence or delusion that compels a person to write a book and work tirelessly to get it published? I would answer persistence, and Sam would too. Persistence paid off for him. Sam is president of Germanna Community College, in the Fredericksburg area, and a published…
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How I published my book, in three easy steps
A University of Mary Washington student wrote me recently to say that he wouldn’t be able to attend the program that Germanna Community College is sponsoring next month on getting your first book published. Germanna invited me to be part of the program, and the student asked, “Could you lend me some of your advice…
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‘That’s W.W. Pearson.’
I realized later that I forgot to ask the lady her name. Perhaps I was distracted by the photos she pulled from her notebook during a recent book signing at the Culpeper County Library. She had two black-and-white pictures, one of a man in an overcoat and hat, and the other of the same man,…
Author & Lecturer
Jim Hall 