University of Louisiana -Monroe history professor compiles essays for book on 'Louisiana in the Civil War'

             University of Louisiana at Monroe history professor Terry L. Jones recently completed a four-year series of monthly columns titled “Louisiana in the Civil War,” commemorating the war’s sesquicentennial. Each essay focused on an event that had occurred during that month 150 years earlier and examined the role the state and its residents played in the war. The columns were published in the News-Star and Ouachita Citizens newspapers, Louisiana Road Trips and Piney Woods Journal and The New York Times published a number of the articles in its “Disunion” series.

            Jones has compiled these columns into a book titled “Louisiana in the Civil War: Essays for the Sesquicentennial,” available on Amazon.com. The book follows all four years of the war, spotlighting people such as the “Fighting Bishop,” Zouaves and the Louisiana Tigers, and events, such as the Red River Campaign and the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill.

            Jones has previously published seven books, including “The American Civil War,” a college-level textbook, and “The Louisiana Journey,” a middle school textbook, along with Civil War books by LSU Press. His “Lee’s Tigers: The Louisiana Infantry in the Army of Northern Virginia” was a History Book Club selection and recipient of the General L. Kemper Williams Prize for the best book on Louisiana history.

New releases

            University of Lafayette Press has published a compilation of essays by scholars titled “First Amendment Law in Louisiana,” edited by Williams R. Davie and T. Michael Maher.

Thomas J. Adams and Steve Striffler have edited a collection of essays on “Working in the Big Easy: The History and Politics of Labor in New Orleans,” published by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press. The book was a result of a 2011 conference jointly hosted by UNO and Tulane.

Jason Mott, whose debut novel “The Returned” was a New York Times best-seller and a TV series, has published “TheWonder of All Things,” centered around young Ava and her healing gift which becomes widely known after an plane accident. Suddenly people are flocking to her small town, looking for healing from “The Miracle Child,” but Ava grows weaker with each healing and she must decide how much she’s willing to give up in order to save the ones she loves most. 

Book sale

            The Friends of the Lafayette Library will hold its annual Fall Book Sale Wednesday through Saturday, Sept. 9-12, in the Heymann Convention Center Ballroom. On Wednesday, Friends members may enjoy a members-only night, followed by the public sale Thursday through Saturday. The hours are 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Book events

            Poet Errol Miller will discuss his various writings and publications at 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10, at the Ouachita Valley Branch Library. For more information, visit http://www.ouachita.lib.la.us/.

Cheré Dastugue Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She also writes Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire, “A Cajun Dream” and “The Letter.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.