Upcoming author events at World War II Museum

The National World War II Museum in New Orleans presents two author presentations on Japanese Internment and D-Day, both to be held in the Louisiana Pavilion and both free and open to the public.

Duncan Ryuken Williams presents "American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War" at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, 2019. The event begins with a 5 p.m. reception and there will be a book signing at 7 p.m.

Alex Kershaw presents "The First Wave: The D-Day Warriors Who Led the Way to Victory in World War II" at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 16, 2019, also preceded by a 5 p.m. reception with a book signing following at 7 p.m.

For more information, call (504) 528-1944, Ext. 412. Both presentations can be viewed at Livestream.com at Ryuken Williams and Alex Kershaw.

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes Louisiana romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "Emilie," book one of The Cajun Series, "Ticket to Paradise," book one of The Cajun Embassy series and "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.

The week brings anniversaries, new books on each

On Dec. 6, 1917, train dispatcher Vincent Coleman witnessed two ships colliding in Halifax, Nova Scotia, harbor. One of those ships was the French freighter Mont-Blanc loaded down with 3,000 tons of explosives, heading to Europe to assist the Allies in World War I. Coleman sent a telegraph: “Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbor…will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye boys.”

The Belgium relief ship struck the Mont-Blanc’s bow and a fire ensued. As people on shore watched the ship burn, an explosion did occur, leveling 2.5 square miles of Halifax and killing 2,000 people and wounding 9,000 within one-fifteenth of a second. It became the largest man-made detonation prior to the atomic bomb and one of North America’s worst human disasters.

Wednesday marks the 100th anniversary of the Halifax Explosion and New York Times bestselling author John U. Bacon relives the horrific day and its aftermath in “The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism.” The book details the explosion, followed by rescue efforts and Boston’s contribution of medical supplies, money and personnel. Bacon also relates Halifax’s resilience, how the event brought the two countries closer and how Robert Oppenheimer studied the explosion for developing the atomic bomb.

War stories

Thursday also marks the 76th anniversary of the bombing by the Japanese of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Louisiana author-historian Ronald J. Drez insists there were signs leading up to the surprise attack. He details through memoirs, documents and testimonies how Gen. Billy Mitchell foresaw the clash of the United States with Japan 28 years before Pearl Harbor in “Predicting Pearl Harbor: Billy Mitchell and the Path to War,” published by Pelican Publishing of New Orleans.

Liza Mundy, a staff writer at the Washington Post and the bestselling author of “Michelle: A Biography” and “Everything Conceivable,” among other works, will visit Garden District Book Shop of New Orleans this week to sign “Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Codebreakers of World War II.” Mundy will be discussing and signing the book at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the bookstore.

Dennis Ward of Lafayette has written two novels paying tribute to his late friend, Gisele “Gigi” Carriton, a holocaust survivor and owner of a Parisian-style gay cabaret nightclub in Lafayette called Chez Gisele in the 1960s-1970s. The two books — “Mademoiselle Gigi” and “Madame Gigi,” published by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press — chronicles Carriton’s early life, the horrors of being a Jewish child in occupied France, meeting a Cajun soldier and moving to Lafayette where after two divorces she renovates and opens a bar that welcomes gay people.

William R. Bradle utilizes original crew accounts from the Allied forces’ raid on Hilter’s oil fields in Ploesti, Romania, in 1943 in “The Daring World War II Raid on Ploesti,” published by Pelican. Other Pelican titles include “Sioux Code Talkers of World War II,” a young adult story by Andrea M. Page, and “Saluting Our Grandmas: Women of World War II” by Air Force Col. Cassie B. Barlow and Sue Hill Norrod with a foreword by Congressman Michael R. Turner. Both books are published by Pelican and a portion of the proceeds of “Saluting Our Grandmas” will be donated to Honor Flight Dayton.

Book News

LSU Press is offering 40 percent off all books from now until Dec. 15. Among the recent titles by the academic press are “Images of Depression-Era Louisiana: The FSA Photographs of Ben Shahn, Russell Lee, and Marion Post Wolcott: by Bryan A. Glemza, director of the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina Libraries and Marla Hebert-Leiter of Thibodaux, who teaches at Lycoming College of Pennsylvania.

Book events

Melinda Winans signs “The Fonville Winans Cookbook” from noon to 2 p.m. today at The Conundrum bookstore in St. Francisville.

The 20th anniversary of Words & Music, a Literary Feast in New Orleans, sponsored annually by the Faulkner Society, will be Wednesday through Sunday, Dec. 10. For more information, visit www.wordsandmusic.org.

Liza Mundy signs “Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Codebreakers of World War II” at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Garden District Book Shop of New Orleans.

Emmy Award-winning actor Ed Asner will discuss and sign his book “The Grouchy Historian: An Old-Time Lefty Defends our Constitution Against Right Wing Hypocrites and Nutjobs” at 3 p.m. Saturday at Octavia Books of New Orleans. You must purchase the book from Octavia Books to attend. 

Alysson Foti Bourque will sign copies of her children’s books at 10 a.m. Saturday at Books Along the Teche in New Iberia. Bourque’s “Alycat” series was recently honored as a Best Book Award finalist by the American Book Fest. For more information, visit www.alyssonfotibourque.com.

Louisiana Book News is written by Chere Dastugue Coen, award-winning author of several non-fiction books about Louisiana. She also writes novels under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her novel series all begin with a book that's available as a FREE download. 

Mona Hayden of Louisiana Road Trips magazine reviews 'Amphibians and Reptiles of Louisiana'

A previous column mentioned the new “Amphibians and Reptiles of Louisiana: An Identification and Reference Guide” by Jeff Boundy and John L. Carr. This week, Mona Hayden, publisher of Louisiana Road Trips magazine, offers a review of the LSU Press book.

“This invaluable guidebook will teach you to identify and appreciate the complex behaviors and habits of Louisiana’s 147 amphibian and reptile species, including endangered species. With over 780 photos and about 150 maps, the content has been written and organized for casual observers and herpetologists. From salamanders and snakes to frogs, turtles and lizards, if a cold-blooded species is found in Louisiana, it’s also found on these pages. There’s even an alligator and eight non-native species that have found their way to Louisiana. The authors have described each species in detail using identification keys and drawings. By thoroughly researching and documenting the extreme biodiversity of our state, this one book is all encompassing and should be on the bookshelves of anyone who enjoys the outdoors.”

New releases

It’s argued that French and Spanish assistance during the American Revolution turned the tide for the American colonists. Author Larrie D. Ferreiro insists so in the Pulitzer Prize finalist “Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It.” The author discusses the odds against an American victory, with the colonists having no navy, few arms and little money with which to wage a war against the powerful British military forces. According to the author, Spain and France provided the Americans with what in today’s dollars would be nearly $30 billion in financial assistance, as well as 90 percent of all the guns the colonists used. The two nations also sent thousands of soldiers.

Meet the Author

Lynne Olson will discuss “Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War,” and how London became a refuge for the governments of six occupied nations when Nazi Germany took over their lands, Tuesday at the World War II Museum in New Orleans. The event begins with a 5 p.m. reception, following by the 6 p.m. presentation and 7 p.m. book signing in the US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center. This program is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Register for this event online or by calling (504) 528-1944 x 412. The event will also be presented as a live stream on the museum’s website.

  

Book events for May 7-13

The University of First Presbyterian presents a two-night writers series titled “A Poet’s Perspective with Darrell Bourque” on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at First Presbyterian Church in Shreveport. Tuesday night will be a meal and presentation and Wednesday “A Writer’s Workshop.” For more information, call (318) 222-0604 or visit fpcshreveport.org.

Sheryl Sandberg, best-selling author of “Lean In,” will discuss her latest book, “Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy” in conversation with political strategist Mary Matalin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans. This is a ticketed event; visit www.gardendistrictbookshop.com.

Beyond Black History Month Lecture Series features historian and author Dr. LaGuana Gray of the University of Texas at San Antonio who will speak about African-American women’s lives and labors at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Main Lafayette Library.

Mary Kay Andrews will discuss and sign “The Beach House Cookbook” at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Octavia Books of New Orleans.  

George Graham will sign copies of his cookbook, “Acadiana Table,” from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at The Kitchenary, 456 Heymann Blvd. in Lafayette.

           

Cheré Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country.” She writes Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

Tuesday Ebook Spotlight: 'Band of Brothers'

“Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest” by Stephen E. Ambrose is on sale now for $1.99 as an ebook download. The book was a New York Times bestseller about the ordinary men who became World War II’s extraordinary soldiers in Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, US Army. The book was later made into an award-winning mini-series. Ambrose was an historian and biographer of U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, among many bestselling volumes of American popular history, and a longtime professor of history at the University of New Orleans. His work with the Eisenhower Center and D-Day veterans inspired him to found the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans, which is now called the National World War II Museum.

Here’s the publisher’s description of “Band of Brothers:”

They came together, citizen soldiers, in the summer of 1942, drawn to Airborne by the $50 monthly bonus and a desire to be better than the other guy. And at its peak—in Holland and the Ardennes—Easy Company was as good a rifle company as any in the world.

From the rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to the disbanding in 1945, Stephen E. Ambrose tells the story of this remarkable company. In combat, the reward for a job well done is the next tough assignment, and as they advanced through Europe, the men of Easy kept getting the tough assignments.

They parachuted into France early D-Day morning and knocked out a battery of four 105 mm cannon looking down Utah Beach; they parachuted into Holland during the Arnhem campaign; they were the Battered Bastards of the Bastion of Bastogne, brought in to hold the line, although surrounded, in the Battle of the Bulge; and then they spearheaded the counteroffensive. Finally, they captured Hitler’s Bavarian outpost, his Eagle’s Nest at Berchtesgaden.

They were rough-and-ready guys, battered by the Depression, mistrustful and suspicious. They drank too much French wine, looted too many German cameras and watches, and fought too often with other GIs. But in training and combat they learned selflessness and found the closest brotherhood they ever knew. They discovered that in war, men who loved life would give their lives for them.

This is the story of the men who fought, of the martinet they hated who trained them well, and of the captain they loved who led them. E Company was a company of men who went hungry, froze, and died for each other, a company that took 150 percent casualties, a company where the Purple Heart was not a medal—it was a badge of office.

Louisiana Book News is written by journalist Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire. The first two books in her award-winning series are FREE as ebooks! For more information and to sign up for her newsletter visit www.cherieclaire.net.