Well my mother-in-law’s interview with Tavis Smiley still hasn’t been broadcast (perhaps they are saving it for February?), but she got a very good review from the Washington Times dated Oct 8,2009. Of course, the internet being the internet, it has totally fallen off the front page of the book review section and even the Military History section, but lives on in the hard disk cache in the sky. If you google “Escaped Slaves and the Union Navy” you get right to the review page by Gordon Berg.
It is interesting to me that it takes a third book to start getting positive buzz that goes beyond friends and acquaintances. While the topic helps a little bit in that with Obama in the White House people are taking a fresh look at black history in our nation, I don’t think that is entirely all of it. Her book on “G.I. Nightingales” was also pretty good, and should have been just as popular, but didn’t get the buzz. Nor is it just that after three books one’s writing is bound to improve. Perhaps it is just that with three books reviewers are more likely to review a book, and the publisher is more likely to get more traction marketing the book.
Maybe the next book will be optioned by Hollywood, then we’ll really be related to somebody famous!
Or maybe I will write four books on transportation engineering and get a movie made.
Or maybe one of the girls will finally write the book with the title “The Moon is the Nightime Sun” that they’ve been on about since they were 5…
