On Saturday, October 11, the Central Library is open to registered Heartland Book Festival attendees only. Regular services, such as hold pickups, public computers and phones, and public meeting rooms, will not be available.
There remains a haunting stillness over the grounds around Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland, where 3,650 Union and Confederate soldiers perished on the deadliest day—September 17, 1862—in American history.
In a discussion of A Fierce Glory: Antietam—The Desperate Battle that Saved Lincoln and Doomed Slavery, historian Justin Martin takes a fresh look at the battle that became a watershed in the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln’s effort not only to save the Union but also bring an end to slavery. The encounter ended in a tactical draw, but a Confederate retreat gave Lincoln a needed “victory” before issuing the Emancipation Proclamation.
Martin, a former Kansas City resident, last spoke at the Library in October 2014 on his biography of Walt Whitman. His presentation is co-sponsored by Rainy Day Books.
For the Presentation Slides, click here.