Why am I passionate about this?

I was raised in Springfield, Illinois, what is considered Lincoln’s backyard. I grew up fascinated by history, and the Civil War in particular. The trouble was, its racial overtones always bothered me. Later in life, I became a high school history and journalism teacher and turned my interest in historical-based board gaming into a business I called Indulgent Wife Enterprises (because my wife is so incredibly supportive). To date, I have published 30 board games based mostly on American conflicts. When I retired, I began the ambitious project of writing a strongly researched account of the divisions leading up to the Civil War and through to the Reconstruction period that followed. 


I wrote

Snakebit: Prelude to War

By John Poniske,

Book cover of Snakebit: Prelude to War

What is my book about?

This is the first book in my series that follows border state families through the onset of the Civil War,…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Burning: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921

John Poniske Why did I love this book?

I was mesmerized and horrified by this 100th-anniversary recounting of the massacre. I didn’t just turn pages. I tore through the book, not believing that such a thing could happen in modern America.

The destruction of what was once considered a thriving Negro Wall Street and the slaughter of its people led me to an in-depth study of the Reconstruction riots a half-century before this one.

By Tim Madigan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Burning as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Essential reading as America finally comes to terms with its racial past.

When first published in 2001, society apparently wasn't ready for such an unstinting narrative. After it was published, The Burning, like its subject matter, remained unknown to most in America. That has changed dramatically.

"I began to suspect that a crucial piece remained missing from America's long attempts at racial reconciliation," Madigan wrote in 2001 in the author's note to The Burning. "Too many were oblivious to some of the darkest moments in our history, a legacy of which Tulsa is both a tragic example and a shameful…


Book cover of Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South

John Poniske Why did I love this book?

I love biographies, and I particularly loved this one because it portrayed a brilliant, accomplished, but complicated soul. Here was a man, a rebel hardliner who was once Robert E. Lee’s sounding board and deeply respected throughout the defeated Confederacy.

I wanted to know why he defied the South, became good friends with President Grant, joined the Republican Party (Lincoln’s party), and became a supporter of Radical Reconstruction. As I read, I learned, and the learning fascinated me.

By Elizabeth Varon,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Longstreet as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography
American Battlefield Trust Prize for History Finalist

A "compelling portrait" (Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize -winning author) of the controversial Confederate general who later embraced Reconstruction and became an outcast in the South.

It was the most remarkable political about-face in American history. During the Civil War, General James Longstreet fought tenaciously for the Confederacy. He was alongside Lee at Gettysburg (and counseled him not to order the ill-fated attacks on entrenched Union forces there). He won a major Confederate victory at Chickamauga and was seriously wounded during a later battle.

After the…


Book cover of The Bloody Shirt: Terror After the Civil War

John Poniske Why did I love this book?

Ever since I was a little kid in Springfield, Illinois (Lincoln’s hometown), I found racism hard to understand. Where did it come from? Why is it so rooted in our society?

This book taught me about black dreams, freedom, and rights ravaged by widespread violence and intimidation. I was particularly impressed by General Lewis Merrill, assigned by Grant to prosecute KKK excesses in the northern counties of South Carolina; he was a man who, like me, could not believe the cruel outrages he was told… until he saw them for himself.

Book cover of Ku-Klux: The Birth of the Klan during Reconstruction

John Poniske Why did I love this book?

I live in an area that once held KKK rallies and parades. To this day, though much reduced, the Klan still manages to make its presence known.

I bought this book to better understand the complex cultural phenomenon that was the original Ku Klux Klan, also known as the Invisible Empire. I was pleased to learn of its origins and horrified by its unbridled violence. The Klan itself has long since been dispersed, but its bitter beliefs live on.

By Elaine Frantz Parsons,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ku-Klux as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first comprehensive examination of the nineteenth-century Ku Klux Klan since the 1970s, Ku-Klux pinpoints the group's rise with startling acuity. Historians have traced the origins of the Klan to Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1866, but the details behind the group's emergence have long remained shadowy. By parsing the earliest descriptions of the Klan, Elaine Frantz Parsons reveals that it was only as reports of the Tennessee Klan's mysterious and menacing activities began circulating in northern newspapers that whites enthusiastically formed their own Klan groups throughout the South. The spread of the Klan was thus intimately connected with the politics and…


Book cover of Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory

John Poniske Why did I love this book?

Having been raised with a love of history, particularly the Civil War, I have always sought to connect our seemingly irreconcilable differences to that great conflict. Here, I was reminded that our differences stem as much from our failed attempt at Reconstruction following the war as from the war itself.

I can’t believe we came so close to resolving our racial failings only to entrench them. I firmly believe this period in history defines who we are today.

By David W. Blight,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Race and Reunion as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winner of the Bancroft Prize
Winner of the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize
Winner of the Merle Curti award
Winner of the Frederick Douglass Prize

No historical event has left as deep an imprint on America's collective memory as the Civil War. In the war's aftermath, Americans had to embrace and cast off a traumatic past. David Blight explores the perilous path of remembering and forgetting, and reveals its tragic costs to race relations and America's national reunion.In 1865, confronted with a ravaged landscape and a torn America, the North and South began a slow and painful process of reconciliation. The…


Explore my book 😀

Snakebit: Prelude to War

By John Poniske,

Book cover of Snakebit: Prelude to War

What is my book about?

This is the first book in my series that follows border state families through the onset of the Civil War, the war itself, and the contentious Reconstruction period that followed. I use the term snakebit to refer to the crazed attitude of those unwilling to compromise, bent on seeing violence as the only solution.

In this book, I introduce readers to the bitterly divided cultural setting that led to the biggest bloodbath in American history. It is my sincere hope that through my writing, I might bring to life the sectional and political issues that divided our country in the past and provide understanding to prevent continued division.

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A Gentleman and a Thief: The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue

By Dean Jobb,

Book cover of A Gentleman and a Thief: The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue

Dean Jobb Author Of The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream: The Hunt for a Victorian Era Serial Killer

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author True crime author Journalist Professor Reader

Dean's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

The Great Gatsby meets Catch Me If You Can and the hit Netflix series Lupin in this rollicking true tale of an audacious gentleman crook.

Arthur Barry, one of the world's most successful jewel thieves, charmed the elite of 1920s New York City, swiped gems worth $60 million today from their posh country estates, and outfoxed the police and private detectives on his trail. His victims included a Rockefeller, an oil tycoon, members of Britain’s royal family, Wall Street bigwigs, and an heiress to the Woolworth five-and-dime store fortune. This tale of wealth, glamor, and deception, a charming and debonair…

A Gentleman and a Thief: The Daring Jewel Heists of a Jazz Age Rogue

By Dean Jobb,

What is this book about?

This captivating Jazz Age true crime tale about "the greatest jewel thief who ever lived" (Life Magazine), tells the incredible story of Arthur Barry, who charmed celebrities and millionaires while simultaneously planning and executing the most audacious and lucrative heists of the 1920s.

A skilled con artist and one of the most successful burglars in history, Arthur Barry was adept at slipping in and out of bedrooms undetected, even when his victims slept only inches away. He became a folk hero, a gentleman bandit touted in the press as the "Prince of Thieves" and an "Aristocrat of Crime." Think Cary…


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