Author: David J. Kent

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler, scientist, and Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of books on Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and Abraham Lincoln. His website is www.davidjkent-writer.com.
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A Shrine for Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace

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Part 1 of my Chasing Abraham Lincoln tour (click and scroll for several articles) took me to Lincoln’s birthplace in Hodgenville, Kentucky. My last piece highlighted the museum and statues in downtown Hodgenville itself; today we visit Lincoln’s birthplace.

“My earliest recollection…is of the Knob Creek place.” – Abraham Lincoln

We’ll get to Lincoln’s actual birthplace in a moment, but my route first took me past the Knob Creek Farm to which the Lincoln’s moved when Abraham was just a toddler. Today it’s a unit of the Birthplace National Historical Park. Not much is there these days; even the inn was boarded up and a sign warned against a growing nest of wasps. But there is a field where the farm stood, plus a log cabin and a 2-3 hour hiking trail. The cabin is actually that of the Gollaher family, moved here from a few miles away. Nearby is Knob Creek where Austin Gollaher had saved Lincoln from drowning. Presumably the spot where that happened was a distance away as the spot near the farm is barely deep enough to wet your shoes.

Moving on from Knob Creek, and passing through Hodgenville, you eventually come to Lincoln’s birthplace at the Sinking Spring farm. Here on February 12, 1809 the future president and martyr would join his older sister and parents in this world. Today the site is a bit surreal. After touring the grandparents cabin and other rustic sites, the birthplace is like something out of ancient Greece. In fact, it is the Greek style temple that first captures your eye.

There are 56 steps leading up to the temple, one for each year of his life. It’s hard not to think of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. as you walk up the steps. That’s on purpose. For Lincoln buffs, entering the building is like entering a shrine. Therein stands the symbolic birthplace cabin. The real deal. Well, sort of.

It’s a long story but basically the budding park service purchased the logs of what was believed to be Lincoln’s birthplace cabin. An entrepreneur had been touring the United States a year after the assassination with a cabin he claimed to be the Lincolns’. He also had a second cabin he claimed to be that of Jefferson Davis. Putting the logs together at each stop, the guy made a fortune displaying the birthplaces of the two Civil War presidents. Of course, this story wasn’t known by the park service when they bought the logs, which had been stored in a warehouse for decades. It was only after they started putting them together that they realized they had too many windows, too many doors, and too many logs. Some research led to the discovery of its history.

Hence the “symbolic” designation. Some purists insisted the cabin couldn’t be called the original birthplace because, well, it wasn’t. Recent tests on some of the logs show they were cut sometime in the 1850s or 60s, too late to have been the cabin in 1809. The park service used the best logs of the “two-cabins-worth” they had at their disposal and settled on “symbolic” as the best description for a trimmed down version of the cabin that fit in their temple. To be honest, the lack of original cabin shouldn’t be a surprise. The Lincoln’s moved several times and most likely they would have used some of the logs and hewn boards as materials for wagons and for firewood as they prepared to leave.

One of the best parts of touring to these sites is the personal contact with knowledgeable people. I mostly had the cabin to myself and spent some time chatting with William Ozment, the park ranger on duty. Through him I learned first-hand about the history of the cabin, its construction (including the use of straw or horse hair to strengthen the daubing mud, much like rebar in concrete), and even the kinds of logs used for walls and roofing shingles. This information will be in my next book.

There are two other spots in the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park you must visit. One is Sinking Spring itself, which still exists. A short walk down narrow steps at the base of the memorial shrine takes you to a tiny waterfall leaking over the side of a small depression. Here is where the Lincoln’s got their water. Not far away is the site of the boundary oak, a huge oak tree that sat on the western edge of the farm. Probably 25-30 years old at the time of Lincoln’s birth, it remained until its death in 1976. Eventually cut down in 1986, there isn’t much left to see, but it’s worth the short walk into the woods nonetheless.

Of course, there is also a small museum, gift shop, and theater. Take the 12 minutes to watch the introductory movie and check out the historical displays. Look at the map showing the amount of industrialization in the North and the percent slave population in the South (e.g., South Carolina and Mississippi had more slaves than white people, and other states are close to 50%, hence why the South wanted to protect and expand slavery). In the lobby there is a statue featuring the Lincoln family – parents Thomas and Nancy, sister Sarah, and the young Abe.

Abraham Lincoln BirthplaceLike the Lincolns, my Chasing Abraham Lincoln tour (Part 1) takes me next into Indiana and the farm where Lincoln spent the next 11 of his most formative years. Alas, it’s also where he lost both his mother and his sister to eternity. Stay tuned.

If you missed them, follow this link and scroll down to see previous Chasing Abraham Lincoln articles.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Science Traveling the Baltic Sea

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Baltic Sea mapAh, the Baltic Sea. I’ll soon be on it. And also in Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Finland, and Sweden. Windstar take me there.

I’ve been to some of these places before. When I lived in Europe (Brussels, Belgium) I went to Helsinki, Finland three times for work-related meetings. Later I traveled to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, and Bergen. This trip will bring me to many new places, including Russia, which seems appropriate given the current state of political affairs in the USA.

I’ll be aboard the Windstar yacht Star Breeze, a small ship with only 200 of my soon to be closest friends. I had sailed the Windstar’s Wind Surf in the Caribbean a few years ago and this ship is similar, but without the sails. Think of something a billionaire might own and that’s the Star Breeze. These small yachts are much better than the big hotel ships that hold 4000 or more people. Much more intimate.

We’ll leave from Copenhagen (see links above for some of my previous activities there), then head straight for the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. After touring the island we’ll head for Gdansk, Poland. Hopefully you’ve heard of Gdansk as it has played a critical role at least twice in European history. Gdansk was the site of the first shots fired in World War II. It was also where Lech Walesa, a shipyard electrician who later became President of Poland, started the Solidarity trade union movement that eventually led to the fall of communism in Poland. I’ll spend some time in the shipyards and the old city, and perhaps even sail on a 17th Century galleon.

Westerplatte monument

Westerplatte monument, Gdansk

But that’s only the beginning. We’ll head up to Klaipeda, Lithuania and tour the Curonian Peninsula, then hop over Latvia to Estonia where we’ll hike around the lower and upper old towns of Tallinn. And then it’s on to St. Petersburg, home of the Hermitage and the Imperial City. This will be my first foray into Russia. Following two days there it’s back to Helsinki, where my personal experience will let me guide tours around the main part of the city and then see (for the first time) the Church of the Rock. A leisurely biking tour of the Finnish island of Mariehamn will help get my land legs back before arriving in Stockholm and back to the US.

I haven’t spoken much about my travel schedule this year for a reason that will become clear later, but I’m scheduled to be seeing a good part of the world during the next 12 months. Locations already in the works are a road trip through the Pacific Northwest, another road trip through Abraham Lincoln’s Illinois, a Windstar cruise from Hong Kong to Singapore (with stops in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei), and maybe, just maybe, a visit to the seventh (or perhaps eighth, depending on how you count) continent. Then there is the month in Paris (for research, I swear) and a ton of other domestic and international travel in the plans. I’ll write more as they come to fruition, and will post tons of photos and stories as they happen.

Before then I have to step up my writing pace. Too many books in the works and too many other activities (not to mention the travel) have slowed my writing progress. But hey, as Benjamin Franklin may or may not have said: “Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing about.” At least I’m doing the latter.

Off to write, perchance to dream.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Lincoln Book Reviewed in Civil War Times Magazine

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Lincoln: The Man Who Saved AmericaMy book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, has been reviewed in Civil War Times magazine. Civil War Times is the “go-to” magazine for Civil War enthusiasts, and with a circulation of over 100,000, it’s the Number 1 magazine in its category. They also have a wide-ranging online presence. I’m a long-time subscriber myself. Each issue has maybe four books reviewed, so getting a review is a big deal.

Which is why I was happy to see in the August 2018 issue a review of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America by one of the nation’s preeminent Lincoln scholars, Jonathan W. White, author of several books on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War (several of which are on my shelf).

Jonathan White review of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved AmericaAdmittedly, the review is a little hard to find, as I discussed in this article. You can pick up a copy at newsstands or check it out at your local library, then go straight to Page 69.

As you can see, the review is quite positive. White notes that the book “succeeds admirably” in reaching out to a broader audience, which was the goal of the book. He highlights the graphics (“paintings, lithographs, newspaper prints, cartes de visite, tintypes, maps, documents, and mid-20th-century comics”) and says that the writing style “should engage readers.”

The book has enjoyed great success and the second printing is already in Barnes and Noble stores nationwide. My earlier books on Tesla and Edison have been translated into several foreign languages so I’m expecting the same shortly for Lincoln.

This isn’t the only honor Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America has received. Late last year it was nominated for the Abraham Lincoln Institute book award (losing out to famed Lincoln scholar Richard Carwardine), and recently was nominated for the 2018 Lincoln Group of New York’s Achievement Award. It was also the overwhelming choice as the first book to be reviewed on the Railsplitter Podcast program (three episodes) and recently was selected as resource material for the LEAD: Spirit of Lincoln Youth Leadership Academy program in Springfield, Illinois.

You could say I’m very happy with the reception the book has received from the general public and Lincoln scholars alike.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Help Make Nikola Tesla’s Wardenclyffe a National Historic Site!

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A message from the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe! 

 

Your urgent help is needed.

WHAT: The Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe is being considered for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places! We need you to click on the link below to show your support.

WHY: Designation in the National Historic Register will help preserve Wardenclyffe, the only remaining laboratory of Nikola Tesla, one of history’s greatest scientists and humanitarians.

HOW: Simply click on the link below to sign a letter of support.

Thank you! Your endorsement will go a long way in showing that Wardenclyffe is of great value to the public as a site of historic, scientific and cultural significance.

Vote to endorse Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places! See the link and click to promote Nikola Tesla and Wardenclyffe!

https://skypoint.cc/tesla/ 

 

David J. Kent is the author Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World, plus two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His latest book is Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. 

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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The Forgotten Hodgenville, Kentucky – Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace

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Hodgenville, Kentucky is where Lincoln was born, though the town seems forgotten by all by die-hard Lincolnophiles (call it a guilty pleasure). As I wrote in my book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America:

When Nancy was heavily pregnant with Abraham, Thomas moved to Sinking Spring Farm, a 300-acre tract near Hodgenville, Kentucky, named after a spring bubbling up from a sunken cave. He quickly erected a one-room log cabin, barely in time for Abraham’s birth on February 12, 1809. The Lincoln family likely believed this would be an ideal location to raise their growing family, as it had plenty of acreage and was only a few miles from Nancy’s aunt and uncle, Elizabeth and Thomas Sparrow.

Within two years, however, the Lincolns were on the move again. While initially idyllic, Sinking Spring turned out to be poor farmland and subject to a legal dispute over the title. After losing his land and his investment, Thomas sought to restart by purchasing 230 acres of land about ten miles away at Knob Creek Farm. Here Thomas was his most prosperous as a Kentucky farmer.

Both the Sinking Spring and Knob Creek farms are now part of the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park run by the National Park Service. Both are well-visited and I’ll talk more about them later. Today we focus on the town of Hodgenville itself, which virtually everyone passes through on the road between the two farm sites, but too few stop in. That’s a mistake.

Hodgenville, which was originally simply Hodgen’s Mill, is tiny. It’s 3000 or so residents are squeezed into an area less than 2 square miles. From a visitor’s point of view it consists of a traffic circle surrounded by buildings sporting the Lincoln name. One of those buildings is the Lincoln Museum and it is not to be missed. The main part of the museum is a series of life-size wax figure vignettes of Lincoln’s life. Here you’ll find him growing up in the log cabin, tending a general store, making his name as the railsplitter, courting Mary Todd, preparing bills as a congressman, debating Steven A. Douglas, having his photo taken by Matthew Brady with Tad, being sworn in at his second inaugural, and after a quick look at Grant and Lee at Appomattox, relaxing on that fateful night at Ford’s Theatre. Photos of the scenes are in the slide show below.

Upstairs in the museum you’ll find period clothing, furniture, accessories, and a wonderful art gallery. Back on the main floor is a gift shop filled with souvenirs and books.

After visiting the museum, look both ways (and down the side streets), then hop over to the center of the traffic circle. Here you’ll find not one but two statues of Abraham Lincoln. The first one you’ll notice is a traditional seated Lincoln in all his presidential grandeur. Sculpted by Adolph A. Weinman as part of the centennial celebrations of Lincoln’s life, it was dedicated on March 31, 1909.

Facing it on the opposite side of the circle is a much more recent addition. Dedicated on March 31, 2008, the small bronze shows a youthful Lincoln with his dog “Honey.” Created by the Daub-Firmin-Hendrickson Sculpture Group, it represents Lincoln as he would have appeared shortly before leaving Kentucky for Indiana.

If you missed them, check out my previous posts from my Chasing Abraham Lincoln tour. Much more to come so check back regularly.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Abraham Lincoln Dies, Thomas Lincoln Gets Married – The Lincoln Homestead

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I finally managed (on my third try) to complete Part 1 of my Chasing Abraham Lincoln tour. Last week I wrote about my first stop at the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, which is on the campus of Lincoln Memorial University. My next stop was the homestead where Abraham Lincoln died and Thomas Lincoln got married.

That may sound a little confusing at first. Consider how I started chapter one of my book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America:

Abraham Lincoln was killed by an Indian in the spring of 1786. This was the namesake grandfather of the future president. Thomas Lincoln, the president’s father, was nearly killed at the same time. Only 8 years old, young Thomas was being dragged away by his father’s murderer when Mordecai, his 15-year-old brother, killed the attacker with a shot from the family musket. Thus, Thomas was saved and the family line leading to Abraham Lincoln’s birth remained intact. Had Thomas died as a child, the future of the United States would have been substantially different, if the country existed at all.

The Lincoln Homestead is the farm where Abraham Lincoln (the grandfather) was killed. It’s also where Thomas Lincoln (Abe Lincoln’s father) courted Nancy Hanks, Lincoln’s mother.

The site itself was closed the day I arrived, which meant I couldn’t get inside the buildings. I could, however, walk around the grounds and take photos. The “Lincoln Cabin” is  a reconstruction, as is the “Lincoln Workshop.” These are set up as they would have been when Thomas Lincoln was growing up. The third building is an original structure. The two story Francis Berry House is where Nancy Hanks was working as a seamstress while being courted by Thomas. Thomas proposed in front of the big fireplace. I couldn’t get inside but did snap a few photos through the windows.

Mordecai Lincoln house

As I mention in the book excerpt above, Thomas’s older brother Mordecai had killed their father Abraham’s killer. Through the ancestral law of primogeniture, the entire estate passed to the eldest brother Mordecai when he gained adulthood, at which point he likely turned the 12-year-old Thomas out of the house to work for others. Mordecai then built the much larger house above about a mile down the road. He lived out the rest of his life in that house, farming the large tract of land that now encompasses the Lincoln Homestead State Park (and an 18-hole golf course).

And here is where the story gets weird. Mordecai gained even more pedigree by marrying Mary Mudd from one of the “first families” of Washington County, Kentucky. If that name sounds familiar it’s because she is a distant cousin to Samuel Mudd, the doctor who set John Wilkes Booth’s broken leg after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln.

From the Lincoln Homestead I headed for Knob Creek and the Lincoln Birthplace. More on those in following posts.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, Harrogate, Tennessee

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Abraham Lincoln Library and MuseumEveryone knows about the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, but there is another Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum. This one is in Harrogate, Tennessee in the campus of Lincoln Memorial University. And I spent the day there. It was an incredible experience.

Generally the visitors pay a very reasonable entrance fee, but I was met at the door by the Director, Michael Lynch, and the Assistant Director/Curator, Steven Wilson. After a quick tour around the museum (which is undergoing both short and long term remodeling) they led me into the vault. Yes, the vault. This is where the original letters, books, and other original materials are kept. If that isn’t enough, there is a second vault upstairs.

I was lucky enough to hold a small see-through container holding a lock of Abraham Lincoln’s hair, as well as a necklace holding the hair of Mary Lincoln and a locket holding young Willie Lincoln’s hair. I also got to touch letters to and from other major players in the Civil War.

Then it was time for work. Michael brought in a large binder holding many original documents related to John Worden, commander of the USS Monitor ironclad famous for the battle with the CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack). Among the many treasures was a handwritten letter by Worden discussing Lincoln’s visit to him as he recuperated following the injuries he sustained in the Monitor/Merrimack battle. Perfect for my next book.

I also got to go through several volumes of an incredible set of scrapbooks put together by John Brown. They include thousands of original photographs, tickets, CDVs, advertisements, and so much more. Oh, and in order to find any particular one I used a prehistoric Google device once known as a “card catalogue.” Yes, these things still exist.

Thanks again to Michael Lynch and Steven Wilson (who was also kind enough to give me a copy of his recent presentation on Lincoln and Technology). It will take me a while to go through all the photos I took and the data I collected. Something for me to do once I finish my trip. As you read this I’ve already moved on to the next piece of my adventure.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

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Chasing Abraham Lincoln – The New Plan

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Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHSIn mid March I posted about a plan for a road trip I call “Chasing Abraham Lincoln.” Part 1 was to happen late March. That plan was abruptly rescheduled for the first week of April because of a brewing snowstorm. Then the rescheduled date was even more abruptly delayed because of a family medical emergency with my father.

The plan is back on!

Actually, a slightly modified plan. I’ve cut out a couple of stops that in retrospect now seem impossibly optimistic. The revised trip now gives me more reasonable time to make stops on a nearly 2000 mile drive into Lincoln’s life.

This, of course, is just Part 1. Part 2 will take me into Illinois later in the summer to track the Lincoln and Douglas debates and other Lincoln sites I missed when I was out there last time.

I’ll plan to post from the road when I can. Fingers crossed that there aren’t any other abrupt events that change my plans, again.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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The Hampton Roads Defenses of Fort Monroe

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Fort MonroeNamed after our nation’s fifth president, Fort Monroe is, or at least was, one of the premier defenses of the Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads. Not far from here was the famous Battle of the Ironclads. On a recent visit I was able to tour the Fort Monroe National Monument, and in particular, the Casemate Museum, which contains an elaborate trail through time.

A casemate is a fortified, often armored, gun emplacement. From the exterior it looks like a wall or mound of dirt. Inside is where all the big cannons lived and fired upon attacking forces, whether land or sea. The Casemate Museum takes up a larger than expected section of the structure. Beginning with some history (fortifications on the location go back to the 1600s), the museum surprises you because it seems to go on forever as it winds within the casemate walls.

Displays range from informative signs and poster to full size cannons and wax figures. Here you’ll see the cell that Confederate President Jefferson Davis was held for two years after the end of the Civil War. [Outside you’ll find “Jefferson Davis Memorial Park,” which spans a section of the top of the fort.] There is also information on the history of slavery and its role in the Civil War. If you look closely, you might find a young Edgar Allan Poe writing “The Raven” during his tour of duty at the Fort. As you gaze offshore – beyond the moat that circumscribes the fort – you can picture the raging battle of the ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimack). Inside the casemate are models of the two vessels.

The displays are impressive and don’t stop with the Civil War. The fort was in use until it was decommissioned in 2011, so there are figures and displays through modern times.

I had stopped at Fort Monroe before heading to the Monitor Center at the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, where I was to attend the “Battle of Hampton Roads Weekend” on the anniversary of the famous ironclad match up. I’ll have more on that shortly.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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My Interview and Abraham Lincoln on the Railsplitter Podcast

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Railsplitter podcast logoThe Railsplitter podcast is up with the third of three episodes reviewing my book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. In this final installment, they chat for about 20 minutes about the last two chapters before welcoming me to talk about the book.

Listen to the first episode covering Chapters 1-4.

And second episode for Chapters 5-8.

And the final episode for Chapters 9 & 10, plus an interview with me.

I want to thank Jeremy, Mary, and Nick choosing my book as the very first book of their Railsplitter Book Club. Jeremy tells me that they put out a poll asking listeners which book out of thousands of Lincoln books they should choose to be their very first – and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America was their overwhelming choice!

I had a great time being interviewed for the show and I hope everyone will enjoy it.

For those who missed my earlier presentation on Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America at the Lincoln Group of DC, you can watch the C-SPAN broadcast online.

David J Kent on C-SPAN

For those wondering how my Chasing Abraham Lincoln Part 1 went, well, it hasn’t yet. I was all set to go but then a family emergency redirected my long road trip. Instead of down to Tennessee and up through Kentucky, Indiana, and more, I drove up to New England. The Chasing Abraham Lincoln trip will likely (hopefully) happen in May, so stay turned.

I’ve also been having some issues with my home computers (both of them), which is why I haven’t been able to post about my recent trip down to Newport News for the Battle of Hampton Roads weekend. Working on solutions and I should be able to report on that next week.

In the meantime, enjoy the Railsplitter podcasts and the C-SPAN broadcast.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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