Had a great time presenting #OurManInCharleston, stepping back into the 19th century at @theplayersnyc last night

What a great venue for a book about the Civil War and the madness that led to it — the home of the great actor Edwin Booth, brother of the infamous assassin John Wilkes Booth. Those who came to the reading were privileged to visit Edwin's bedroom, where there is only one picture of his brother, and that a very small one positioned behind the corner of his bed where he would see it only very rarely, if ever. 

You can find out more about the club here.

The Star-Spangled Slave Trade of the 1850s: My Talk at Politics and Prose

This is part of my talk at Politics and Prose in Washington D.C., which included many interesting questions raised by the audience.
At about 40 minutes into the presentation a man asked about the 
transatlantic slave trade in the 1850s, and in the six minutes that followed I tried to convey some sense of the horrors of that traffic—most of which was conducted between the west coast of Africa and Cuba, but under the flag of the United States.

Slaves in Cuba

I subsequently wrote a piece for The Daily Beast adapted from the book and focusing on the issue of the Cuban slave trade.

This is a link to the full presentation at Politics and Prose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=31&v=yf0QSdGBirg

"Our Man" Now Officially a New York Times Best Seller in the Espionage Category