Authors & Speakers
Meet the Authors at the Battlefield BookFest & GettysNerd 2.0
Garry Adelman
A graduate of Michigan State University and Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, Garry Adelman is the award-winning author, co-author or editor of 20 books and 50 Civil War articles. He is the vice president of the Center for Civil War Photography and has been a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg for 25 years. He has conceived and drafted the text for wayside exhibits at ten battlefields, has given thousands of battlefield tours at more than 60 sites and has lectured at hundreds of locations across the country including the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian. He has appeared as a speaker on the BBC, C-Span, Pennsylvania Cable Network, American Heroes Channel, and on HISTORY where he was a chief consultant and talking head on the Emmy Award-winning show Gettysburg (2011) and Blood and Glory: The Civil War in Color (2015). He works full-time as Chief Historian at the American Battlefield Trust.
Friederike Baer (2024 Finalist)
Friederike Baer is a professor of history at Pennsylvania State University, Abington College. She holds a Ph.D. in History from Brown University. Her research focuses on the experiences of German-speaking people in North America in the Revolutionary period and early republic. Her publications include the books "Hessians: German Soldiers in the American Revolutionary War" (New York, 2022), and "The Trial of Frederick Eberle: Language, Patriotism and Citizenship in Philadelphia’s German Community, 1790-1830," (New York, 2008).
Alan Pell Crawford (2025 Finalist)
Alan Pell Crawford is an American author, historian, and journalist known for his works on political history and biographies. His writing often explores key figures in American history, particularly from the 18th and early 19th centuries.
Crawford has written about influential historical figures such as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and John Adams, emphasizing the complexities of their lives and legacies. His work often bridges academic scholarship and popular history.
Crawford has contributed to numerous publications, including "The Wall Street Journal," "The Washington Post," "The New York Times," and "The Atlantic." He is recognized for his in-depth knowledge of American political history and his ability to weave engaging narratives from historical events.
His book, "This Fierce People," is a revisionist history narrative history of the American Revolution, and examines how the Founding Fathers themselves came belatedly to embrace the cause of independence-how, in responding to events 'on the ground', they came to an entirely new understanding of the nature of leadership itself.
Andrew Dalton
Andrew Dalton is a historian, author, and nonprofit leader dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of Gettysburg. An area native and 2019 graduate of Gettysburg College, he has written a book and numerous articles on the Civil War era, with his work featured in The Washington Post, National Geographic Magazine, and other national publications. From 2020 to 2023, he directed Gettysburg History’s $12 million debt-free campaign to build Beyond the Battle Museum—voted the Best New Museum in the United States by USA Today readers. Andrew also produces the Gettysburg Film Festival and serves on the boards of Destination Gettysburg and the Lincoln Cemetery Project Association.
William A. Frassanito
William A. Frassanito is a pioneering photographic historian whose research has transformed the study of Gettysburg and the Civil War. The author of seven landmark books, he developed a unique field of analysis combining historical photography with on-the-ground research, inspiring generations of scholars and students. His work has received prestigious awards, been featured in national publications, and contributed directly to federal efforts to restore key portions of the Gettysburg battlefield to their 1863 appearance. In 2023, Frassanito placed rare artifacts from his private collection on display at Gettysburg History’s Beyond the Battle Museum where they have been enjoyed by thousands of visitors.
A. Wilson "Will" Greene
A. Wilson Greene is the former president and CEO of one of the Trust’s predecessor organizations, the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites. He served sixteen years with the National Park Service at a variety of historic sites. Will served as the Executive Director of Pamplin Historical Park and the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier from 1995-2017. He holds degrees in history from Florida State University and Louisiana State University. Greene is a frequent lecturer and study leader for the Smithsonian Institution, the Blue and Gray Education Society, and he has spoken to more than 100 Civil War Round Tables and provided more than 50 tours to special interest history groups. He is currently working on an in-depth trilogy of the 1864-65 Petersburg Campaign.
D. Scott Hartwig (2024 Finalist)
Scott served in the National Park Service for 34 years as an interpretive ranger and was the supervisory park historian at Gettysburg National Military Park from 1993 through his retirement in 2014. He was and is one of the Service’s preeminent Civil War historians, combining the skills of a first-class historical researcher and writer with those of a born storyteller. He is the author of To Antietam Creek: The Maryland Campaign of September 1862 and "I Dread the Thought of the Place": The Battle of Antietam and the End of the Maryland Campaign.
Dr. Chris Mackowski
Chris Mackowski, Ph.D., is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Emerging Civil War. He is the series editor of the award-winning Emerging Civil War Series, published by Savas Beatie, and the “Engaging the Civil War” Series, published in partnership with Southern Illinois University Press. Chris is a professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, NY, and historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge, a historic property on the Spotsylvania battlefield in central Virginia. He has also worked as a historian for the National Park Service at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, where he gives tours at four major Civil War battlefields (Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania), as well as at the building where Stonewall Jackson died. Chris has authored or co-authored a dozen books on the Civil War, and his articles have appeared in all the major Civil War magazines. Chris serves on the national advisory board for the Civil War Chaplains Museum in Lynchburg, Virginia. Chris owes all of his success in the Civil War field to his best friend, mentor, boss, and co-author Kristopher D. White.
Patrick K. O'Donnell (2025 Finalist)
Combat historian, bestselling author, and public speaker Patrick K. O'Donnell has written 13 critically acclaimed books that recount the epic stories of America's wars from the Revolution to Iraq. A Fellow at Mount Vernon, he is the recipient of numerous national book awards. O’Donnell is a premier expert on elite and special operations units and irregular warfare.
O’Donnell is the leading expert on the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency and America’s special operations forces in WWII and has written four award-winning books on the subject. His books are described as “nonfiction that reads like fiction.” O’Donnell’s bestselling and most recent book is THE UNVANQUISHED: The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Special Forces, the Manhunt for Mosby’s Rangers, and the Shadow War That Forged America’s Special Operations. He has appeared as a guest on countless television and radio shows on NPR, CNN, FOX, Discovery, and other networks. All of his books are also available as audiobooks on Audible.com.
Dr. Carol Reardon
Dr. Carol Reardon is a military historian specializing in the American Civil War and the Vietnam conflict. A Pittsburgh native, she taught at Penn State University from 1991 to 2017, retiring as the George Winfree Professor of American History. She has also served as Visiting Professor of History at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and twice held the General Harold K. Johnson Professorship at the U.S. Army War College. Post-retirement, she has taught as an adjunct professor of History and Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College. Carol was the first woman elected—and later re-elected—president of the Society for Military History, and she continues to contribute to public history through her service on the Board of Directors of the Gettysburg Foundation, where she has chaired its Education Committee.
Timothy H. "Tim" Smith
Timothy H. Smith has been a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg National Military Park for over 25 years and is currently the Director of Education at the Adams County Historical Society (ACHS). He was also named County Historian in 2023. Tim has been involved with ACHS since the late 1980s when he began volunteering as a research assistant. He is the author of ten books and numerous articles about the Civil War, the Gettysburg Campaign, and a host of other local history topics. Tim is also a historical consultant for the American Battlefield Trust and a frequent lecturer at Civil War Round Tables and Seminars, and appears regularly on the Pennsylvania Cable Network’s Battle Walks Series. Tim is recognized as one of the leading experts on the Battle of Gettysburg and all aspects of Adams County history.
Andrew Waters (2025 Finalist)
Andrew Waters is an author, editor, and conservationist residing in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
He is the author of The Quaker and the Gamecock: Nathanael Greene, Thomas Sumter, and the Revolutionary War for the Soul of the South. His original writing on the American Revolution frequently appears in the Journal of the American Revolution (https://allthingsliberty.com/). He is also the editor of Battle of Cowpens: Primary & Contemporary Accounts, a reader's edition of first-person analysis and contemporary histories of the Battle of Cowpens.
He is also the editor of three slave narrative collections: Prayin' To Be Set Free (Mississippi), I Was Born in Slavery (Texas), and On Jordan's Stormy Banks (Georgia). His fiction and articles have appeared in Emrys Journal, Pembroke Magazine, the Winston-Salem Journal, Spartanburg Herald Journal, and more.
"As a native Southerner, I am fascinated by the topics that still inform our Southern culture, like the American Revolution and slavery," says Waters. "I love bringing these historical figures to life for today's audiences in an accessible way."
Kristopher D. White
Kris is the Director of Education and Events at the American Battlefield Trust. White is a graduate of Norwich University with an M.A. in Military History and California University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in History. He served as a ranger-historian at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. He has also served the Penn-Trafford Recreation Board as a historian and as a continuing education instructor for the Community College of Allegheny County. In 2008, Kris successfully passed the Licensed Battlefield Guide Exam at Gettysburg. White is the co-founder and chief historian of Emerging Civil War and co-creator of the Emerging Civil War Series. An award-winning speaker and editor, White has authored, co-authored, or edited more than two dozen books and numerous articles, covering a wide range of topics from the Seven Years War to the World Wars. A frequent fixture on battlefields around the world, he leads and coordinates tours and staff rides in the United States and Europe.