Sunday, May 10, 2015

Walt Whitman’s Special Appearance in The Final Reveille - Guest Post



The Final Reveille required that I do a lot more historical research than I typically do for one of my mysteries. Even though the novel takes place in the present day, it is set in a living history museum during a Civil War reenactment. I felt like I needed a strong background in Civil War history to write the novel properly. As a librarian, I love research of any kind, and I always learn something new.

The most interesting fact that I didn’t know and learned while researching the novel was Walt Whitman, the famous American poet and author of the poetry book Leaves of Grass, served as a nurse in Washington DC during the Civil War. To comforted wounded soldiers, he recited his poems to them. He also wrote poems at the time about the war, including “Beat! Beat! Drums!” You will find the first verse of the famous poem at the beginning of The Final Reveille. It is “Beat! beat! drums!—Blow! bugles! Blow!”

After reading so much about Whitman, I had to include a Walt Whitman reenactor in The Final Reveille. You will find him there wandering around the battlefield and camps spouting verse from Leaves of Grass and competing with the Abraham Lincoln reenactor for the tourists’ attention.

Whitman is just one of the surprises I have for you in the novel. I hope you will check it out and see what else I have in store!







Preorder The Final Reveille today!

About the Author:
Amanda Flower, a three time Agatha-nominated mystery author, started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. Amanda is an academic librarian for a small college near Cleveland. She also writes as National Bestselling Author Isabella Alan.

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Special thanks to Amanda Flower and Lori Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.

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