The annual History Book Festival, typically held in Lewes, DE, will be taking place online this year, as it did in 2020. Events will continue throughout the rest of June and July and follow last year's format, featuring online discussions with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction.
The Festival is a nonprofit event formed through the Greater Lewes Foundation in 2015. This event is the first-ever book festival devoted exclusively to history — a perfect match with Lewes’s rich historical heritage. In previous years, the event has taken place in the Historic District of Lewes at multiple venues and in collaboration with local bookstores and the Lewes Public Library.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The Eagle’s Claw | Jeff Shaara
Thursday, June 17 | 5:00 PM 6:00 PM
Picking up where To Wake the Giant: A Novel of Pearl Harbor left off, Jeff Shaara transports readers to the spring of 1942, when U.S. Navy Commander Joe Rochefort cracks the Japanese military encryption. Now Admiral Chester Nimitz will know precisely what the Japanese are planning. But the battle to counter those plans must still be fought. Shaara describes the conflict through the eyes of both U.S. forces and the Japanese, who have no idea that the Americans are anticipating their every move. Ultimately, the Battle of Midway will change not only the outcome of a war but the course of global history.
The Bookseller of Florence | Ross King
Thursday, June 24 | 5:00 PM 6:00 PM
Vespasiano da Bisticci operated a bookshop during the 15th century “Golden Age” of Renaissance Florence. At a time when all books were made by hand, he produced and sold many hundreds of volumes from his shop, which became a gathering spot for debate and discussion. His books were works of art in their own right, and his clients included popes, kings, and princes who wished to burnish their reputations by founding magnificent libraries. Vespasiano had reached the summit of his powers as Europe’s most prolific merchant of knowledge when a new invention appeared to challenge his influence: the printed book.
Winning in Reverse | Bill Lester
Thursday, July 8 | 5:00 PM 6:00 PM
NASCAR has traditionally been a Southern, white man’s sport, but that changed when Bill Lester entered the field. Lester did not grow up in the sport as many drivers have. He raced as a side hobby while working as an engineer until, at the age of 37, he quit his job to pursue racing full time. Lester had a trifecta of odds against him: he was Black, middle-aged, and not a Southerner, and many fans did not hide their contempt. Winning in Reverse explains how he was able to rise above it all and make history time and again, becoming the first African American to race in NASCAR’s Busch Series, and the first to participate in the Nextel Cup.
Blood and Treasure | Bob Drury and Tom Clavin
Thursday, July 15 | 5:00 PM 6:00 PM
Like many historical icons, Daniel Boone’s image in popular culture leans toward caricature. He was a frontiersman—arguably America’s first and greatest pathfinder—and Revolutionary War hero whose explorations into the frontier beyond the Appalachian Mountains became the stuff of legend. This book tells the unvarnished story of Boone’s life and the era that gave birth to a nation, illuminating the history of the early United States through the eyes of both the ordinary and larger-than-life men and women, white and Native American, who witnessed it.
The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream | Dean Jobb
Thursday, July 22 | 5:00 PM 6:00 PM
In the late 1800s, one of the first international serial killers murdered as many as ten people in the United States, Britain, and Canada. Over the span of 15 years, Dr. Thomas Neill Cream targeted vulnerable and desperate women who came to him for medical advice, using his knowledge of poisons to conceal his crimes. This definitive account of his life exposes the flawed detection methods, bungled investigations, corrupt officials, and stifling morality of Victorian era society that allowed Dr. Cream to prey on victims undetected, time after time.
The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois | Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
Thursday, July 29 | 5:00 PM 6:00 PM
In the author’s first novel, Ailey Pearl Garfield, a young African American woman, seeks to come to terms with her identity by journeying through her family’s past, uncovering tales of generations of ancestors—Indigenous, Black, and White—in the Deep South. She discovers a legacy of oppression and resistance, bondage and independence, cruelty and resilience that is the story—and the song—of America itself.
The 2021 History Book Festival is presented by Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices I Gallo Realty.