33.3 F
Clarksville
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
HomeEventsAuthor Antonio Elmaleh to Speak at Fort Campbell's Sink Library on Thursday,...

Author Antonio Elmaleh to Speak at Fort Campbell’s Sink Library on Thursday, May 13th

Fort Campbell KY - 101st Airborne DivisionFort Campbell, KY – Author Antonio Elmaleh will speak at Sink Library on Wednesday, May 13th at 6:00pm about his new historical novel “The Ones They Left Behind”.
Based on actual events, the book tells the story of one man’s attempts to heal the wounds that had torn the country in half during the Civil War.

In 1864 General William T. Sherman and his army marched out of a burning Atlanta and embarked on his infamous “March to the Sea” that ended in December at Savannah. Sherman introduced the concept of “total war” in which civilians felt the direct impact of the destruction of anything that would aid the Confederate war effort.

"The Ones They Left Behind" by author Antonio Elmaleh.
“The Ones They Left Behind” by author Antonio Elmaleh.

Sherman’s March is credited with hastening the Confederate surrender and bringing the war to an end in April, 1865.

However, his campaign left a legacy of bitterness in a deeply-divided country. During the turmoil of Reconstruction, a former Union soldier made a bet that he could march through Georgia unharmed in an effort to reunite the North and the South.

Carrying a flag instead of a gun, Harriman Heickenlooper marched for peace instead of war. This actual historical event was the inspiration for Elmaleh’s novel “The Ones They Left Behind”.

“American history is steeped in violence, particularly our own Civil War, and I was struck by the courage of one man who single-handedly marched for peace and changed an entire country’s perspective on who we are as a nation” says Elmaleh. “The protagonist in “The Ones They Left Behind” is based upon this real-life individual. It is my hope that by looking to our past through the eyes of Harriman Hickenlooper, we may avoid repeating the same mistakes today.”

The release of the book is particularly timely coming on the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War and in the face of ongoing divisions in American society.

Born and raised in New York, Elmaleh attended Duke University. He worked on several feature films including Child’s Play, The Last of Sheila, The Sunshine Boys, Chapter Two, Bang the Drum Slowly and The All-American Girl.

From 1986 to 1989 he managed co-production for six films in partnership with BBC-TV and was executive producer of “The Vision” starring Lee Rimick, Dirk Bogarde and Helena Bonham Carter. In 1999 he began researching and writing “The Ones They Left Behind”. The book was published in 2014.

Elmaleh’s appearance at Fort Campbell is free and open to the public.

For information call 270.798.1217.

RELATED ARTICLES

Latest Articles