Talkin’ Blockade Runners
The blockade running book got a strong review by Mark Lardas in the Galveston County Daily News this past weekend. The full text is paywalled, but it begins and ends,
If Texas was not the king’s crown, Texas’ cotton made it a prized jewel of the cotton kingdom. Cashing in the crop required getting it to England.
“Civil War Blockade Running on the Texas Coast,” by Andrew W. Hall, examines Texas’ efforts to export its cotton and import manufactured goods in the face of the North’s struggles to stop it.
Hall begins the story before the Civil War, continuing it to the present. He opens examining prewar Texas, and its cotton economy.
He closes it with late 20th century and 21st century archaeological dives on wrecks of sunken blockade runners. . . .
Well-researched, engagingly written, imaginatively illustrated and informative, “Civil War Blockade Running on the Texas Coast” will interest Civil War buffs.
Whether you are well-versed in this corner of history or seeking an introduction, this book has something to offer.
I have three book events coming up this week. On Thursday evening at 6:30, I’ll be doing a talk and book-signing at the Brazoria County Historical Museum 100 E. Cedar Street in Angleton.
On Saturday I’ll be signing books at the Galveston Bookshop, 317 23rd Street in Galveston, from 2 to 4 p.m.
On Sunday I’ll be signing books at Eighteen Seventy-One, 2217 Strand in Galveston, from 1 to 3 p.m.
Hope to see y’all there!
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Dead Confederates, A Civil War Era Blog 
Congratulations on getting a review in the mainstream press. Given cutbacks at most newspapers, that’s increasingly hard to do. I realize that you’re a local author, but I’d also say it’s a testament to the quality of your book and your talent that the reporter opted to review it when there are so many books coming on the market these days. Well done!
Congratulations on the review in the Galveston County Daily News. Based on excerpts I’ve read, Mark Lardas is spot on in his very positive and thoughtful review. Kudos!
What CBC and valleau said.
I can easily understand why the subject engrosses you. Not only were ships like the Will o’ the Wisp perfect examples of mid-19th Century hi-tech and specialized engineering, they were just plain gorgeous, even futuristic-looking, what with their clean lines and lean and speedy look. Sort of the cigarette boats of their day, I guess. (I got bitten by the Civil War naval bug during a visit to Ft. Morgan and Mobile Bay a few years ago.)
The first-person accounts of the blockade runners I’ve come across so far make for great reading. There’s a kind of romance to them that’s hard to come by elsewhere in that war, since they won their victories through cleverness, daring, seamanship and sometimes a hearty dose of luck, instead of by shot and shell. Even if you’re no fan of the cause, it’s hard not to identify with them at least a bit, as the fox against the hounds.