Where to find signed books in coastal Maine, March 31 edition

More than a year into the pandemic I was realizing that I haven't set foot south of Portsmouth, New Hampshire since February 2020, despite having a book come out. But things are slowly loosening up as vaccinations increase and in the past week or two I've been able to sign books at a number of bookstores on the coast of Maine, where I live.

In support of local indie bookstores, I thought I'd advertise where those signed copies are right now. Proceeding from southwest to northeast....

[Update, 4/16/21: In Newington, N.H.'s Barnes & Noble as of today. (The trilogy, Lobster Coast, and Republic of Pirates.)]

In Portland: at Sherman's on Exchange Street (The American Nations trilogy and Lobster Coast) and Longfellow Books (all of them.)

In Freeport: at Sherman's. (The American Nations trilogy and Lobster Coast) 

In Brunswick: at Gulf of Maine Books. (Ditto)

In Augusta: at Barnes & Noble. (American Nations, Lobster Coast, Republic of Pirates, Union.)

[Update, 4/15/21: In Damariscotta at Sherman's (ditto).]

[Update, 4/30/21: In Camden at Owl & Turtle. (All save Ocean's End.)

In Belfast: at Left Bank Books. These copies:

In Bucksport: at BookStacks. (Union, American Nations, American Character.)

In Castine: at Compass Rose Books. These copies:

In Blue Hill: Blue Hill Books. These titles:

Bar Harbor: at Sherman's flagship store. This mountain of books:

Thanks for your support of your local bookstore, wherever you live.

An Online Event for UNION for Press Herald Subscribers, July 22

The Portland Press Herald is hosting a special event for subscribers: an online conversation between myself and Pulizter Prize-winning journalist and Press Herald digital editor Katherine Lee about Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood.

Katherine and I will kick off at 7pm. Subscribers can register via the links at this article announcing the event. (Make sure to use the email address your subscription is under.)

Thanks for supporting local journalism. To support local business, consider purchasing Union from one of Maine's many great, likely struggling-with-the-pandemic, independent bookstores. At this writing, you can find signed copies at Sherman's (Portland and Freeport); Gulf of Maine Books (Brunswick); Longfellow Books (Portland); and River Run Books just over the border in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Virtual book event for UNION, July 16

Back before the pandemic hit, my friends Nate Fick and Margaret Angell had very kindly planned to host a book launch party for Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood,  here in Maine. Large in-person events being impossible, we've gone virtual with this one, which means everyone's invited!

So please join us at 8 to 9 pm Eastern on July 16 -- Pacific-friendly for our colleagues on the West Coast -- for virtual cocktails, a bit from me about the book and how I came to write it, and plenty of time for questions from all of you.

With the partnership of our local independent bookstore, Longfellow Books, you can not only order the book, you can have it signed or personalized by yours truly before it's shipped to you. (Or any of my other titles.) Just let us know the details in the "notes" section when you order here:

https://www.longfellowbooks.com/book/9780525560159

Here are the Zoom logistics for the evening:

Join at 8pm ET from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://elastic.zoom.us/j/95429485303

Or iPhone one-tap (US Toll): +16465588656,95429485303# or +13017158592,95429485303#

Or Telephone:  +1 646 558 8656 (US Toll) 

Thanks again to Nate (whose own, genuinely riveting, 2006 book about serving in the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts has some surprise appearances from (now General) Mattis) and Margaret for hosting this, and to all of you for considering attending.

Talking with NPR's Tom Gjelten via Politics and Prose, June 28

COVID-19 has forced book tours have gone virtual, and my next stop for Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood is tomorrow, June 28, and it's a very cool one.

It's hosted by Washington, DC's famed bookstore, Politics & Prose, which uses an interview-and-audience-questions format via ZOOM. I'm delighted that Tom Gjelten -- of NPR fame, author of a great book on the effects of the 1965 immigration act, and fellow former Balkans-in-the-1990s correspondent -- is serving in the role of interviewer.

The event kicks off at 1pm. You can register for the Zoom-driven event here, and can also order books directly from the store's website. I'll be signing bookplates for them to add to those who want them.

Hope to see friends from DC and beyond there. [Update, 6/28/20: Thanks to Tom and P&P for a great event. The proceedings are now up on YouTube for your viewing pleasure.]

For some early reviews of Union, check out this post (Library Journal, American Scholar) and this one (Kirkus, Booklist) and reviews in The Christian Science Monitor (which also named the book to their Top Ten Books for June list) and the Washington Post (by none other than David Blight, renowned scholar of Douglass and the rolling back of the civil rights gains of the Civil War.)

Launching UNION virtually June 16 with Longfellow Books and MWPA

Despite the pandemic, my new book, Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood, goes on sale this coming Tuesday, June 16 and the good folks at Longfellow Books up here in Portland, Maine and the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance are hosting a virtual talk and signing at 7pm that evening.

You can register for the Zoom-driven event here, and can also order books in advance (or in real time) from Longfellow, now the city's oldest indie bookstore.

I'll talk a little about the book and how I came to write it, open up to questions from all of you, and (afterward) sign and/or personalize copies from anyone who purchases them. (The store will them ship them to you.)

For some prepub reviews of Union, check out this post (Library Journal, American Scholar) and this one (Kirkus, Booklist.)

I'll also be doing virtual events with Gibson's Bookstore of Concord, New Hampshire on June 24 (at 6pm, details here) and with Washington D.C.'s Politics and Prose on June 28, where author and NPR veteran reporter Tom Gjelten will be interviewing me about Union (register here.)

A few additional programming notes to kick off next week:

Mainers: I'll also be your guest Monday, June 15 on Maine Public radio's "Maine Calling," from 1 to 2pm Eastern.

Iowans: Catch me on Iowa Public Radio's "River to River" on June 16 from 9 to 9:30 Central.

Louisiana peeps: I'm on Baton Rouge NPR affiliate WKRF's "Talk Louisiana" at 9:45 Central on June 16

Wisconsiners: I'll be your guest on Wisconsin Public Radio's "Central Time" from 4 to 4:30 pm that same day, June 16.

Library Journal and the American Scholar on Union, my forthcoming book

Amazingly, the calendar says its just nine days until my new book, Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood, goes in sale. Book tour, as conventionally understood, has been largely cancelled by the ongoing pandemic, though there will be several virtual events and maybe even a couple of socially distanced outdoor in person ones. But there are some more early reviews.

Library Journal -- the trade publication of American libraries founded by Melil Dewey of Dewey decimal system fame -- gave Union a starred review, my first from them since my first book, Ocean's End, twenty years ago. Reviewer Michael Farrell writes: "Woodard is a gifted historiographer, and this excellent work will be appreciated by anyone interested in American history and how it came to be written." The review is currently not paywalled and found here.

In The American Scholar -- the magazine of the Phi Beta Kappa Society -- Jill Levoy of the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy wrote the first feature length review of the book, and it's one that's made my publisher very happy. "Beginning with the simplicity of fable, Union quickly builds into a surprisingly complex work of intellectual history," Levoy writes. "Woodard... shows just how powerful a form popular nonfiction can be in the hands of a disciplined writer who won’t tolerate generality or abstraction. Union moves quickly, skipping from one anecdote to the next. The lens is narrow. Physical detail is prominent. The writing is relentlessly accessible." Unfortunately, it's currently paywalled, unless you subscribe.

Union is available at socially distanced bookstores everywhere June 16.

American Nations becomes a Wall Street Journal Bestseller

Last week, my fourth book, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, made the Wall Street Journal bestseller list for the first time, eight years after its initial release. For the week ending July 20, it made #7 on the Non-fiction e-book list. (If you don't subscribe, other papers publish this list.)

The book also made #106 on the USA Today Bestseller List for all types of books and editions.

As you will likely surmise, most of the sales were e-books and, since the New York Times doesn't have a category for that, it didn't make the grey lady's lists, alas. (My publisher, at least, requires three national lists before bestowing the title "National Bestseller.")

Thanks to everyone who bought an e-book last week, or any edition at any time really!

Speaking on American Character in Portland, Oregon

I had a enjoyable whirlwind trip to Portland, Oregon last weekend to deliver the 2016 Oliver Lecture at the First Congregational Church, an event co-sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Oregon. I spoke about my new book, American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Freedom and the Common Good, which is something of a sequel to American Nations.

Thanks much to the excellent and engaged crowd, to Broadway Books for selling on site (and selling so many) and to the sponsors for having me. I look forward to visiting again when I have  more time.

While in town, I made the obligatory writer's pilgrimage to Powell's, the legendary Portland bookstore, which takes up an entire block and requires its cavernous rooms be color coded just to find one's way around. They now have signed copies (pictured), though Broadway Books has the grandest collection West of the Mississippi.

Also was reassured about Portland fits into American Nations' Left Coast, as the history, founders, and institutional history of the First Congregational (and, indeed, the once-rival Unitarian church up the street) illustrates the Yankee half of the equation so very well. (George Atkinson founded the church, and one of his leading biographers attended the event.)

Bowling Green (Ky.) Daily News reviews American Character

I was in Kentucky briefly earlier this week, signing some copies of American Character at Newport's Barnes & Noble en route to CVG, so it seems appropriate that the Bowling Green Daily News just reviewed said book, and glowingly so.

Thanks to Western Kentucky University's Aaron Hughey for the kind words. "“American Character” is an eye-opening critique and analysis that should be read by anyone interested in the future direction of our republic," he concludes. "I recommend it highly."

For those in Ohio, there are now signed copies of this and other titles at The Booksellers on Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati and at the B&N in Columbus's Polaris Mall.

Launching American Character, Portland, Maine, Mar. 17

My new book, American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good, goes on sale Mar. 15 and, while my "world premier" is in Portsmouth, New Hampshire that evening, the hometown launch party is on March 17 here in Maine.

So if you're in the area, come on over to Longfellow Books at the center of Portland at 7pm. There will be a reception, talk, and signing, courtesy of Longfellow and co-hosts, the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.

The first leg of the book tour continues in Newburyport, Falmouth, Boston and Beverly, Massachusetts; Greenwich, Connecticut, and Washington, DC, but more events in Maine and beyond are coming up.

Can't make the March 17 event? Good news: the Portland Press Herald, where I'm a staff writer, is hosting an American Character event at the Portland Public Library on March 30 at 5:30. Further details to follow.

Are you a Mainer who doesn't live near Portland? I'll be a guest on WCSH-6/WLBZ-2's "207" on March 14 and on MPBN's "Maine Calling" for the full noon hour on March 15.

Republic of Pirates becomes a #1 bestseller at Audible

Sales apparently drive sales. Consider:

Last week, Audible.com had a special $4.95 offer on the audio edition of my third book, The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down.

Today, Audible released their bestseller lists for the week to the Associated Press: Republic of Pirates was the #1 bestseller in non-fiction. Not bad for a nine year old book.

That is all.

American Character -- the first review

My fifth book, American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good is out on March 15th, but Kirkus has their advanced review up now at their website and in the new issue to hit the stands this week.

The pull-quote: "Thoughtful political theory for divisive times."

The book is available for pre-order at Amazon and presumably your local independent bookstore which, in my case, is Longfellow Books (where I'll be doing one of my first book tour appearances), Gulf of Maine Books, or Sherman's.

Selling (other people's) books with some great Maine authors, Portland, Nov. 29

I hope the Americans among you enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday. Our part of Maine was stricken with widespread power outages, but prior investment in a generator saved Thanksgiving dinner for twenty-some-odd at our house. It's still running out there, 36 hours after we lost power, noisily keeping the 19th century at bay.

For those with power or without who are looking for a more soulful way to participate in our country's crazed celebration of retail purchasing this weekend, Longfellow Books in Portland is hosting a genuinely fun event as part of the "buy local" effort in our region.

It all takes place tomorrow, Saturday Nov. 29. First, children's author-illustrators Chris Van Dusen and Scott Nash will be competing in a "draw off" against one another from 11 am to 1. This, I expect, will be quite amusing.

Then, from 1 to 3pm, authors Richard Russo, Monica Wood, Brock Clark, Genevieve Morgan and myself will each have some of our own handpicked titles of other people's works, and try to outsell one another in singing the praises of said titles.

Come on by; it should be a lot of fun.

Republic of Pirates hits New York Times Bestseller List for Travel

A pleasant surprise this month: The Republic of Pirates made the New York Times Bestseller List for the Travel category. Based on sales in the month of September here in the United States, it came it at number 6.

The book -- a history of the infamous pirate gang of which Blackbeard was a member -- was the inspiration for the NBC series "Crossbones" and influenced Starz' "Black Sails" and Ubisoft's Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag (which are both set with this gang). Its long been available in Spanish and Danish translations, but this year also in U.K, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Hungarian, and Chinese (Taiwan) editions.

"Unsettled" e-book release party, Oct. 16, Portland, Maine

"Unsettled", the 29-part series on the epic story of Maine's Passamaquoddy people over the past half century, is now available as an e-book and the Portland Press Herald is throwing a reception.

If you live in the vicinity of Portland, Maine -- or have frequent flyer miles to burn -- consider coming to the Oct. 16 event at the Salt Institute. Photographer Gabe Souza and myself will be there to answer questions about the series, with Press Herald Executive Editor Cliff Schechtman moderating. It kicks off at 6:00 pm, but space is limited so do RSVP using this link.

Here's the invite:

The ebook, published by the Press Herald, will be available free to subscribers and from iTunes and Amazon for everyone else. [Update, 10/16/14: The ebook is out now; links to download or purhase here.]

Hope to see you there.

On pirates in Connecticut, Britain, and video games

The golden age pirates, the subject of my third book, The Republic of Pirates, are returning to the zeitgeist with gusto. Yes, there's the NBC series based on the book coming in February, with Neil Cross writing the script and John Malkovich playing Blackbeard, but that's not all. Consider:

There's a worldwide publicity drive afoot for the new Assassin's Creed video game release, Black Flag, which is also set among the Golden Age Pirates. This week, The Telegraph of India interviewed the game's chef scriptwriter, Darby McDevitt, who kindly plugged Republic of Pirates: "Colin’s book provided us with the answer to one crucial question we had –– how do we get all of the most famous pirates in history together in the same story? It turns out that The Republic of Pirates was the answer." (For more on the golden age pirates, enjoy my recent Game Informer interview.)

Meanwhile, UK's PanMacMillan has revealed the forthcoming publication of the UK and Commonwealth edition of Republic of Pirates. The release date is set for January 2014, just ahead of NBC's "Crossbones." As is often the case in Britain, it's going straight to paperback, retailing for just £8.99, or about the annual wages of an ordinary sailor in 1715. (Thank you, inflation.)

Examiner.com, an online sweatshop for freelance writers, today named "Crossbones" one of the "top five promising premises for the fall tv season", which is even more impressive given that it's a mid-season replacement, so not out in the fall at all. "Old ‘Blackbeard’ is played by the incomparable John Malkovich," the writer notes. "‘Nuff said." I'd actually add a bit about writer Neil Cross being the creator of BBC's crime drama "Luther" too, but point taken.

Finally -- and unrelated to any of the above -- The Hartford Courant ran this piece on pirates in Connecticut and approaches, drawing heavily from an interview I did with them earlier this year.

Talking American Nations on KUAR - Little Rock

I recently recorded a two-part American Nations interview on "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow", a generational-minded program produced by KUAR, the regional public radio station based at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock. The first part ran this week and is now available online.

Listeners in Arkansas -- a state divided between the Deep South and Appalachia -- can hear the second half on next week's program.

Thanks to producer Phil Mariage for his interest. [Update, 10/23/13: part two of the interview is now available as well.]

On an unrelated topic, thanks also to those of you who came to last night's oceans-related presentation at the Portland Museum of Art. I'm pleased so many have discovered Ocean's End, a book that was perhaps a few years ahead of its time; if you're not familiar with the Bigelow Laboratory's work, do check them out.

And if you want to read up further on the oceans or American history, consider doing so via a Longfellow Books' gift certificate. The stalwart independent bookstore was flooded by a freak accident triggered by last week's epic blizzard and could use the shot in the arm!

Meeting readers at MWPA's Holiday Book Sale, Nov. 23

If you live in or near Portland, Maine and are wondering how best to spend -- or avoid -- the Black Friday shopping experience, may I suggest seeking sanctuary at the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance's 2012 Holiday Book Sale?

MWPA has teamed up the Friends of the Portland Public Library and Portland's own Longfellow Books, to host the annual event Friday, November 23, from 2 to 5pm. More than a dozen Maine authors will be on hand to meet readers, sign books, and hide from the bustle of the Maine Mall.

I'll be there, but despite that you may still want to come by to meet fellow authors including Janis Bolster, Susan Conley, Gail Donovan, Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, Brenda Gilchrist, Margaret Hathaway, Preston Hood, Wesley McNair, Elizabeth Miles, Jim Nichols, Patricia O'Donnell, and Elizabeth Peavey.

It's at the main branch of the Portland Public Library on Monument Square.

American Nations, the Penguin paperback

I'm pleased to announce that my most recent book, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America, is now available in paperback. Penguin put their edition on sale last week, with slightly modified cover art and the current map of the nations.

The book is also available in Viking hardcover, Kindle, Nook, and audiobook editions. I've provided links to the Amazon pages for informational purposes, but buy them from your local bookseller if your community is fortunate enough to still have one. (Here in Portland, Maine, that's Longfellow's where there are usually signed copies in stock.)

For more on the book, try the reviews and media available from the American Nations page at colinwoodard.com.

Best Portland Author 2012

My thanks to the readers of Maine's Portland Phoenix for kindly naming me Best Author in the paper's Best of 2012 contest.

Other winners included Portland Buy Local (Best Cause), Novare Res (Best bar, beer selection, and patio), and our peerless watch shop, Swiss Time (Best Place To Have A Good Time.)

For local fans of American Nations, The Republic of Pirates, The Lobster Coast, and Ocean's End, I try to keep Best Bookstore 2012 -- Longfellow's -- stocked with signed copies.