OLLI member Doug Smock will give a talk based on research for his newly published book Forgotten Battles and American Memory. The new talk will examine a Confederate massacre of Black Union soldiers at Fort Pillow, Tennessee in 1864 that was led by Nathan Bedford Forrest. Southern writers such as William Faulkner and Shelby Foote venerated Forrest even though he was a slave trader before the war and one of the leaders of the KKK after the war. Doug visited the fort and talked with scholars and National Park Service historians in an attempt to understand why many of Forrest’s statues still remain in the South. The story of Forrest is even distorted in a state museum at the battle site. Doug will also make comments on the process of how he researched, wrote, published and marketed his book if anyone is interested in the process of how a nonfiction book is created by a novice.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., Doug Smock is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He joined the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as a staff writer in 1969, and later became chief editor of magazines published by McGraw-Hill and Reed Elsevier in New York City and Boston. He co-wrote two books on supply chain management: Straight to the Bottom Line and On-Demand Supply Management under the banner of J. Ross Publishing. After retiring in 2012, he toured battlefields with his brother Bob and began writing stories that evolved into Forgotten Battles and American Memory. Part of Doug’s research was done during Covid at Weymouth libraries. He is a member of the Blue and Gray Education Society and was a background news editor/actor in the 2022 remake of the Boston Strangler movie.

The event will be open to OLLI members and to the general public. To register email ollireg@gmail.com or call 617-287-7090.