September 4, 2013 Speaker Bio

Speaker: Ed Bonekemper

Topic: “How Robert E. Lee Lost the Civil War”

Time: 7:00 PM

Place: West Chester Borough Hall, Gay Street

 

Our speaker this month is Edward H. Bonekemper, III. I am sure that many of you remember Mr. Bonekemper, he

has spoken to our Round Table before. I can remember one talk he gave about “How Grant Helped Lee Lose the
War” February 2005. Mr. Bonekemper lives in Willow Street, PA with his wife for over 40 years. I pulled just a small
amount of his Bio, as well as a sample of his large number of publications.  Over the past 14 years Mr. Bonekemper has spoken at the Smithsonian Institute as well as Roundtables in Chicago, Milwaukee, Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater Pittsburgh CWRTs to name a few.

  

Education:

J.D., Yale Law School, New Haven, CT (1967)

M.A., history, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA (1971) (Master’s thesis: “Negroes’

Freedom of Contract in Antebellum Virginia, 1620-1860”)

B.A., cum laude, American history, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA (1964)

 

Publications:

 

Lincoln and Grant: The Westerners Who Won the Civil War.  Published as e-book on Kindle and Nook in November 2011.  Published as hardcover and softcover book by CreateSpace in February 2012.

Grant and Lee: Victorious American and Vanquished Virginian (Praeger/Greenwood, Westport, Connecticut and London, 2008) (reissued as e-book, 2010)(being reissued as softcover by Regnery Press, December 2012)

McClellan and Failure: A Study of Civil War Fear, Incompetence and Worse (McFarland & Company, Jefferson, North Carolina, 2007) (reissued as softcover, 2010)

A Victor, Not a Butcher: Ulysses S. Grant’s Overlooked Military Genius (Regnery Publishing, Inc., Washington, D.C., 2004) (reissued as softcover under title Ulysses S. Grant: A Victor, Not a Butcher, 2010) (reissued as e-book, 2009). Nominated, by request, for the Lincoln Prize of the Civil War Institute. About 9,000 copies sold.

How Robert E. Lee Lost the Civil War (Sergeant Kirkland’s Press, Fredericksburg, VA, 1998, hardcover and softcover (reissued as e-book, 2010).  Nominated for Virginia Book of the Year.  Over 8,000 copies sold.

·         Adjunct Lecturer, Muhlenberg College, U.S. military history (American Military

History: The Revolution to Vietnam, Civil War, World War II)(2003-present)

·         Included in 2006-07 edition of Who’s Who Among American Teachers &

Educators

 

Commander, U.S. Coast Guard Reserve (Retired)