BELFAST — Left Bank Books, in downtown Belfast, invites the public to a free talk and book signing by New York Times best-selling author and historian Ronald C. White (A. Lincoln, American Ulysses), on Tuesday, August 13, at 6:30 p.m. The event will be held at The First Church in Belfast, located across the street from the bookshop. White’s latest book is the acclaimed biography On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.

On Great Fields has been widely hailed as the definitive biography of Chamberlain, Maine’s own history-altering Civil War hero, according to Left Bank, in a news release. Before 1862, Chamberlain had rarely left Maine, where he was a trained minister and professor at Bowdoin College. His colleagues were shocked when he volunteered for the Union army, but he was undeterred and later became known as one of the North’s greatest heroes: On the second day at Gettysburg, after running out of ammunition at Little Round Top, he ordered his men to wield their bayonets in a desperate charge down a rocky slope that routed the Confederate attackers. Chamberlain survived the war, going on to be elected governor of Maine four times and serve as president of Bowdoin College.

How did a stuttering young boy come to be fluent in nine languages and teach speech and rhetoric? How did a trained minister find his way to the battlefield? Award-winning historian White delves into these contradictions in this cradle-to-grave biography, while at the same time exploring a question that still plagues so many veterans: How do you make a civilian life of meaning after having experienced the extreme highs and lows of war?

On Great Fields captures the complex and inspiring man behind the hero. Heavily illustrated and featuring nine detailed maps, this gripping, impeccably researched portrait illuminates one of the most admired but least known figures in our nation’s bloodiest conflict.

White is a graduate of UCLA and Princeton Theological Seminary and received a Ph.D. from Princeton. He is a Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum in Washington, D.C., and has taught at UCLA, Whitworth University, Colorado College, and Princeton Theological Seminary. White has lectured at the White House and been interviewed on the PBS NewsHour. He has spoken about Lincoln across the world. White lives with his wife Cynthia in Pasadena, California.

Reservations are strongly recommended for this event Call 207-338-9009 or email info@leftbankbookshop.com. The First Church is located across the street from Left Bank Books, and there’s free parking in front of the church and in city lot adjacent to the bookshop.