The Burning Land: When the Family Goes to War, and the War Comes Home

On April 6, 2023, historian David O. Stewart delivered a lecture on the history behind his novel, The Burning Land, the second volume of his Overstreet saga. Writing a Civil War novel inspired by an ancestor’s long and tragic service in the Twentieth Maine Infantry meant considering how war changes soldiers, those closest to them, and communities. The impact on soldiers in combat has been called “soldier’s heart” and “shell shock,” “battle fatigue” and “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.” Each term reflects an effort to understand the impacts of facing death, and of performing acts that most have been taught never to do, impacts that can echo through life. Sometimes fiction can bring those matters closer. David O. Stewart turned to writing after a career practicing law in Washington, D.C. He is a national bestselling and award-winning author of several previous nonfiction books on American history, including Madison’s Gift: Five Partnerships That Built America and George Washington: The Political Rise of America’s Founding Father. He has also written several works of historical fiction, including the Fraser and Cook mystery series (The Lincoln Deception, The Paris Deception, and The Babe Ruth Deception) and the Overstreet Saga (The New Land, The Burning Land, and The Resolution Land [forthcoming]). The content and opinions expressed in these presentations are solely those of the speaker and not necessarily of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.