NEW YORK CITY CIVIL WAR ROUND TABLE PRESENTS

ITS PRESTIGIOUS FLETCHER PRATT LITERARY AWARD FOR 2013

TO ALLEN C. GUELZO

FOR HIS BOOK “GETTYSBURG: THE LAST INVASION”

On May 14, 2014, The Civil War Round Table of New York presented the 58th Annual Fletcher Pratt Literary Award for best non-fiction book of the year to Allen C. Guelzo from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.


The prestigious Fletcher Pratt Award was presented by Bud Livingston, Past President of the Civil War Round Table of New York and Chairperson of the Awards Committee, at the Round Table’s 580th meeting to three-time Lincoln Prize Winner Professor Allen C. Guelzo for his book, “Gettysburg: The Last Invasion.”

Awards Chairperson Bud Livingston, in his final year as head of the committee, praised Dr. Guelzo and his prize-winning book for being “one of the easiest selections as the best civil war book of the year!” Livingston welcomed this year’s award winner to join the “legends of civil war historians, authors and writers” who have won the award over the past 57 years. As Livingston remarked, “With all the words ever written about this most important battle, who would have thought that there would be some much more to say then in this brilliantly written, compelling, wonderful book.”

The Fletcher Pratt Award was established in 1956. One of the charter founding members of the Civil War Round Table of New York, Fletcher Pratt was a prolific writer. Pratt authored 16 books, including six on the American Civil War. At a meeting of the board of directors held on June 19, 1956 just eight days after his untimely death James D. Horan proposed that a Fletcher Pratt Literary Award be established as a memorial to a distinguished member and second president of the Round Table (1953-54). Approved unanimously as proposed, the award, in the form of a scroll, is presented to the author or editor of the best non-fiction book on the Civil War published during the course of a calendar year. Previous winners have included such Civil War luminaries as Bruce Catton, Burke Davis, Allan Nevins, Harry Hansen, Shelby Foote, Clifford Dowdey, Edwin Coddington, John Y. Simon, David Donald, William C. Davis, William McFeely, Stephen Sears, Richard McMurray, Edward Longacre, James I. Robertson, Noah Trudeau, Steven Woodworth, Wiley Sword, Gary Gallagher, Gordon Rhea, Joseph T. Glatthaar and Amanda Foreman, just to name a few.

Dr. Allen C. Guelzo is the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era and Director of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College. He is the author of  Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President the Lincoln Prize Winning Book for 2000;  Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America again the Lincoln Prize Winner for 2005; Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates That Defined America Winner of the Abraham Lincoln Institute Prize for 2008; and most recently, Gettysburg: The Last Invasion Co-Winner of the Lincoln Prize and Fletcher Pratt Literary Award for 2013. Professor Guelzo has written other books and numerous articles and essays which have appeared in scholarly journals, and also in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Post, to name a few publications. He has also appeared on radio and television, including The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. A wonderful, brilliant and provocative speaker, he has been described as “the best speaker ever on the Civil War.” He and his wife, Debra, live in Gettysburg.

Founded in 1951, The Civil War Round Table of New York generally meets on the second Wednesday of the month from September to June. Members assist each other with research, discuss preservation strategy for endangered battlefields, and listen to distinguished speakers as they talk about a particular aspect of the war. For the 2013-2014 Season, the meeting location is The 3 West Club at 3 West 51st Street in Manhattan.

For more information on the Civil War Round Table of New York, please contact The Civil War Round Table of New York at our mailing address: 139-33 250th Street, Rosedale, New York 11422. Or, if you prefer, call 718-341-9811, or email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Check out our website at www.cwrtnyc.org [1].



Photo credit: R.L. Burke
(From Left to Right: Bud Livingston, Fletcher Pratt Award Chairperson; Allen C. Guelzo, 2013 Fletcher Pratt Award Winner; Martin A. Smith, CWRTNY President)