In time for next year's 150th anniversary of the outbreak of the Civil War, Troubadour Interactive announces the re-release of its critically-acclaimed electronic resource, "Fateful Lightning," a comprehensive study of the war featuring original text, period music, and an extensive series of animated maps.

The recent release also coincides with renewed concern for the rising cost of xtraditional textbooks, a concern the publisher has sought to address in pricing the program under $15 for a one-year subscription. Aimed at the library and school markets as well as Civil War enthusiasts and general-interest readers, the title has been approved by the State of California, among others, for use as an electronic textbook at the high school level and beyond. A Study Guide with suggested excercises and evaluative materials is available for educators upon request, and an unrestricted, disc-based version of the new edition, with study guide, is in the works.

Originally published in 1995 as a stand-alone program for the computer desktop, "Fateful Lightning" has been substantially upgraded for the current edition, yet retains the core content and design that prompted Library Journal to call it "the best integrated Civil War disc we've found." Conceived and authored by multimedia developer David Inglehart, the work includes: 130,000-word narrative text by historian William Hillenbrand, covering socio-political affairs as well as detailed accounts of the major military campaigns; Civil War songbook by folk musicologist Dennis Kennedy, with twelve recordings of period songs arranged and performed by the author; over 35 animated campaign and battle maps (with explanatory audio); original battlefield photographs; archival imagery of key civilian and military figures; pop-up biographical sketches; video clips; Google search functionality and more.

At a time when the Civil War promises to be of renewed interest to growing numbers of online readers, "Fateful Lightning" returns in a  format accessible to a wide audience, academic and otherwise. The program has been designed for use with Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, and provides links for the easy installation of either browser. For more information or to subscribe, visit www.troubadourinteractive.com.