In Celebration of Books - The Gunston School

In Celebration of Books - The Gunston School
In Celebration of Books
Adam Goodheart
Adam Goodheart is a historian, travel writer, essayist, and author of
The Last Island: Discovery, Defiance, and the Most Elusive Tribe on Earth
(September 2023). He lives in Washington, D.C., and on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where he is director of Washington College’s
Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience
. Goodheart’s articles have appeared in
National Geographic
,
Outside
,
Smithsonian
,
The Atlantic
, and
The New York Times Magazine
, among others. He is the recipient of a Public Scholar Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as a Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers.
He is also featured in a two-hour National Geographic documentary about North Sentinel Island,
“The Mission,”
premiering in theaters and streaming in late 2023.
Goodheart’s first book, the
New York Times
bestseller
1861: The Civil War Awakening
,
was a finalist for the
Los Angeles Times
Book Prize in history and was named Book of the Year by the History Book Club; the audiobook edition won the Audie Award for best history title of the year. A
cover review
in the
New York Times
called it “exhilarating” “inspiring,” and “irresistible,” adding, “1861 creates the uncanny illusion that the reader has stepped into a time machine.”
Among its other honors,
1861
was cited among the best books of the year by the
New York Times
,
The Atlantic
,
Kirkus Reviews
,
Slate
, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. President Obama invited Goodheart to the Oval Office to recognize
1861
’s role in having Fort Monroe, Va.—in which part of the book is set—declared a national park. He has made many broadcast media appearances, including on NPR’s
“Fresh Air,”
“Morning Edition,” and “All Things Considered,” as well as on the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and the History Channel.
Mission
At Gunston, we believe in the transformative power of language and the study of writing as craft. Our In Celebration of Books program is one way that we instill these values in our students. Each year, we invite a writer of local, regional, and national prominence to our campus. Consistent with our mission of educating “ethically and environmentally minded scholars, citizens, and leaders for our globalized society,” the program features authors from all fields and disciplines. In addition to a public reading or talk, each guest also visits the classroom, where students have the unique opportunity to interact with them in a highly-personalized environment.
History
For nearly three decades, In Celebration of Books has been a revered tradition at Gunston. It began in the boarding school days, where teachers would dress as their favorite authors. In time, the program evolved into a full day of workshops and readings that brought as many as twelve renowned writers to campus. Our current format is designed to provide students with consistent exposure to living writers, whose areas of expertise align with our curricular programming. Over the course of their four years at Gunston, students can expect to hear a diverse array of voices, from journalists and novelists to poets, historians, environmentalists, and other scientists.
Gunston has hosted such notable writers as the late Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Richard Ben Cramer; Nathaniel Philbrick, National Book Award winner for
In the Heart of the Sea
; the former poet laureate of Maryland, Michael Glaser; Tom Horton, author of numerous books about the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay region; and poet Nick Flynn, whose memoir was the basis for the film,
Being Flynn,
starring Robert DeNiro.
In Celebration of Books Welcomes Adam Goodheart
In Celebration of Books Welcomes Amy Kurzweil on October 20, 2025
In Celebration of Books Welcomes Peng Shepherd on March 24, 2025
In Celebration of Books features Elizabeth Rusch's “The 21”
Gunston Welcomes Andrew Maraniss for ICB