Bust Hell Wide Open: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest
About this audiobook
An intimate biography of Nathan Bedford Forrest, arguably the most interesting figure to emerge from the Civil War—widely admired as a military genius
At fourteen he became the head of his impoverished family, responsible for feeding eleven on the rough American frontier. By thirty-nine he had established himself as a successful plantation owner worth over $1 million. And at forty years old, Nathan Bedford Forrest enlisted in a Tennessee cavalry regiment—and became a controversial Civil War legend.
The legacy of General Nathan Bedford Forrest is deeply divisive. Best known for being accused of war crimes at the Battle of Fort Pillow and for his role as first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan—an organization he later denounced—Forrest has often been studied as a military figure, but never before studied as a fascinating individual who wrestled with the complex issues of his violent times. Bust Hell Wide Open is a comprehensive portrait of Nathan Bedford Forrest as a man: his achievements, failings, reflections, and regrets.
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About the author
Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr., was born in Mer Rouge, Louisiana. He attended Northeast Louisiana University, North Carolina State University, and the University of Tennessee, where he received his doctorate. A retired professor, he taught geography and military history at Henderson State University, Georgia Southern University, and the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He is on the faculty of the Stephen Dill Lee Institute and is the author of more than forty books, including Bust Hell Wide Open: The Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest; Vicksburg; It Wasn't About Slavery: Exposing the Great Lie of the Civil War; and Desert Fox: The Storied Military Career of Erwin Rommel. Dr. Mitcham is Heritage Operations Historian for the Sons of Confederate Veterans and is the commander of Camp 1714. He is a former army helicopter pilot and company commander, and is a graduate of the US Army's Command and General Staff College. He holds the Jefferson Davis Gold Metal for Excellence in the Research and Writing of Southern History.
Dan John Miller is an American actor and musician. In the Oscar-winning Walk the Line, he starred as Johnny Cash's guitarist and best friend, Luther Perkins, and has also appeared in George Clooney's Leatherheads and My One and Only, with Renee Zellweger. An award-winning audiobook narrator, Dan has garnered multiple Audie Award nominations, winning for The Wrecking Crew by Kent Hartman; has twice been named a Best Voice by AudioFile magazine; and has received several AudioFile Golden Earphones Awards and a Listen-Up Award from Publishers Weekly. He has narrated books by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Philip Roth as well as by Pat Conroy, Andre Dubus III, John Green, Nora Roberts, and Dean Koontz. Dan lives in the Detroit, Michigan, area with his wife, Tracee Mae, and their daughter, Frances Rose.
