Tuesday, November 4, 2014

ARIA Expo Blog Tour, Don Hagist

Mike:  Hi, Don.  I’m happy to have yet another Association of Rhode Island Author (ARIA) to introduce to my Overlords fan base.  As with the others, we’re going to do an old fashioned interview.  Here we go!



Mike:  Don, please introduce yourself to my Overlords fans with a little information about you and where you’re from.

DNH:  I’m Don N. Hagist, a native Rhode Islander with a great interest in the people who fought in the American Revolution.

Mike:  What are you working on these days and what’s the current status of that project?

DNH:  I’m just finishing up the manuscript of a book called “The Revolution’s Last Men: the Soldiers behind the Photographs” which will be released by Westholme Publishing in March 2015. It deals with six veterans of the American Revolution who lived long enough to have their photographs taken, but whose actual wartime service has never been accurately told.

When that’s done, I can get back to my real area of interest, the British soldiers who fought in America. The same publisher has asked for a new work on that subject, which I’ll start as soon as this current book is done.

Mike:  Can you tell the audience what inspires you to write?

DNH:  I always enjoyed reading military biographies and autobiographies. When I began to study the American Revolution, I discovered that there are great numbers of personal stories in manuscripts that have never been published.

Mike:  What genre do you enjoy writing the most?

DNH:  Well annotated but readable non-fiction. I strive to write history that a casual reader will find lively and engaging, and that a subject-matter expert will find impeccably accurate.

Mike:  Any upcoming projects we should now about?

DNH:  I’m on the editorial staff of a web magazine called Journal of the American Revolution which has been highly successful. It’s a great example of embracing a modern publishing model – the internet – to reach a wider audience than would otherwise be likely for informative, readable history. See it at http://allthingsliberty.com

Mike:  OK, time for some quick ones, ready?  Favorite movie?

DNH:  Um… anything with airplanes. If I wasn’t writing about the American Revolution, I’d be writing about aviation.

Mike: Favorite food or dish to make?

DNH:  Oh, I like food to much to pick a favorite. It’s all my favorite!

Mike:  Favorite place you have ever visited?

DNH:  Ooo, that’s also difficult – I’ve had the good fortune to travel a fair amount and to live in some other countries. I really enjoyed living in Galway, on the west coast of Ireland. But every place is full of interesting details.

Mike:  Favorite music band?

DNH:  Whatever’s playing on the alt rock stations right now.

Mike:  Favorite book, and no it can’t be one of yours!

DNH:  Again, I can’t pick just one. To Kill a Mockingbird; The Life of Pi; A Thousand Splendid Suns are favorites that I’ve read recently. I don’t write fiction because I could never do as well as those authors.

Mike:  Don, thanks for being such a good sport!  Is there anything you would like to leave my fans with?

DNH:  Besides “Thanks for reading?” In all modest, I do really good book talks, so if you need a speaker, keep me in mind!

Whether it’s reading, food, travel or what have you, always be open to trying new genres – in the famous words of Calvin and Hobbes, “There’s treasure everywhere!”

Mike:  Don, thanks for being part of this great blog series.  Please follow the links below to get in touch with Don and most importantly, buy his books!

You can get to all of his current books here:





You can follow the progress of the new book here (you don’t need a Facebook account):





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