The Fine Line

As a historian/author, I have to walk a fine line in my writing about a subject.  When it comes to my books on the Great War, I have to present not just the good about the men I write about, but their weaknesses as well.  Such is the case with my latest book on Bert Hall which I’m hip-deep on writing. 

Historians should be relatively fair and balanced.  It isn’t easy with a character like Bert Hall.  But I am finding out some truths that were a bit surprising as I dig through the thousands of pages of research material.

When I was writing Terror of the Autumn Skies about Frank Luke Jr., I was tempted to expand on what I was thinking about Frank’s relationship with Marie Rapson and the possibility that they may have had a child.  I could never find the proverbial smoking gun, simply facts that, if taken in the right context, pointed to this birth happening. Proving it and thinking its right are two different things.  So I presented the facts in the book and allow the reader to form their own opinion.  It was the right thing to do and I stand by my decision. 

In Cruise of the Sea Eagle where I wrote about Count Felix von Luckner I did the same sort of thing about his alleged ties to the early Nazi movements.  There’s facts, then there are speculations.  As a historian, I had to straddle that line carefully.  I had to present the known facts and from there, readers need to draw their own conclusions. 

I’m having the same sort ‘fun’ with my Bert Hall book project. 

One thing I intend to probe is Bert Hall’s reputation.  Many of the ‘sources’ of the stories about bawdy Bert can be tied to one man – Paul Rockwell.  This presents something that every character needs, an antagonist.  Paul certainly filled that role for Bert.  It is clear that Paul Rockwell had a hatred of Bert Hall that began with his brother’s death in 1916.  He fed information (true or false?) to historians for years, working hard to minimize or even exclude Bert Hall from the Lafayette Escadrille’s history.  This was validated when I spent time at Washington and Lee University in their collection of Paul Rockwell’s correspondence and materials.  So while I will present the perspective of Bert that most people are familiar with – the brothel hopping, card cheating, scoundrel…I will also present how that image got formed and what was behind it. 

In the research for this book I have also come across some tid-bits of information that present Bert in a less-than-lovable light.  Those will go into the book as well. 

In the end I want readers to form their own opinions.  My job is to present the facts.  All I can say is if you think you know Bert Hall, I intend to give you some new details about his fascinating life and career that will force you to rethink your view on the man.  If nothing else, it is entertaining.  I’d write more, but Chapter Seven is calling me...

Preparing for the summer book tour(s)

This is a big year for me on a number of writing fronts.  Coming out soon is Secret Witness, my first true crime book on the murder of Nola Puyear in Marshall Michigan in 1967.  Coming out at nearly the same time will be Business Rules:  The Cynic’s Guidebook to the Corporate Overlords.  Then in July, a real exciting book, Virginia Creeper.  Then, this autumn I jump back into military history with, The Bad Boy: Bert Hall: Aviator and Mercenary of the Skies.  I’m also hoping to get at least one more book done before December.  Truth be told, I can’t think out that far. 

One of the things most authors don’t talk about is the publicity that we need to do to help sell books.  In the last few weeks I have been arranging for the book tour events just for Secret Witness.  For me, this is planning a week in Michigan doing lectures and book signing events.  I’m also hoping to do a few book clubs – if everything works out.

You would think it would be easy, but you have to try in a short period of time (a week) to arrange multiple events with multiple venues, with multiple calendars. It means finding bloggers willing to do interviews with me about the book – and finding the right places to go and speak. 

I have about five events where we are still playing with the dates etc., but as it stands the first week of June I will be in Michigan (Battle Creek, Marshall, Kalamazoo, Detroit areas) doing the following events for Secret Witness:

June 4             Be Scene TV interview in Battle Creek

                        7:00pm Marshall Public Library
June 6             Albion Public Library, 12:15pm
June 8             Kazoo Books in Kalamazoo at 6:30pm

I have a few more events scheduled, more about those as I lock down the dates. 

If you are in the area, drop in.  Heck, bring your BattleTech novels to get them signed if you want.  Also, if you have a venue in Michigan that week, or a book club you think would enjoy speaking with an author about their book – reach out to me.   If you write a blog, I do blog interviews too. 

As far as the other venues for the other books…I’m working on it!  Suffice it to say, I will be doing a lot of public speaking stuff in the coming year just to keep up with this publishing schedule.  I look forward to seeing or hearing from you. 

My Bert Hall book project is leaping forward!

This week has been focused on my Bert Hall book – The Bad Boy: Bert Hall: Aviator and Mercenary of the Skies.   I’m pleased to say I have a contract in-hand for the project.  I will be announcing the publisher soon.  Needless to say it has taken a long time to reach this point and frankly I’m quite excited. 

Three years of research is finally taking form in words on paper (so to speak – really it’s just words stored digitally, but humor me…) So far I am through three chapters and plowing ahead.  I’m still doing research too, which makes for a fun parsing of my time.  I would complain but I am loving it. 

The research is taking me down some paths I had not planned on traveling – which is what research has a tendency to do.  I spent two weekends ago going over material from the Revolutionary War – both research and writing.  What does the Revolutionary War have to do with Bert Hall?  Let’s just say that I have learned if you want to write about the man, you have to dig into the family history.  Bert Hall comes from a long line of rebels – both in the Revolutionary War and his father in the American Civil War. 

I have solved more than a few mysteries in the last few weeks too.  The biggest was around Bert’s autobiographies.  He wrote one right after the Great War and another ten years later.  I finally have good primary research material detailing why Bert’s second autobiography, One Man’s War, not only didn’t jibe with his first – but introduced material that was outright fiction.  When you are a researcher and you hit a homerun like this – in the form of a stash of letters – it’s just plain fantastic. 

For me this book is the last book of a trilogy of sorts.  I started with Terror of the Autumn Skies about Frank Luke Jr.  In that book I found a reference to Frederick Zinn who helped qualify what happened when Frank was shot down.  That led me to write a book about Frederick Zinn – Lost Eagles.  One of Zinn’s lifelong friends was Bert Hall of the Lafayette Escadrille.  I researched enough of him to realize that Bert deserved a book on his own.  It’s a little weird where your research takes you; it can be a rollercoaster ride.  And like a ride, it is a lot of fun along the way. 

This book is coming out this autumn.  I have some fun things planned when it comes out, fun if you are a WWI aviation aficionado/buff, so make sure you follow my blog from time-to-time.  Until then, I need to get back to Chapter 4…

Researching the Lafayette Escadrille

Weston Birch "Bert" Hall

In working on my upcoming book on Bert Hall, I have been drawn into the researching the Lafayette Escadrille.  It has been fascinating and enlightening.  At the same time, I find myself being drawn into doing my job as a historian – that is trying to arrive at the truth.  In some cases this may require the rattling of a myth or two. 

It is important to note that Bert’s involvement with WWI aviation was only one part of his incredible life as a soldier of fortune.  My book will cover his war experience but will also tell the whole story of Bert’s fantastic life; good and bad.  From Chinese aviation, to the motion picture industry, Bert Hall led the kind of life that many only dream of.  Bert’s saga cut its teeth when he was in the Lafayette Escadrille – so it is something I have had to immerse myself in.   

For those of you that don’t know the Lafayette Escadrille was a squadron of young Americans volunteers that were flying for France in WWI.  They were fighting the Germans a full two years (in aviation) before America declared war.  Many of her early members were members of the French Foreign Legion…Americans that had been in the fight since 1914.  These men (and those of the larger Lafayette Flying Corps) went on to be the foundation of the American Air Service.   The unit and the men that flew for her were known by almost everyone in the United States at one time.  The unit was a household name for years.  Their exploits made almost every newspaper in the country.  America’s brightest and best young men, using the latest technology (aircraft) to fight a war we were still unwilling as a people to commit to  - it was wonderful press. 

The original members were referred to as the, “Valiant 38.”  Most were from ivy-league colleges.  They were, in most cases, rich kids.  Bert Hall didn’t fit that mold.  He was older than most of these kids.  He never attended college.  Bert was not in the war for glory or honor, he was in it for himself and to hopefully make a buck.  Bert didn’t come from the same mold as these men.  But they too were imperfect.   

My research efforts last week took me to the Paul Rockwell collection at Washington and Lee University.  Paul Rockwell was the historian of the Escadrille.  His brother was one of the first American aviators killed in combat in the unit.  Paul Rockwell dedicated his life to embellishing the history of the Escadrille and the memory of his brother Kiffin.   Sometimes that dedication bordered on obsession.  I think we are all richer for the work he did, but it must be viewed from a historian’s skeptical perspective. 

In going through the fourteen boxes of material and photographs it became clear quickly that Paul Rockwell had a strong dislike of Bert Hall.  Some of that was probably earned – no, definitely earned.  Rockwell carefully sculpted the history of the unit with historians that worked with him on their books and articles about the unit.  I could see clearly how he excised Bert from the Lafayette Flying Corps and Lafayette Escadrille Memorial in France.  He went so far as to control images used in some books, cropping Bert out of the images (and hopefully out of the history of the unit.)  Paul Rockwell worked quite hard to script out the image that the public would have of the escadrille, even if that meant he had to alter the truth. 

A prime example of this is Paul Rockwell’s campaign against the movie, Lafayette Escadrille.  There was a full box of material in the collection at Washington and Lee of his letter writing smear campaign against this 1950’s film.  He wrote Time, Newsweek, The New York Times; anyone that would listen.  He rallied the survivors of the unit and in some cases their families into his campaign.  He used phrases like, “sullying the memories of the honored dead,” to drill home his points.  Some of his complaints were valid.  The movie was a Hollywood version of history – which meant it was inaccurate.  No shock there. 

Some of what he went off about represents how he tried to change the history of the unit.  “This movie portrays the members of the unit drinking alcohol.  The lead character meets a charming prostitute in a brothel and falls in love with her.  Members of this unit did not frequent brothels nor were they given to drink.”  Really?  I have come across accounts that Bert Hall and Raoul Lufbery were both known to frequent brothels.  Almost all of the members of the Escadrille drank – there are photos of them drinking.  In his later years Paul Rockwell seemed obsessed with making the unit into something that it wasn’t.   He was not being a good historian but instead was corrupting history. 

In going over the vast number of letters in the Rockwell collection, I began to see a more rounded story about Bert Hall and of the Escadrille as a whole.   I found that using the letters of the men from the period gave me a better grip on the unit.  I thought I was going to be writing about Bert Hall’s life.  Little did I realize how I would be drawn into the Escadrille and its own starry history.  For WWI buffs out there, I hope you find my new research findings of interest.  It does not alter the history of the unit, but brings clarity to this famous group of men.  For those of you not familiar with the Lafayette Escadrille, I think you’ll find my perspective, tied closely to Bert Hall, to be intriguing. 

More in future blogs…I promise.