Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

Chris Mackowski, associate professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University, has co-authored three new Civil War books published this month. Two of the books, “A Season of Slaughter: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House” and “The Last Days of Stonewall Jackson,” are part of the Emerging Civil War Series. They follow Mackowski’s first book in the series, “Simply Murder: The Battle of Fredericksburg,” released last December. The third book released in May is a longer hardcover, “Chancellorsville’s Forgotten Front: The Battles of Second Fredericksburg and Salem Church.” All three books, co-authored with Mackowski’s longtime writing partner, Kristopher White, are available from publisher Savas Beatie LLC. The books in the Emerging Civil War Series are designed to be reader-friendly overviews of some of the Civil War’s most important battles and stories, with a focus on storytelling, Mackowski says. “The Civil War is America’s great story,”...

Chris Mackowski, associate professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University, is helping bring the undead back to life for iPad users. Mackowski’s work is featured in the inaugural issue of an interactive digital magazine called Undead Zine, launched this month for the Apple iPad. Mackowski, who taught an online class at St. Bonaventure this summer called “Pop Culture: Tales from the Zombie Apocalypse,” was recruited by the editors of Undead after they saw a series of zombie-related posts he had written last semester for the blog Scholars & Rogues (www.scholarsandrogues.com). “Intelligent, quality writing on the zombie genre is not easy to find, so it was very refreshing to read Chris’s writing,” said Undead co-creator and editor Matt Hill. Mackowski’s piece “Zombies: The New Media Darlings” serves as an introduction for the launch issue. The magazine also features an article by Mackowski titled “Night of the Living Dead: The Birth of the Modern Zombie,” ...

Chris Mackowski, associate professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University, has been selected to serve as the first-ever managing editor of Clockhouse Review, the literary journal of Goddard College. Goddard, located in Plainfield, Vt., is launching Clockhouse Review this summer with support from the college’s alumni-run Clockhouse Writers Conference. “Goddard has the oldest low-residency Master of Fine Arts (MFA) programs for creative writing in the country,” said publisher Tim Kenyon. “The program has continued to grow dramatically over the past few years, and the alumni wanted to help with that growth by launching the literary journal.” Clockhouse Review is an open-submission journal that will feature fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, playwriting, and graphic storytelling. Editorial teams select pieces through a blind judging process. As managing editor, Mackowski works with Kenyon and a staff of 15 editors and readers, and he helps coordinate the j...

The Friends of Hanley Library will host alumnus and author Chris Mackowski to speak about his new book “Chancellorsville: Crossroads of Fire” at 7 p.m. Jan. 11 at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. The talk will take place in the Mukaiyama University Room of the Frame-Westerberg Commons and is co-sponsored by the McKean County Historical Society/Old Jail Museum. “Crossroads” recounts the events of the Battle of Chancellorsville, a major battle in the American Civil War frequently cited as Confederate commander Robert E. Lee’s greatest victory because the Southern army overcame odds of nearly three to one. The book also serves as a tour guide for the battlefield and is the latest book in a Civil War series that will be authored by Mackowski. Mackowski is an associate professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, N.Y., and also works as a historian for the National Park Service at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, w...

Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps. Read it all at Newseum.org/YesVirginia or, better yet, read along with Chris Mackowski. Listen here . The original news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

1490 WESB presents Chris Mackowski's annual reading of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss at 12:35 this afternoon. You can also hear it online at WESB.com . Click on the "Listen Live" link. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Chris Mackowski, associate professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University, has published a new book on the Civil War battle of Chancellorsville. “Chancellorsville: Crossroads of Fire” recounts the events of the May 1863 battle, frequently cited as Confederate commander Robert E. Lee’s “greatest victory” because the Southern army overcame odds of nearly three to one. The book also serves as a tour guide for the battlefield. “There’s a lot that’s been written about the battle over the years, but not much has been written about the battlefield,” Mackowski says. “It was really a treat to be able to take readers behind the scenes and recount the history of the battlefield.” The book is designed so that readers can get an overview of the battlefield in a quick, easy-to-understand narrative, Mackowski explains. The book contains dozens of historical and contemporary photos and several original maps. “The books is something someone can pick up and read in an eveni...

Chris Mackowski, an associate professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University, has had an article accepted for the upcoming issue of Blue & Gray magazine. “The 1st Maine Heavy Artillery at Harris Farm: The Hometown Press Reports Their Baptism of Fire” tells the account of a Maine regiment that saw its first action during the Civil War at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse in May of 1864. The First Maine Heavy Artillery earned a place of infamy in Civil War history during the early days of the siege of Petersburg, Va. On June 18, 1864, the 900-man regiment charged across an open field of fire and sustained 67 percent casualties: 115 men killed, 489 wounded, and 28 missing — the highest casualty rate sustained by any unit in the army during the entire war, Mackowski’s article points out. But it was just outside Spotsylvania Courthouse that the unit first saw combat, just one month before the men made their ill-fated charge outside Petersburg. According...

To celebrate the 15-year anniversary of his reading of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" on WESB, Chris Mackowski worked with Dan Griffin to produce a very special show. You can hear it at 12:35 p.m. on 1490 WESB or at WESB.com .

Chris Mackowski, an associate professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University, has published a new book on one of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War. “The Dark, Close Wood: The Wilderness, Ellwood, and the Battle that Redefined Both” tells the story of the Battle of the Wilderness, which took place May 5-7, 1864, in central Virginia’s Spotsylvania County. The area was known as The Wilderness because it was sparsely settled and largely untamed. “The Battle of the Wilderness was particularly important because it was the first engagement between legendary Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the new commander of all Union armies, Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant,” Mackowski explains. “In the Wilderness, the two armies fought each other to a standstill, but instead of retreating as all of his predecessors did, Grant found a way to push forward. He wanted to turn the Civil War into a war of attrition because he knew the South had fewer men and resource...

The National Park Service is now featuring a series of short videos on its Web site produced by a St. Bonaventure University journalism professor. Chris Mackowski, associate professor of journalism and mass communication, created the videos to help promote Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park (FSNMP), a Civil War park in central Virginia. The videos appear on the park’s Web page. Two of the videos highlight the unique features of FSNMP, and two of the videos highlight the park’s internship program. A fifth video, also aimed at prospective interns, will appear later this month. “Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park is the second-largest military park in the world,” explained Mackowski. “The park encompasses four battlefields that span 18 months of the Civil War. We tried to capture, in just a few short minutes, a bit of the spirit of the park. Hopefully, people who watch the videos will be inspired to know more.” Mackowski worked with NPS historian ...

Chris Mackowski, an associate professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University, has published an article in a Civil War history journal. “From Foxcroft to Fredericksburg: Captain Sewell Gray of the Sixth Maine Infantry” appears in this year’s volume of Fredericksburg History & Biography, an annual journal published by the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust. This year’s volume — volume seven — was released in mid-December. Mackowski co-authored the article with Kristopher D. White, a historian who works at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, which encompasses four major Civil War battlefields in central Virginia. Mackowski works at the park one weekend a month as a battlefield guide and interpreter. Their article focuses on an officer, Sewell Gray of Foxcroft, Maine, who served with the Sixth Maine Infantry. Mackowski and White based their article on Gray’s diary, which recently came to light. “Sabbath and a lovelier day never overt...