About

My name is Spencer Gantt. I was born in Pickens, South Carolina, a “loooooonngg” time ago. I only realized how long when my seventieth birthday up and slapped me in the face. “Not much time left, Spence, better get busy.” Reality sets in when you realize you aren’t going to live another seventy years nor have a blast doing it as you did the first seventy. In fact, you have relatively few years left even if you live to be eighty or ninety.

Mom moved from Pickens to Columbia in 1942. Dad stayed behind. A rambling man, you see. And, it’s tough prizin’ any of the native born out of the Scots-Irish upcountry of South Carolina. From there we went to Charleston in 1950. Ah, yes, Charleston, Charleston High and the Pianocade, the loves of my life (yeah, I played a bit of piano.) Rich, poor, SOB (Charlestonese), apartment complex … the city and the school grow on you. I only lived there ten years or so, graduated from CHS and have been here in Columbia since 1968. But, Charleston is my home and always will be.

A few years in and out of “The U of South Carolina”. What a great place! I still love to just set foot on the campus every month or so. Still frequent the TC library. I get the same feeling I had the first time I ever went there in the fall of ’58. But, a few weeks into my two year hitch in the Navy, I knew I had made a huge mistake by not staying with the books. Instead it was the Big Bird, the Opus (10¢ draft), ACC basketball games (Frank McGuire days), and a host of other distractions which were so much easier to cope with than studying. Oh, yeah. Girls.

Anyhow, two years “on the pond” got my attention, and I got the degree real quick upon discharge from Uncle Sam’s military. Then a real job. Westinghouse (30yrs). Marriage. Kids. Divorce. Marriage again. Grandkids. Retirement. You know the drill.

And here we are with the books. I write about only two subjects, Lincoln’s War and politics/government. Only three books so far, but more coming I believe. Difficult subjects to expect “Joe Sixpak and Jane Doe” to read about, right? True. Most people can’t stand the subject of history, and practically everyone loathes and despises politicians even though they will vote for the same sorry bastards each and every election.

So, I try to write a bit differently than most writers. I take two boring subjects and try to make them interesting by writing in a manner which can be easily read by folks from 9 – 90. That is, from a third-grader to great-grandma. I try not to bore you to death with dates and names and apologies and accusations. I do write what I consider to be “real” history. That is, “just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.” You can take those facts and decide what they mean. Just you, no “real historians” or “government pukes” needed to tell you how to think. I write for no justification of slavery, no “cause” of Lincoln’s War, no apologia, no “why” certain events happened and no “lost cause.” You read my books and decide; you determine why and how history evolved as it did.

My books are available at Amazon.com, the Kindle Store and CreateSpace.com. Barnes & Noble is going out of business. Borders is already gone. Can Books-A-Million be far behind? The Internet is the future. Look for my books there at low, reasonable prices.

One more thing. VOTE THE BASTARDS OUT! Whaddya say?