{"product_id":"the-persistent-past-discovering-the-steele-diaries-paperback","title":"The Persistent Past: Discovering The Steele Diaries - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJohn D. Beatty\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis story starts and ends with weddings. Yeah, I know, a little odd for a story about wars, but there it is.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe first wedding is my oldest daughter's in 1995, where she tells me her new hubby bought an enormous steamer trunk with some old papers and diaries in it; I should have a look.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo, I look, and I find...you see, I'm an economic historian, so what I find in that old trunk...diaries, scores of 'em. And papers and a couple of flags, some medals... It's not even my period; much of it's early 20th Century. But I look around, and look, and look...\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd I'm hooked. I'm Curtis Durand, and I discovered Edmund Archer Steele in that steamer trunk.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNobody's heard of this guy, so I have to do some research, and some more, and I have to consult experts about the stuff in the trunk. Then, my teenage daughter gets hooked on Ned Steele, much to my wife's concern. She finds historians as exciting as model railroaders...which I am, also, but she doesn't find \u003cem\u003eme\u003c\/em\u003e dull, for whatever reason.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen, my boss says I should do something with these diaries. So do a lot of other people.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut because people know so little about this guy, I find it hard to \u003cem\u003everify\u003c\/em\u003e the trunk's contents. He might just be some blowhard puffing himself up, dropping names like Pershing and Marshall, Somerville and Allen, Dawes and Conner and Patton ...like he \u003cem\u003emet\u003c\/em\u003e these guys.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI find he's buried not far away from where I live, at what used to be his farm. His children are alive, and so is a younger brother, and a couple of other people who knew him.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen my oldest has her twins, and my job as a professor of American history expands and contracts, and I keep coming back to those diaries and the papers and the medals. And my daughter and I write \u003cem\u003eSteele's Battalion: The Great War Diaries\u003c\/em\u003e about this guy, who rises from Corporal to Brigadier General in less than two years because he's a genius with machine guns.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGradually the blanks fill in, and just as gradually I think I'm too invested in all this, so I go for a cure. When I come back...\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen there's this \u003cem\u003eother \u003c\/em\u003ewedding that took place in France in 1919. How do I find out about that? Well, it's in a diary, but you'll have to read \u003cem\u003eThe Persistent Past: The Steele Diaries\u003c\/em\u003e to find \u003cem\u003ethat \u003c\/em\u003eout\u003cem\u003e. \u003c\/em\u003eNot gonna tell you \u003cem\u003eall\u003c\/em\u003e my secrets here and now.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Persistent Past \u003c\/em\u003ereintroduces Curtis Durand from \u003cem\u003eThe Past Not Taken: Three Novellas\u003c\/em\u003e, and similar to that book, Curtis shows how history is recorded, one medal, one picture, one letter, one diary at a time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 326\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.68 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 26, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47267889938681,"sku":"9798998622304","price":26.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/M3ah-gcwru9798998622304.webp?v=1768873136","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/the-persistent-past-discovering-the-steele-diaries-paperback","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}