Howard Bahr, author of three critically acclaimed novels about the American Civil War, was born in Meridien, MS. Bahr, who served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War and then worked for several years on the railroads, enrolled at the University of Mississippi in the early 1970s when he was in his late 20s. He received his B.A. and M.A. from Ole Miss and served as the curator of the William Faulkner house, Rowan Oak, in Oxford, MS for nearly 20 years. He also taught American literature during much of this time at the University of Mississippi. In 1993, he became an instructor of English at Motlow State College, where he worked until 2006. His novels centering on the American Civil War are Black Flower, A Novel of the Civil War, The Year of Jubilo, and The Judas Field. He currently resides in Jackson, Mississippi, and teaches courses in creative writing at Belhaven College.