The New York State Archives has the distinct honor and privilege of hosting the national awards ceremony for this year's Michael Shaara Award for Civil War Fiction. The award goes to Robert J. Mrazek for his novel, Stonewall's Gold, and the event is free and open to the public - Thursday, July 27, 5-7pm. The Museum Book Shop will be selling the book. The full press release is below:

                   Former NY Congressman Wins Book Award


        ALBANY - Robert J. Mrazek, former Congressman from Long Island's Third Congressional District, has been named the recipient of the 1999 Michael Shaara Award for Civil War fiction for his book, Stonewall's Gold (St. Martin's Press, 1999). The award will be presented at 5:00 pm Thursday, July 27, at ceremonies to be held at the New York State Archives in Albany. The event, which will include a reading, book signing and reception is free and open to the public.

Two other novels, The Night Inspector by Frederick Busch (Harmony Books) and Faded Coat of Blue by Owen Perry (Avon Books), were designated as Honor Books. Judges for the 1999 award were Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Winston Groom and Peggy Prenshaw.

The $1,000 award is funded by Jeff Shaara and created by Shaara and the U.S. Civil War Center at Louisiana State University. The award is named for Shaara's late father Michael, who wrote the Pulitzer prize-winning novel, The Killer Angels, on which the movie, Gettysburg, is based.
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While in Congress, Mrazek sponsored  the Landmark Preservation Act of 1989, which protected the Manassas battlefield from impending commercial development. Stonewall's Gold is his first novel.

        Mrazek's story takes place in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley in the final months of the Civil War. It tells the story of 15-year old Jamie Lockhart, who is searching for several crates of stolen Confederate gold. He wants to deliver them personally to Robert E. Lee. In his quest, he teams with 18-year old Katherine Dandridge, who wants to track down and kill the Confederate deserters who murdered her father.

        Shaara serves on the national advisory board of the U.S. Civil War Center, located at Louisiana State University. He is the author of Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure. His most recent novel, Gone for Soldiers, is set during the Mexican War.

        The mission of the U.S. Civil War Center is to promote the study of the Civil War from the perspectives of all professions, occupations and academic disciplines, including literature. The center is a department of the LSU Libraries Special Collections Division.

        The New York State Archives in Albany, NY holds one of the most important and extensive collections of Civil War records in the nation. The records total more than 184 cubic feet of unbound paper and fill an additional 2,155 bound volumes. They document the Empire State's crucial wartime role, from the outbreak of the Rebellion in 1861 through post-war efforts by the state to memorialize the deeds of New Yorkers who fought and died in the battle. New York provided more men, money and materiel to the war effort than any other state. The New York State Archives is a part of the State Education Department of the University of the State of New York.

    For more information, call (518)474-6926.