Unsung Hero of American History

I want to give a shout-out to my friend Mark Leslie for his book, Midnight Rider for the Morning Star. It’s the story of Francis Asbury, a late 18th/early 19th-century Methodist bishop who rode thousands of miles on horseback to preach the Gospel of Jesus to early America. If this sounds like a dry historical biography, it’s not – Mark presents Asbury’s story as a fictional narrative (based on extensive factual research), and it’s riveting. Asbury was chased by Indians, wolves and British soldiers, eluded bullets, hid out in swamps and forests, and generally lived life on the edge as a frontierman. Although relatively unknown today, he became as familiar at the time as such contemporaries as Washington, Jefferson and Franklin. For more details, go to http://francisasburysociety.com/.

Next up on my reading list: A Few Seconds of Panic: A 5-Foot-8, 170-Pound, 43-Year-Old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL, in which writer Stefan Fatsis spent the 2006 season as a member of the Denver Broncos; and Wind, Sand and Stars, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a 1920s-era French pilot who flew the mail over Spain, France and North Africa. So many books, so little time …