A Storm in Flanders: The Ypres Salient, 1914–1918: Tragedy and Triumph on the Western Front

Winston Groom is the author more than twelve books, including A Storm in Flanders, Forrest Gump, Better Times Than These, As Summers Die, and the prizewinning Civil War history Shrouds of Glory. His book Conversations with the Enemy was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. "If you see a line, go stand in it, probably can't hurt nothing" is a sample of the pithy wisdom of Forrest Gump by Gump's creator, Winston Groom. Winston Groom took the publishing world by storm when his 1986 novel Forrest Gump flew to the top of the New York Times bestseller list and stayed there for 21 weeks. It has sold over 2.5 million copies in the United States alone on the heels of its blockbuster movie adaptation starring Tom Hanks. The book has also been reprinted in at least thirteen countries. Born in 1943, Groom grew up in Mobile, Alabama. In 1965 he graduated from the University of Alabama and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army. He served in Vietnam with the Fourth Infantry Division from July 1966 to September 1967 when he was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain. He then spent the next eight years working as a reporter and columnist for the Washington Star before becoming a full-time author. He holds several honorary Ph.D. degrees as a "Doctor of Humane Letters." In addition to Forrest Gump and Gump & Co., Groom's novels include Better Times Than These, the award-winning As Summers Die, which was made into a movie starring Bette Davis, Gone the Sun and Only. He is also the co-author of Conversations with the Enemy, a non-fiction account of the experience of an American prisoner of war in Vietnam, brilliantly rendered and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. His novel, Such a Pretty, Pretty Girl, was published by Random House in the spring of 1999. He has also written The Crimson Tide, a pictorial history of football at the University of Alabama which was published by the University of Alabama Press in the fall of 2000. He has recently finished a novel, El Paso, set in 1916. As well as being a talented novelist, Groom is also a serious student of history. On of his books, the prize-winning Shrouds of Glory, published by Grove-Atlantic, is a meticulous, atmospheric history of the little known, but very dramatic, Western Campaign of the Civil War, inspired by tales of his great-grandfather who fought for the Confederate Army. A Storm in Flanders, his riveting World War I history, will be published by Grove-Atlantic in the spring of 2002. Many of his books are recorded and available from Books on Tape, P.O. Box 7900, Newport Beach, CA 92658. Telephone: 1-800-626-3333 or booksontape.com. Groom has written for numerous magazines, including Vanity Fair, Southern Living, Conde NastTraveler, Newsweek, Esquire, and the New York Times Magazine and contributed editorial articles to the New York Times and the Washington Post. He has made repeated appearances on all the television network morning talk shows as well as PBS's Frontline and CBS' Sunday Morning. He is also in demand on the lecture circuit, not only because of Forrest Gump, but also for his history books. For his lecture information, contact The American Program Bureau, 36 Craft St., Newton, MA 02158 Telephone: 617-965-6600. He has also appeared as an actor in the acclaimed Warner Brothers movie of Willie Morris' novel, My Dog Skip. The first weekend of June each year, Groom leads a popular literary festival at the North Carolina mountain resort of High Hampton. Past guests have included: Pat Conroy, William Styron, George Plimpton, Shana Alexander, Gay Talese, Kaye Gibbons, Peter Maas, Willie Morris and P.J. O'Rourke. Information about this event can be obtained by writing or call The High Hampton Inn and Country Club, P.O. Box 338, Cashiers, NC 28717. Telephone: 828-743-2411- www.High HamptonInn.com He lives with his wife, Anne-Clinton and their three-year-old daughter, Carolina, in the mountains of North Carolina and Point Clear, Alabama, where he enjoys the public's continued warm response to his loveable, unlikely hero, Forrest Gump. He believes as Forrest says, "Always be able to look back and say, 'At least, I didn't lead no humdrum life.'"