- Central New Jersey Author and Historian -
Donald Johnstone Peck
Question:
Why did I want to write a book about New Jersey’s role in colonial history and the American Revolutionary War?
Answer:
From my earliest recollections I was fascinated with local buildings and places and why they changed. As a child growing up in Woodbridge, the oldest township in New Jersey, I passed an historic marker on my walk to grammar school that described how “George Washington passed this way on April 22, 1789.” What I was to learn in subsequent years was that George Washington had in fact “passed this way” in Woodbridge during the revolution in 1776 as well! I was to learn that George Washington spent more than half of the American Revolutionary War within a thirty minute car drive from Woodbridge.
I also learned of the many local existing buildings where Washington and so many of the great American patriots and Loyalists stayed and the places associated with their military action. Here I found the stories of the struggle for political and religious freedom in colonial New Jersey compelling and I wanted to find ways to raise public awareness of their importance.
Through my many years of supporting and working to preserve historic sites in Colts Neck, Perth Amboy and Woodbridge, I came face to face with the challenge of others who shared my passion. How could I interest the public in visiting, supporting and preserving historic sites? I knew that the time would come when my efforts to lead preservation organizations would need to expand. Descriptive writing, colorful story telling and visual arts could also be effective techniques in raising levels of awareness. For my book A Spirited War I choose a renowned psychic to help me tell my story. This technique had worked in the castles of Great Britain and it also worked for the Proprietary House in Amboy. Art has also been a rich cultural interpreter for centuries and so with An American Journey Of Hope I asked a renowned artist to assist me.
“Life is not a ‘brief candle.’ It is a splendid torch that I want to make burn as brightly as possible before handing on to future generations.”
- George Bernard Shaw
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"A Spirited War unquestionably wins the prize as the most unusual history book
of the year. Donald Johnstone Peck's tour of some of the historic houses and
battlefields of New Jersey with a woman who has a gift for sensing spirits from
the distant past is a unique experience and may convince skeptics that history
is more mysterious than they ever imagined. It is also a well-researched reminder of
New Jersey's crucial role in the American Revolution."
Thomas Fleming
"I was delighted to learn something new and interesting on nearly every page of
this book. A Spirited War should be in the library of everyone who is
interested in the American Revolution."
George J Hill M.D., D.Litt
