A Conversation with Geoff Armstrong, Author of Moments That Made America

Geoff Armstrong began his teaching career in 1965 after receiving a teaching diploma from McGill University’s Macdonald College. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Montreal’s Concordia University in 1967 where his major field of study was history. Armstrong credits writers such as Bruce Catton, and Thomas B. Costain, as well as the encouragement of his father who had little formal education, but a deep love of reading and of history, as the inspiration for his own life-long interest.

Throughout a 25-year teaching career he taught history at several grade levels and learned quickly that to reach the hearts of his students, history had to be made immediately and deeply relevant and accessible: that some event that took place centuries before those students were born had a direct and profound influence on every aspect their lives. He also learned that talking down or writing down to his students was a recipe for defeat. It is this awareness, shaped by a quarter century of teaching and countless questions by thousands of intelligent young people that has informed and shaped his writing.

His latest book is Moments That Made America: From the Ice Age to the Alamo.

You can visit his website at www.MomentsThatMadeAmerica.com.

Q: Thank you so much for this interview, Geoff! Can you tell us where you are from?

I was Born in Liverpool, England, but grew up in the East End of Montreal, in Canada.

Q: How did you come up with your title?

The title: “Moments That Made America” was so obvious that I think it might have always been somewhere in the cosmos waiting to arrive in my mind.

Q: They say you can judge a book by its cover. Can you tell us a little about your cover and who designed it?

I love the cover of the first book. It was supplied by the publisher: History Publishing Company

Q: Can you tell us something about your book that would make me run out and buy it?

This book is about events that took place long, long before your distant ancestors were born, but it is about you, your life at this very moment you are living it and the lives of everyone you know and love.

Q: Are there any messages in this book that you want the reader to know about?

That Americans have a responsibility to learn their nation’s unique history.

Q: What was your most favorite chapter to write and why?

My favorite chapter was the chapter that deals with the Battle of Gettysburg in Book Two (Moments That Made Americas: From Civil War to Superpower.) It was the ultimate moment in American history that even when compared to other immensely desperate moments, the fate of America teetered on a razor’s edge of utter destruction.

Q: Why did you feel you had to write this book?

I spend half of each year in the United States. where I am surrounded by Americans. All my living family members are American. I was surprised and concerned by how few Americans know anything about the history of this amazing country and especially how difficult it was to build it. The word “difficult” doesn’t even come close. My book focuses on those moments that had they not occurred or had they transpired differently, this nation would not exist. A more accurate word would be “impossible”. Yet here it is. My hope was to make Americans aware of the miracles that made their nation.

Q: Now, some fun questions - What deep dark secret would you like to share with us?

Although my book series is a history of the United States, I am not an American. I am a Canadian.

Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

I am sorry to disappoint anyone looking for some deep philosophical response, but I would always choose right where I am as I write this: my home in Argyle, New York, surrounded by trees on 30 plus acres. I have lived in four different countries and a dozen or more homes inn my years on earth. It took me more than 60 years to find this place. It is my haven. On second thought, I guess this was a deep philosophical response.

Q: Are you a morning person or a night person?

Definitely a night person. It runs in the family.

Q: Are there any members in your family who also like to write?

My brother was a sports writer before he moved into teaching at the age of 40.

Q: As a child, were you a dreamer?

Yes! I still am.

Q: Last but not least, the magic genie has granted you one wish. What would that be?

At 76 years of age, just being here beats the genie’s gifts. I’d invite her or him in for a cup of tea and ask for the story of his or her life.

Q: Thank you so much for this interview! Do you have any final words?

Never give up!

About the Book:

Title: MOMENTS THAT MADE AMERICA: FROM THE ICE AGE TO THE ALAMO
Author: Geoff Armstrong
Publisher: History Publishing Company
Pages:
Genre: American History

BOOK BLURB:

From its geological birth during the breakup of the Pangaea supercontinent millions of years ago, through the nation-shaping key events that led to its political independence from the British superpower, and other crucial, sometimes miraculous events that worked to create the nation, Moments That Made America: From the Ice Age to the Alamo explores those defining moments, both tragic and inspirational that profoundly shaped the nation and its people - crucial turning points that worked inexorably to mold and make America. These pivotal "tipping" events formed America's geographical, sociological, political and historical landscape. Part 1 culminates with the discovery of gold in California and the role it played in fulfilling America’s dream of Manifest Destiny.