Author and historian John Dwyer spoke about his writing career during our April 11, 2017 breakfast meeting. Dwyer described how his young widowed mother fostered his love for history and heroes by playing audio recordings from John Wayne movies. As an imaginative child, Dwyer said he began writing stories in high school, gaining popularity by assigning classmates names to characters in his stories.
 
Dwyer was approached in 2001 by one of Oklahoma’s most formidable historians Dr. Bob Blackburn to write The Oklahomans, an official project of the Oklahoma Centennial Commission.  Dr. Blackburn felt like there needed to be a more robust telling of the Oklahoma story, focusing on the business, entrepreneurs and others who gave up everything to make it the State that it is.  He also wanted a more direct telling about modern Oklahoma which was largely absent from most history books.  Finally, he wanted a book that is readable and user friendly.
 
Dwyer said the development of The Oklahomans was an eleven-year project.  Dwyer said it was a labor of love and learning revealing many fascinating details most people don’t know about the State’s history. He has completed volume 1 (Ancient‐Statehood) and a portion of volume 2 (Statehood‐Present), which releases in November 2018.
 
Author of several historical novels, Dwyer told us about the release of his next historical novel, Short Grass.  This novel is about the challenges faced by a Mennonite farm boy as he is swept away by the demands of World War II. He invited the group to join him in celebrating the release of this new book May 25th at the Full Circle book store in Oklahoma City from 5pm to 8pm.
 
When asked about some of the lesser known heroes of Oklahoma, he named Kate Barnard, Thomas Gore and Stand Watie. Dwyer said the greatest heroes are largely unknown because they are focused on helping others, not on being famous.
For a video introduction to The Oklahomans and to see other books written by Dwyer, please visit http://www.johnjdwyer.com/video.