Author Rod Gragg will give a public talk at Coastal Carolina University titled "Johnny Reb and Billy Yank: Soldier Life in the Civil War," a discussion of the lives of ordinary soldiers who fought on both sides of the war, on Wednesday, March 13 at 2:30 p.m. in the Edwards Recital Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Gragg is the author of nine books, including The Civil War Quiz and Fact Book; The Illustrated Confederate Reader; Confederate Goliath: the Battle of Fort Fisher; Covered with Glory: the Twenty-Sixth North Carolina Infantry at Gettysburg; and Commitment to Valor: A Character Portrait of Robert E. Lee. He is a former television reporter and news director, producer of the series "Waccamaw Magazine" for South Carolina ETV as well as television documentaries on Southern history. He is the founder of Southern Communications, a marketing firm in Conway. He recently completed a book manuscript titled Fields of Fire in Glory, to be published by Chronicle Books.

For more information, call 349-2437.