Michael C. Hardy

Award-winning North Carolina author and historian Michael C. Hardy has been chronicling the past for nearly three decades. His large body of work includes books, articles, and blog posts on topics ranging from the battles, regiments, and personalities of the American Civil War to the hidden gems of history in the Old North State.

History has been a life-long passion for Michael, who has been enamored with the past since participating in his first history event at the age of ten. A graduate of the University of Alabama, Michael began his professional writing career in the mid-1990s. While he often explores under-researched corners of Civil War history, Michael also seeks to preserve and share the history of North Carolina, from histories of counties in the Images of America series to explorations of the forgotten past. Michael is a six-time winner of the Willie Parker Peace History Book Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians and the 2010 North Carolina Historian of the Year.

Michael regularly volunteers as an interpreter at historic sites and works with a number of local historical societies and associations as well as numerous national organizations. He lives with his wife Elizabeth, an English professor at Mayland Community College and acclaimed literary scholar, high up on the side of a mountain.