Author to Sign New Book on Ohio Soldiers & Sailors Orphans Home at Blue Jacket Books, August 10th

Ed Lentz, author of the newly published book A Home of Their Own: The Story of Ohio’s Greatest Orphanage, will give a short presentation and sign books on Tuesday, August 10th at 7:00 PM at Blue Jacket Books, 60 S. Detroit St., Xenia.

The Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home came into its remarkable life during the 1870s, a moral response to the debt owed Ohio families damaged and destroyed by their participation in the  Civil War. On a desolate hilltop just outside Xenia, an entire park-like campus sprang into being. By the turn of the century, a thousand children were housed, clothed, fed, and educated at the place they called "the Home." It was nearly 500 acres, containing, among other things, a farm, its own power plant, an extensive trades school, playing fields--and total self-sufficiency.
      For more than 100 years, the Home was one of America's most remarkable institutions. Late in the 20th century, however, powerful shifts in the culture conspired against it. The emerging foster care system and its advocates--using the negative image of poorly managed institutions, selected figures and statistics, dwindling political support by the once powerful veterans, and a difficult new demographic of seriously disturbed children - all this eroded its once formidable presence.
     Historian Edward Lentz's carefully reconstructed history--bolstered by dozens of photographs and voices of the children--is a compelling story, provoking the question: Should we once again consider orphanages as a way of caring for parentless children?
     Ed Lentz grew up in Centerville and frequently visited the Home for music competitions. He holds degrees in history from Princeton University and Ohio State University. He teaches history, political science and other subjects at several Ohio colleges and consults on historic preservation projects.
The presentation is free and open to the public. A Home of Their Own is published by Orange Frazier Press and will be available at the door for $24.95, or at 10% off ($22.45) if purchased in advance. For more information or to reserve a book, contact Blue Jacket Books at 937-376-3522 or info@bluejacketbooks.com.