The Brave Historian was recognized as a Finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards.

The Brave Historian

It was the end of 1999. As the world anxiously anticipated a new century, John Hammond reluctantly celebrated a childhood goal – to live one hundred years.

John was the last living member of the legendary Hammond Family. A gathering of magnificent eccentrics, they had stormed the gates of insanity, each motored by a brain that simply would not slow down. John had the family gift, creating unique and powerful stories while pondering every word, every meaning.

He also was cursed with the intense need for fame; he just never pushed, only waited to somehow be discovered. It never happened.

Lately, however, John Hammond has been oddly energized, fading into dreams that are particularly vivid, strangely real. Also, in these dreams, he is suddenly young again, strong again, and the past so very real again.

When Shelly Kingston is hired to put together a short documentary about John’s life, the young filmmaker is intrigued by the old man’s stories and his unpublished, unfinished writings. John Hammond is intrigued by her.

Another distant dream . . .

Buy Now

It was the end of 1999. As the world anxiously anticipated a new century,

John Hammond reluctantly celebrated a childhood goal – to live one hundred years.

Meet The Author

Bob Gaines

Born into a naval family in 1945, Bob Gaines was raised in California, Rhode Island, and Virginia. Even as a child, he had an obsession for recording his stray thoughts into hundreds of notebooks.
After graduating from San Diego State, Bob would spend a decade as an award-winning sports columnist before moving east, eventually retiring from Bucknell University in 2012.
The Brave Historian is the fifth book by Robert D. Gaines of McCall, Idaho. Other works include The Three Mathewsons (Hidden Shelf 2012); The Christian Gentleman: How Christy Mathewson’s Faith and Fastball Forever Changed Baseball (Roman & Littlefield 2015); Loose Chronicles: Dog from a Distant Universe(Hidden Shelf 2017); and One Christmas Lasts Forever (Hidden Shelf 2018).
Bob currently resides in the beautiful mountain town of McCall, Idaho where he spends his days writing, hiking, and playing with an energetic golden-doodle, Rocky.