LORD BALTIMORE
Founder of Maryland

At a time when religious differences caused tension and violence, Cecil Calvert, who was the second Lord Baltimore, protected the religious freedom of people in Maryland, the faraway colony he established and governed, but never visited. 

COLONIAL HISTORY/ BIO/ JUVENILE
112 pages, Compass Poin, Signature Series 
Hardcover, Library edition

AMAZON.com READER REVIEW
FIVE STARS: "Founding the colony of Maryland was the brainchild of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, but it was his son, Cecil, who actually made it a reality after his father's death. This book focuses on his role as founder of the colony, and includes accounts of its early history and the political situation in England. Cecil struggled to keep alive his intention to found a colony that allowed an unusual degree of religious tolerance, at least for Christians. Keeping his dream going in the face of the English Civil War, religious strife and jealous courtiers was a struggle, and Calvert was never able to visit his colony, Lavishly illustrated with many color pictures, and billed as a juvenile, this is a good, brief biography for adults who want the basic facts about Calvert and the early history of Maryland. The book contains sidebars explaining issues (such as the English Reformation) that affect the history, but are not directly part of it. There is a chronology, and a list of resources, including some websites." 

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​AUTHOR NOTES:  I believe the offer to write this book arrived in an email one day and I jumped on it.  An author would have to write  half a dozen of these little books per year to make a living, but this Signature Series was scrupulously edited, nicely designed, and printed in a rugged library edition for middle-schoolers. There was very little in print anywhere at the time or online about Cecil Calvert, who I felt should be the focus of the story, even though father George and brother Leonard usually get the most attention. Although the series is long out of print, used hardcover copies are consistently available on Amazon for a few dollars. More than a decade after it appeared, people attending my talks still come up and say how much they value this easy-to-read capsule history of LORD BALTIMORE, which is wonderfully gratifying.

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