This Goodly Land

Winston Groom (March 23, 1943–present)

Other Names Used

• Winston Francis Groom, Jr.: full name

Alabama Connections

• Mobile, Mobile County: childhood residence, setting for As Summers Die
• Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa County: education, adult residence
• Point Clear, Baldwin County: adult residence

Selected Works

• Groom, Winston. Better Times Than These: A Novel. New York: Summit Books, 1978. Rpt. New York: Pocket Books, 1994.
• Groom, Winston. As Summers Die. New York: Summit Books, 1980. Rpt. New York: Pocket Books, 1995.
• Groom, Winston, and Duncan Spencer. Conversations with the Enemy: The Story of P.F.C. Robert Garwood. New York: Putnam, 1983.
• Groom, Winston. Forrest Gump. New York: Doubleday, 1986. Rpt. New York: Pocket Books, 1994. Rpt. New York: Washington Square Press, 2002.
• Groom, Winston. Shrouds of Glory: From Atlanta to Nashville: The Last Great Campaign of the Civil War. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1995.
• Groom, Winston. A Storm in Flanders: The Ypres Salient, 1914-1918: Tragedy and Triumph on the Western Front. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2002.
• Groom, Winston. 1942: The Year That Tried Men’s Souls. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2005.
• Groom, Winston. Patriotic Fire: Andrew Jackson and Jean Lafitte at the Battle of New Orleans. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.
• Groom, Winston. Vicksburg, 1863. Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 2009.

Literary Awards

• Best Fiction Award, Southern Library Association, 1980, for As Summers Die
• Alabama Author Award, Alabama Library Association, 1982, for As Summers Die

Biographical Information

Winston Groom was born in Washington, D.C. but was raised in Mobile, Ala. Although he began writing as a child, he had always expected to become a lawyer like his father. At the University of Alabama, however, he edited and wrote for the university humor and literary magazines and graduated with an AB degree in English in 1965. After graduation he served in the U.S. Army for two years, which included a thirteen-month tour of duty in Vietnam. He returned from Vietnam intending to write a book about his experience.

In 1967, Groom began working as a reporter for The Washington Star and made contacts in the literary world. He resigned in 1976 and moved to New York to write his Vietnam novel, Better Times Than These, which was published in 1978. Some of his subsequent novels have featured Alabama settings, including his most famous book, Forrest Gump, which was made into a movie. Much of Groom’s nonfiction has had a military theme, including his second Vietnam-related book, the Pulitzer-nominated Conversations with the Enemy.

Interests and Themes

Winston Groom writes novels and nonfiction books, frequently with a Southern or military theme.

For More Information

Please check your local library for these materials. If items are not available locally, your librarian can help you borrow them through the InterLibrary Loan program. Your librarian can also help you find other information about this author.

There may be more information available through the databases in the Alabama Virtual Library. If you are an Alabama citizen, AVL can be used at your public library or school library media center. You can also get a username and password from your librarian to use AVL at home.

Reference Book Chapters and Encyclopedia Entries

• Caton, Bill. "Winston Groom: A Certain Schizophrenia"; Fighting Words: Words on Writing from 21 of the Heart of Dixie's Best Contemporary Authors. Montgomery: Black Belt Press, . 42-51.

Reference Web Sites

• Blount, Serena. "Winston Groom". The Encyclopedia of Alabama. 2010. Alabama Humanities Foundation and Auburn University. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-2527.

Photo courtesy of the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts, Auburn University.

Last updated on May 30, 2008.