Family research leads to published work for library’s associate director

Alexander City native John Taylor labored for more than six years to deliver a book that would combine his love of American history with his own ancestry. From 2010 until 2016, Taylor blended magazine articles he had written from 1992 to 2000 with additional research and family history to create Union at All Costs: From Confederation to Consolidation, a 366-page volume with 700 footnotes. The book, which is now available at commercial book outlets, offers readers a unique perspective of the South.

“Over the years of research to educate other people, I really educated myself on a lot of things I never knew,” Taylor said.