Ben Wynne is a native of Florence, Mississippi and serves as professor of history at the University of North Georgia in Gainesville, Georgia. He specializes in antebellum American studies, the American South, and the Civil War era. He is the author of multiple books related to southern history and culture, including: Something in the Water: A History of Music in Macon, Georgia, 1823-1980 (Mercer University Press, 2021),  The Man Who Punched Jefferson Davis: The Political Life of Henry Stuart Foote, Southern Unionist (LSU Press 2018), In Tune, Charley Patton, Jimmie Rodgers and the Roots of American Music (LSU Press 2014), Mississippi’s Civil War: A Narrative History (Mercer University Press, 2006), and  A Hard Trip: A History of the 15th Mississippi Infantry, CSA (Mercer University Press, 2003). Dr. Wynne has also contributed entries to more than twenty encyclopedias, reviewed books for numerous national and regional periodicals, and written introductions for historical reprints published by Barnes and Noble.