KEVIN M. LEVIN

New Biography of Robert Gould Shaw Forthcoming in 2026

Robert Gould Shaw (1837–1863) is remembered as the heroic colonel who led the 54th Massachusetts “Colored” Infantry in its famous ill-fated charge against Confederate Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863. Shaw’s sacrifice has been commemorated in monuments, books, and an award-winning Hollywood film. But before he became a martyr for the Union cause and emancipation, Shaw was a privileged young man who showed little interest in the reform movements that defined his parents’ lives or in the moral crisis over slavery that was tearing the nation apart. Volunteering to serve as a duty, he awakened gradually and fitfully to the demands of conscience and command. Though in death Shaw was transformed into the champion for freedom his abolitionist parents hoped he would be, it was a status he never fully achieved in his lifetime.

A Glorious Fate: The Life and Legacy of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw traces his transformation from a rebellious son into one of the Civil War’s most celebrated heroes. Acclaimed historian Kevin M. Levin also reveals afresh through Shaw’s eyes the sacrifice and service of the African American men who fought and died for their freedom. Though Shaw never fully reconciled his own racial prejudices, Levin shows how the Civil War changed the young colonel as it did the nation.

Meet Kevin

Kevin M. Levin is a historian, educator, and the author of four books on the history and memory of the Civil War Era.

His forthcoming biography A Glorious Fate: The Life and Legacy of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw will be published in 2026 by The University of North Carolina Press.

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