Andrew Carroll is an American bestselling author, historian, editor, playwright, and public speaker who brings history to life through the words of people who experienced it. As founding director of the Center for American War Letters at Chapman University, he helps preserve letters and emails written by service members and their loved ones—from the American Revolution to modern conflicts. These personal accounts reveal the courage, fear, humor, hope, and love behind the events students read about in textbooks.
In 1998, Andrew launched the Legacy Project, encouraging families to save wartime correspondence rather than throw it away. That effort grew into a collection of approximately 100,000 previously unpublished letters and emails, which he donated to Chapman University so future generations could learn from them.
His books include War Letters, Behind the Lines, and Here Is Where: Discovering America’s Great Forgotten History. He also wrote If All the Sky Were Paper, a play that brings wartime letters to the stage and has been performed across the country, including at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Through research, writing, and theater, Andrew shows students how ordinary people’s stories can deepen our understanding of extraordinary events—and why preserving a single letter can help keep history alive.
