Theodore P. Savas

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Theodore P. Savas
Born	Mason City, Iowa, United States
Nationality	American
Education	BA, JD
Alma mater	University of Northern Iowa, The University of Iowa College of Law
Occupation	Attorney, publisher, author, Entrepreneur
Known for	Savas Beatie, LLC

Theodore P. Savas is a licensed attorney, former adjunct college instructor, entrepreneur, award-winning author, and publisher. He is best known as the co-founder and majority partner of Savas Beatie, an award-winning and influential independent book trade publishing company that specializes in military and general history, and especially the American Civil War. He personally writes and speaks about Civil War topics, as well as the American Revolutionary War, and WWII German U-boats.

Background[]

Savas was born and raised on the Northern Plains in Iowa. He graduated from North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) in 1979, A.A. degree, and from the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) in 1981, B.A. History. He received his teaching credentials. After working on his Master's in American History, he entered The University of Iowa College of Law in 1983 and graduated in 1986 (with Distinction).^[1]

Career[]

Savas practiced law in Silicon Valley for twelve years before turning his focus full-time to his true love of publishing and writing. In 1990, he and David A. Woodbury co-founded the Civil War publishing house of Savas Woodbury Publishers, which became Savas Publishing in 1995. Woodbury and Savas founded the well-received quarterly journal Civil War Regiments and Savas later added Journal of the Indian Wars. In 2000, Savas Publishing was sold into a merger deal with Combined Publishing of Conshohocken, PA, and Perseus Books Group of Boston and NY.

From 1992 until 2009, as an adjunct lecturer Savas taught legal, historical, political, and business-related college classes in the Bay Area and Sacramento region. He speaks around the country concerning the Civil War and publishing/writing subjects. Savas and the late New York-based attorney Russell H. Beatie founded the military publishing house Savas Beatie LLC in 2004, with Savas serving as its managing director in El Dorado Hills, CA. The company's original tag line was "Independent, scholarly, and a bit old fashioned," although the company has also used "The publisher you trust."

In addition to founding (with David Woodbury) The South Bay Civil War Roundtable in 1989, Savas with friend Paul Sacra of Richmond, Virginia, accurately pinpointed and mapped the Civil War battlefield of Payne's Farm (part of the late Fall 1863 Mine Run Campaign), in Orange County, Virginia. Savas turned the maps and information over to a Fredericksburg-based preservation organization. This, in turn, prompted increased interest in both the battle and the battlefield, and eventually led to the land being preserved and interpreted. Savas was part of NY Times bestselling author Clive Cussler's expedition in 1994-1995 that found the Confederate submarine CSS Hunley off Charleston, South Carolina.^[2]

Savas and Mark Newell of North Augusta, South Carolina, developed the concept and screenplay "Faces," which they co-wrote with a Hollywood producer. Savas and Newell also received permission from author Barbee Carleton to turn her cult-favorite young adult novel Mystery of the Witches' Bridge into a screenplay, which they recently completed. Both screenplays are being read in Hollywood and elsewhere.

In addition to writing numerous articles on a variety of historical topics and penning a regular column for a local newspaper, Savas has written, edited, or co-authored a dozen books (published in seven languages), and has ghostwritten more than two-dozen others. He is currently in the final writing stages of two related books, one on Union Strategic Command Failures and the other a biography of Confederate George Washington Rains of Augusta Powder Works fame. Once finished, he will resume work on his first novel, a historical adventure- thriller concerning the Iliad.

Bibliography[]

• Savas (1988) "Ironclads on the James River: The Battle of Trent's Reach." Nov. 1988 in Confederate Veteran Magazine
• Savas (1990) "Last Clash of the Ironclads: The Bungled Affair in Trent's Reach." August 1990, in Civil War: The Magazine of the Civil War Society
• Savas (1990) "Longstreet Takes Command: The Suffolk Campaign." March 1990, in Confederate Veteran Magazine
• Savas (1991) "Foraging South of the James River: The Suffolk Campaign." March 1991, in Confederate Veteran Magazine
• Savas (1991) "Bulwark of the Beleaguered Confederacy: The Augusta Powder Works." Sept. 1991, in Confederate Veteran Magazine
• Savas (1992) "The Battle of Payne's Farm, Nov. 27, 1863." May 1992, in Civil War: The Magazine of the Civil War Society
• Savas (1993) The Campaign for Atlanta & Sherman's March to the Sea" vol. 1., with David A. Woodbury, ed.
• Savas (1994) The Campaign for Atlanta & Sherman's March to the Sea" vol. 2., with David A. Woodbury, ed.
• Savas (1994) The Campaign for Atlanta & Sherman's March to the Sea" vols. 1-2 (combined)., with David A. Woodbury, ed.
• Savas (1996) Blood on the Rappahannock: The Battle of Fredericksburg (Civil War Regiments: A Journal of the American Civil War, Volume 4, No. 4)
• Savas (1997, 2003) Silent Hunters: German U-boat Commanders of World War II
• Savas (1997) Charleston : Battles and Seacoast Operations in South Carolina, Civil War Regiments: A Journal of the American Civil War, Volume 5, No. 2)
• Savas (1997) "Gauntlet of Fire: The USS Wyoming in the Shimonoseki Straits." Feb. 1997, in Naval History Magazine
• Savas (2000) Chickamauga & Chattanooga: Battles for the Confederate Heartland. (Civil War Regiments: A Journal of the American Civil War, Volume 7, No 1)
• Savas (2002) Nazi Millionaires: The Allied Search for Hidden SS Gold, with co-author Kenneth D. Alford
• Savas (2004) Hunt and Kill: U-505 and the U-Boat War in the Atlantic',' editor
• Savas (2006) A Guide to the Battles of the American Revolution, with co-author J. David Dameron
• Savas (2007) Never for Want of Powder: The Confederate Powder Works in Augusta, Georgia, with co-authors C. L. Bragg, Gordon A. Blaker, Charles D. Ross, and Stephanie A. T. Jacobe
• Savas (2008) Brady's Civil War Journal: Photographing the War 1861-1865 Skyhorse Publishing.
• Savas (2010) The New American Revolution Handbook: Facts and Artwork for Readers of all Ages, 1775-1783, with co-author J. David Dameron)
• Savas (2010) "The Business of History Books: An Interview with Theodore P. Savas." Jul. 2016 in Civil War Monitor
• Savas (2017) The War's Biggest Blunder: Sherman and the Bypassing of Augusta on the March to the Sea. Aug 2017 in Civil War Times Magazine
• Savas (2017) "Heartbeat of the Southern War Machine: The Augusta Powder Works." June 2017 in Civil War Times Magazine

Awards[]

• A Guide to the Battles of the American Revolution: Winner, 2006, Gold Star Book Award for History, Military Writers Society of America. A selection of the History and Military book clubs.
• The New American Revolution Handbook: Winner, Reference, 2010 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Book Award^[3]
• Never for Want of Powder: The Confederate Powder Works in Augusta, Georgia, with co-authors C. L. Bragg, Gordon A. Blaker, Charles D. Ross, and Stephanie A. T. Jacobe): Winner 2007 Lilla M. Hawes Award, Georgia Historical Society.^[4]
• The Iron Brigade Award for Civil War Scholarship, from The Milwaukee Civil War Round Table, Sept. 2020.

References[]

External links[]

• Theodore P. Savas at Savas Beatie
• A Publisher's Perspective blog at Savas Beatie
• Theodore P. Savas at IMDb