An Afternoon With Dennis Pregent

Join us for an afternoon with Dennis Pregent for a discussion of his book, Berkshire Patriots.

Berkshire Patriots: Stories of Sacrifice takes readers on a thrilling journey across time, from the French and Indian War through the War in Afghanistan, to reveal how four centuries of conflict affected one close-knit region of the Berkshire Mountains. Men and women—some mere teens—valiantly served their country during its greatest times of need.

Chapters feature a Medal-of-Honor winner from the Lost Battalion; a B-17 tail gunner with thirty-five perilous missions; an enslaved militiaman; one of the famous “Code Girls”; a decorated Marine officer who survived the vicious battles of Peleliu and Okinawa and is now into his second century; and a Green Beret who fought alongside Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan. Each story is deeply personal, engaging, and inspiring.

This pilgrimage follows veterans from early childhood through the maelstrom of war and back. Each story is carefully researched using primary sources, family testimony, and original photographs and documents. Towns small and large all across America have sent their best to defend this nation—and have for centuries. We don’t know all their stories, but these stories of sacrifice that we do know will win your heart.

Dennis G. Pregent was born and educated in the Berkshires. He attended and graduated from North Adams State College (currently Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts) and received his MBA from the University of Massachusetts. For over thirty-five years, he worked in the human resources field serving as an international vice-president for the Evenflo/Spalding and ConAgra companies. In addition to Berkshire Patriots: Stories of Sacrifice, Pregent is also the author of The Boys of St. Joe’s ’65 in the Vietnam War and Born in the Berkshires.