On June 24, the Thurber House Literary Picnics series presents Julia Keller, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, a former reporter at The Columbus Dispatch and current cultural critic at the Chicago Tribune. She will read from Mr. Gatling’s Terrible Marvel, her debut book about the 19th century inventor and his machine gun that forever changed the armaments of war.

Until Keller's book, little had been published about Richard Jordan Gatling or his motivation for inventing the machine gun. Digging into archives and unraveling the story behind Gatling’s invention uncovered a bigger story — the young nation transitioning from an agrarian to an industrial society and Gatling’s critical role as the man whose invention industrialized war and changed one-on-one combat tactics as it distanced the gunner from human targets and created the ability to kill many at one time.

Gatling was the quintessential American success story — a man from humble beginnings who grew up on the family farm and then invented a gun that changed history. Keller reveals the twists and turns of his life in the context of the times with a final ironic twist: He was a gentle man who invented the machine gun because he believed it would shorten wars.

Keller’s reading is the second in a series of five Thurber House Literary Picnics summer series, presented on the side lawn of Thurber House, at 77 Jefferson Ave.

There are four Literary Picnics remaining in the series: Bestselling author Jennifer Crusie returns to Thurber for a visit on July 8. The “New Voices” picnic on July 22 showcases three emerging Ohio authors: Christopher Barzak, David Giffels and Jay Siegel. The series wraps up with mystery author P.L. Gaus Aug. 5.

Guests are asked to bring their own blankets or lawn chairs for seating. For more information, visit www.thurberhouse.org or call 614-464-1032.