Renowned historian Stephen Oates recently sold two of his 16 published books to Hollywood producers intent on making them into feature-length films. Both books dealt with legendary personalities related to the Civil War. Last fall Oates sold the film rights for “Purge This Land with Blood: A Biography of John Brown” to producers George Moffly and Brian Cox. The book tells the story of folk hero John Brown, who in 1859 set out to wipe out slavery in the United States by force of arms. Brown’s greatest moment was his raid on the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. Though the attack failed, it lit one of the emotional fuses leading to the Civil War. The abolitionist’s activities also inspired the immortal lyric, “John Brown’s body lies a moldering in his grave.” The biography, first published in 1970, eventually became a Literary Guild Book Club selection. Not to be outdone by himself, Oates, who announced this spring that he was retiring from active faculty life, sold a second book to the movies this winter: the biographical account of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross. “A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War” — which was a History Book Club selection — follows Barton’s experience nursing the wounded during the War Between the States. Producers Bill Thielen and Mir Bahmanyar hope to make a theatrical film comparable to “Glory,” a highly successful account of an all-Black Union regiment. Oates is no stranger to celluloid productions, having consulted on Ken Burns’s 1990 PBS documentary of “The Civil War,” and having appeared on the A&E Network’s “Civil War Journal” in the segment on John Brown. Though a veteran of the publishing wars, Oates took the news of his film rights with stars in his eyes. “My first reaction was giddiness.”