March Reading

The Civil War: A Narrative: Red River to Appomattox by Shelby Foote


Anti-Intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter

It is intriguing that the final volume of Foote's Civil War is the thickest. the gradual dwindling of the WAR is faithfully rendered, I suspect, in order to gain sales from the remaining adherents of the Lost Cause during the late fifties and early sixties of the last century. I believe him to be less than objective regarding the sins of the South. But it reads well, it's almost as much fun as Bruce Catton's history of the Army of the Potomac.

2 DinadansFriend

It is 1060 pages long.

In the interests of full disclosure, I am half way through the book and confess to being seemingly the only person who has read this book and found it truly daunting. More specifically, I refer to A L L the descriptions of what each regiment, brigade, company, etc. did in each military action big or small. Names of each and every commander that I have never heard of (and I have been reading the Civil War history since childhood) and will never remember on each page makes for me at least a challenge for keeping the bigger picture in mind. But no one else in any of the book reviews refers to this fact so I will not belabor it.

Working on Asia's Cauldron by Robert D. Kaplan .

>1 Urquhart:
>2 DinadansFriend:
Time Life Books put Foote's work out in a series of shorter books.

Charleston Harbor to Vicksburg
Fort Donelson to Memphis
Fort Stedman to Reconstruction
Fredericksburg to Steele Bayou
Gettysburg to Draft Riots
James Crossing to Johnsonville
Mine Run to Meridian
Petersburg Siege to Bentonville
Red River to Spotsylvania
Secession to Fort Henry
Second Manassas to Pocotaligo
Tullahoma to Missionary Ridge
Yellow Tavern to Cold Harbor
Yorktown to Cedar Mountain

In the interests of full disclosure, I confess that I know from a publisher, that the writer should include as many descriptions of unit names and numbers as possible, as well as stories about the odd personalities of Southern Generals if you wish to sell more copies in the former CSA. They like the anecdotal style down there. Foote, a novelist, not a trained historian, slanted his book for maximum sales. Personally, I much prefer Allen Nevins' far more analytical book.
Foote also places his notes far away from the text, making it a chore to separate the footnoted material from the speculative flights of fancy. So a number of statements are not seen as speculative as they are, because the readers have gotten out of the habit of note-checking, due to the effort involved.
For a reading hoot, I recommend working your way through the Century Magazine's "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War" published by the 1890's, and reprinted since. A garden of all the styles of special pleading by both sides' generals...richly entertaining for the irony fans among us.
Now that TIME-Life has published Foote, I greatly fear that anti-intellectualism in American life will gain another hand's breath on the road to victory.

5 DinadansFriend

That was very helpful and greatly appreciated; I just couldn't figure it out and would never have guessed that was the reason. But it now makes sense.

We Were One: Shoulder to Shoulder with the Marines Who Took Fallujah by Patrick K. O'Donnell

The author describes himself as a combat historian and this particular history packs one heck of a punch. I first saw him on CSPAN and was impressed by what he said.

Stephen Crane wrote Red Badge of Courage without ever going to war while this one feels as if it was written in the heat of battle.

Can't think of any book that better tells the hell of war than this.

One Man's Castle by Phillis Vine. I am sorry I waited so long to learn more about Clarence Darrow.

Embattled Rebel: Jefferson Davis as Commander in Chief by James M. McPherson

Don't waste your time reading this; I did.

Just purchased original copy of Hofstatders Anti-Intellectualism ; on my to read list

Am finding the book to be slow going but worthwhile. It takes work, at least for me.

I am back to medical history with The Treatment The Story of those who died in the Cincinnati Radiation tests by Martha Stephens. It took me a while to find a copy of this book and I am glad it did. As a native to Cincinnati the names of many people mentioned are familiar. I am starting to believe that the author was me English professor at the University of Cincinnati's Evening collage back around 1980. About fifty pages in I went to the appendix that listed all the known subjects of the "research" to look for my grandmothers name. She died of cancer in 1973, the "treatments" ran from 1960 to 1972. It is not the best written history I have read, Stephens is not a historian, and I am grateful for that. It hits to close to home for comfort.

Started and finished We Were One.

Xi Jinping's Governance of China

World War I by S.L.A. Marshall; interesting, although some of Marshall's references were in error ('Turkey' did not exist in World War I; Marshall keeps using the word instead of the Ottoman Empire).

I just started No Magic Bullet, a history of venereal diseases that was written in 1985 and revised in 1987 do to rapid changes in the field. I am not far enough into it to make any judgements.

I squeezed two books on booze in between this and the last medical history. How to Manage a Successful Bar, a boot that is now old enough to drink and To Have and Have Another, an overview of drinking in Ernest Hemingway's life and fiction.