Every couple of years, I don't know why, I like to re-read " Animal Farm". The last one other than CW was Sontags' "Blind Mans Bluff" about sub warfare during the cold war. Very interesting stuff.
I'm working my way through "Scotland: The Story of a Nation," by Magnus Magnusson, 700 pages of Scottish history.My father's grandparents emigrated from Scotland and it occurred to me a while back that while I know quite a lot about English history (Mother's ancestry is English), I know very little about my Scottish heritage.
I'm also reading "Jackson's Way: Andrew Jackson and the People of the Western Waters," by John Buchanan. It's actually much more about the early settlers and the Native Americans than about Jackson, but it's quite interesting.
And the CW book I'm reading is "An American General," by David Sloan Stanley. I'm half way through that book, and he's just now getting to the war, but the first half of his book is a fascinating, detailed description of life in Ohio in the early 1800s.
__________________ "In leaving this unpretentious record, therefore, I seek to do simply what I would have had my fathers do for me.
KINSMEN OF THE COMING CENTURIES, I BID YOU HAIL AND GODSPEED!"
[From his Introduction to "Memoirs of a Volunteer," by John Beatty - published in 1879
Writing my MA thesis I did an extensive research on Polish conquest of Pomerania in 10th-12th century, so I've read tones of books on this subject. Anyone interested in this theme- I can help
Now I'm going back to Civil War books and I don't expect to read much else.
Well, as to non CW history, I am right now going through alot of Federalist era books, such as American Creation by J. Ellis and other books in that category.
As to my brain candy, I am reading Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series. Fun thrillers, keep you going till you drop off to sleep or are done with the book. Amazing writer.
__________________ "The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize." George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
I was on the beautiful Maine coast last week, and read "The Memoirs of George Sherston" by Siegfried Sassoon.
"Sherston" is Sassoon's fictious alter ego. Sasson describes his youth in Kent, fox hunting and playing cricket, volunteering for the British army in World War One, and his experiences in the trenches and at the Battle of the Somme.
Sassoon was an aggressive officer, wounded, and decorated for bravery. The experience of his men suffering and being massacred, while the indifferent staff and civilians sought personal gain infuriated him, and he wrote some of the most bitter anti war poetry ever penned, including "Suicide in the Trenches," "Base Details," "The One Legged Man" and others. Finally he refused to return to duty, writing out an antiwar statement that was read in Parliament. The Army declared him insane, and sent him to a "shell shock hospital."
Sassoon formed a trusting relationship with his psychologist, Dr. W.H.R. Rivers. Eventually stricken by guilt for whiling his time away while his battalion was still in France, he requested trench duty again. He went back to France, and was promoted to captain and company commander. In June 1918, he was wounded again, and left the war. He continued to compose poetry throughout his long life.
Sassoon was bisexual and wrote in his diaries frankly about his homosexuality. Later in life he married and had a son, and his later poetry reflected increased religious faith, a change from his disgust with the churchs support of the war in 1914-18.
Quote: "The war has proved the opposite of ennobling."
I just finished "To Kill A Mockingbird." I read it in high school, like a lot of people, but I saw the movie on tv recently with my kid, and it prompted me to read it again. It was very good I thought, darker then the movie, and more critical of the town and society the characters live in.
I also read that there is a statue to Atticus Finch at the University of Alabama law school, to inspire the law students.
An all-time classic work. We all got cheated when the Harper Lee didn't write another.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
To Kill a Mockingbird is up there in my favorites next to Orwell's Animal Farm.
Right now however, I am reading Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer for my Sophmore Honors English course. It's ok. Twain though, is a rather interesting man to learn about. I did a little reasearch myself, found out he served in a Tennessee Militia during the ACW.
__________________
"Why do men fight who were born to be brothers?" ~James Longstreet
Thought it was Missouri but, after a few weeks, his feet soon acquired an overwhelming requirement to trod the sands of Nevada.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
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