What non- Civil War History or Literature Are You Reading or Have Most Recently Read?
Sorry for the long-winded title. Just curious what non-Civil War related books folks are reading or have read lately? For me it would be Sir Ernest Shackleton's South, his account of his aborted Antarctic expedition stuck in the floes in 1914- 16. An heroic story, how he lost his ship crushed in the ice and saved his crew through great daring, courage, and sheer force of will. This is one not to be read in the wintertime unless you have a nice roaring fire close by. I also recently picked up a few Faulkner novels I hadn't read before, The Unvanquished I read in May, looking forward to reading Sanctuary & Go Down Moses this summer.
__________________ 'It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag'
I usually have several going at once. Most interesting right now is Rommel and Patton... the author puts forth the idea that Rommel's command style would have done better with the Allies, and that Patton was more like a German in his command style. We'll see if the author can bear this out!
The last book I finished was Philip and Elizabeth, about the marriage of the Queen and Prince Philip. Well written but very gossipy, it appealed to my nosy mind and my streak of Anglophilia.
And of course the sweetest book I've read lately was Candy Freak by Steven Almond... one of the chapters featured the Idaho Candy Company, maker of my favorite candy bar, Idaho Spud!
You've reminded me that I have a few novels I'd started but put aside. I'll round them up, along with Amar's American Constitution, and put them in a separate "to read" pile on the table by my reading chair. Just maybe I'll plan to re-read Robert Ardrey's trilogy.
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
I just finished "A H-ll of a Gamble" about the Cuban Missile Crisis. It takes advantage of the recent opening of the Soviet era archives to get insight into Khruschev's thinking, and Soviet goals in general. I was surprised both at how close to a large scale nuclear conflict we got, and how poorly each side understood the other.
Sorry for the long-winded title. Just curious what non-Civil War related books folks are reading or have read lately? For me it would be Sir Ernest Shackleton's South, his account of his aborted Antarctic expedition stuck in the floes in 1914- 16. An heroic story, how he lost his ship crushed in the ice and saved his crew through great daring, courage, and sheer force of will. This is one not to be read in the wintertime unless you have a nice roaring fire close by. I also recently picked up a few Faulkner novels I hadn't read before, The Unvanquished I read in May, looking forward to reading Sanctuary & Go Down Moses this summer.
A great story also excellently told in Endurance by Alfred Lansing. I used to read it when a teenager only during the summer.
As for Faulkner, I find him too difficult to read. I have always wondered how his stuff might read had he been familiar with things such as commas and full stops and paragraphs.
__________________ -
"It was a very peculiar time." - Franklin D. Cossitt
Ancestors in USA Army: 6th IA Inf, 11th IL Cav, 1st AL Cav; 122nd NY Inf; 6th MI Cav; 35th MA Inf; 100th IL Inf; 1st CO Inf/Cav; 22nd IN Inf
"Bogombo Snuff Box", and "God Bless you Dr. Kevorkian"... Kurt Vonnegut
Terry
__________________ "In this great struggle, this form of Government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one." Abraham Lincoln - August 18, 1864 Speech to the 164th Ohio Regiment
Presently Reading "Witnessing American" from the Lib. of Congress. A book of firsthand accounts of life in American 1600-1900.
Gathered from diaries, letters, memoirs, court records, articles and more from the Lib. of Congress collection of first hand accounts of pioneers, schoolteachers, farmers and slaves who settled our country.
1 example.
Governor William Berkeley of Virginia in a letter written in 1671 to the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations in London.
"I thank God, we have not free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hundreds of years. For learning has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the wrold: and printing has divulged them and libels against the government. God keep us from both."
At the moment I'm in the middle of Gary Wills's short (164 pp.) biography of James Madison, focusing on his presidency (the book is part of the American Presidents Series).
Probably not the best introduction to Madison, both because it reviews only briefly Madison's pre-presidential career and because Wills makes no attempt to be even-handed -- he pretty much rips Madison to shreds. But it's well-written, biting to the point of being humerous (the chapter I'm on is entitled "Foreign Affairs: Suckered Twice") and a great antidote to the many treatments of Madison that place him on High at the right hand of the Divine Jefferson (whom Wills also rakes over the coals).
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What non- Civil War History or Literature Are You Reading or Have Most Recently Read? 
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