zburkett
Sergeant Major
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2015
- Location
- Orange County, Virginia
Cody, I'll look forward to it.
Thanks, I hope you like it!Cody, I'll look forward to it.
I'm three chapters into Play for a Kingdom. I wish he hadn't thrown quite so many characters at us right at the beginning, but he's got me feeling sorry for the second lieutenant anyway. Hopefully all these guys will sort themselves out as the story progresses. Can't wait for the baseball to start.There was a recent thread on listing titles that each poster found personally shaped their understanding of the Civil War. I thought I'd list a few of the fictional treatments of the War I've loved and encourage other posters to do the same. Maybe someone will find something worth reading in our plague year.
Killer Angels Of course.
To Play for a Kingdom. A novel where a platoon of the 14th Brooklyn fights and between battles, plays a series of baseball games with a Confederate unit during the Overland Campaign
Miss Ravenel's Conversion Written a couple of years after the war by former Union officer, its a fascinating account of battle, freedpeople, Confederates, Unionists, heroes, heroines, anti-heros, femme fatales, double dealing and generally a good read. Needs its own mini-series.
Little Women The war is very much way in the background, like a novel set on the homefront in WWII. Still good. Read March and found it too modern in tone.
Uncle Tom's Cabin Tangled Victorian prose and plots to be sure. But very good in places. George, Eliza and her baby must flee the United States to Canada, like East Germans coming over the Berlin Wall in the Cold War, slave catchers at their heels. Tom's battle of will and faith with the evil Simon Legree, a black Christ dying for America's sins
John Brown's Body by Stephen Vincent Benet. Its an epic poem, very much of its mid 20th century time. I read it in the 1970s first and loved it. I reread part of it when I found it in a library booksale.
Red Badge of Courage This needs a new movie treatment.
Here is where I make the confession that will sink me in the estimation of my fellow posters: I haven't read Gone With the Wind. Yet.
That's a fantastic book!I would also like to include: The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford it gives a lot of insight into the mind of James. I know it is postwar.
That’s me..forget fiction! But if ole Shelby Foote could keep me aboard his nearly 3000 page the Civil War, I’ll take your advice about Shiloh. Thanks, a fellow Old Warhorse fan.I know it was mentioned previously... But Shiloh by Shelby Foote was phenomenal. I couldn't put it down and read it in 2 days. I usually don't read fiction at all... but I plan on rereading Shiloh.
I promise you won't be disappointedThat’s me..forget fiction! But if ole Shelby Foote could keep me aboard his nearly 3000 page the Civil War, I’ll take your advice about Shiloh. Thanks, a fellow Old Warhorse fan.
You are absolutely right in your comment on Miss Revenel’s Conversion. It could easily be a mini-series today. Bad marriage, extra-marital affair, new love (Southern belle & Union officer) based on the concept of reconciliation, bloody warfare, free blacks working as laborers, black children in school……There was a recent thread on listing titles that each poster found personally shaped their understanding of the Civil War. I thought I'd list a few of the fictional treatments of the War I've loved and encourage other posters to do the same. Maybe someone will find something worth reading in our plague year.
Killer Angels Of course.
To Play for a Kingdom. A novel where a platoon of the 14th Brooklyn fights and between battles, plays a series of baseball games with a Confederate unit during the Overland Campaign
Miss Ravenel's Conversion Written a couple of years after the war by former Union officer, its a fascinating account of battle, freedpeople, Confederates, Unionists, heroes, heroines, anti-heros, femme fatales, double dealing and generally a good read. Needs its own mini-series.
Little Women The war is very much way in the background, like a novel set on the homefront in WWII. Still good. Read March and found it too modern in tone.
Uncle Tom's Cabin Tangled Victorian prose and plots to be sure. But very good in places. George, Eliza and her baby must flee the United States to Canada, like East Germans coming over the Berlin Wall in the Cold War, slave catchers at their heels. Tom's battle of will and faith with the evil Simon Legree, a black Christ dying for America's sins
John Brown's Body by Stephen Vincent Benet. Its an epic poem, very much of its mid 20th century time. I read it in the 1970s first and loved it. I reread part of it when I found it in a library booksale.
Red Badge of Courage This needs a new movie treatment.
Here is where I make the confession that will sink me in the estimation of my fellow posters: I haven't read Gone With the Wind. Yet.
I finally started reading Simon the Fiddler and am about 3/4's through it. All of her books are good reads.Ambrose Bierce! I think his short stories about the war are some of the most haunting I've ever read, especially the one about Chickamauga.
I also really enjoy Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels, though I never could get into Jeff's books.
I love this book, and I love Paulette Jiles's writing! She has a new book out I just got.
Yes, they are! She's one of a small handful of contemporary writers whom I actively keep an eye out for their new books.I finally started reading Simon the Fiddler and am about 3/4's through it. All of her books are good reads.