Current Civil War Book I'm Reading

[Otoolefan]

Greetings everyone! Just joined the site...

The book I'm currently reading is THE PRESIDENTS' WAR SIX PRESIDENTS AND THE CIVIL WAR THAT DIVIDED THEM by Chris DeRose. I'm enjoying it so far. Very interesting take, as it focuses on the preceeding presidents in the beginning and then how many or almost all of them trying to hinder Lincoln when civil war came. Did not know that at the outbreak of the war, there were 5 former presidents still alive--an occurrence still unique in our history.

The book I just finished, which I also enjoyed, was THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF DIXIE by Bruce Levine.

Don

 

[Aussie Billy Sherman]

Welcome. Those books sound like they're worth a read for sure

 

[Pat Young]

Greetings everyone! Just joined the site...

The book I'm currently reading is THE PRESIDENTS' WAR SIX PRESIDENTS AND THE CIVIL WAR THAT DIVIDED THEM by Chris DeRose. I'm enjoying it so far. Very interesting take, as it focuses on the preceeding presidents in the beginning and then how many or almost all of them trying to hinder Lincoln when civil war came. Did not know that at the outbreak of the war, there were 5 former presidents still alive--an occurrence still unique in our history.

The book I just finished, which I also enjoyed, was THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF DIXIE by Bruce Levine.

Don

Hello there. Both books sound interesting. I like Levine's book on Confederate Emancipation.

 

[Union_Buff]

Hello there and welcome to CWT from New Zealand

 

[PeterT]

Welcome from Melbourne Australia.

I am labouring my way through "Battle Cry of Freedom". Bought this in the U.S. last year.

I know it should have been the first book I read but ...

 

[Otoolefan]

Hello there. Both books sound interesting. I like Levine's book on Confederate Emancipation.

I also have Levine's book HALF SLAVE HALF FREE, which I plan on reading soon. Love the Yeats quote, by the way.

 

[Pat Young]

I also have Levine's book HALF SLAVE HALF FREE, which I plan on reading soon. Love the Yeats quote, by the way.

Thanks.

 

[Otoolefan]

Levine touched on some of that Confederate emancipation in FALL OF THE HOUSE OF DIXIE. Slave who fought for the South would be granted freedom after the war. Of course the rest of his family would still be slaves. Great deal, lol...

 

[chellers]

Greetings everyone! Just joined the site...

The book I'm currently reading is THE PRESIDENTS' WAR SIX PRESIDENTS AND THE CIVIL WAR THAT DIVIDED THEM by Chris DeRose. I'm enjoying it so far. Very interesting take, as it focuses on the preceeding presidents in the beginning and then how many or almost all of them trying to hinder Lincoln when civil war came. Did not know that at the outbreak of the war, there were 5 former presidents still alive--an occurrence still unique in our history.

The book I just finished, which I also enjoyed, was THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF DIXIE by Bruce Levine.

Don

Welcome to CivilWarTalk.

Glad to read your positive comments; both books are on my TBR (to be read) shelf. And another Yeats fan here.

 

[Otoolefan]

Welcome to CivilWarTalk.

Glad to read your positive comments; both books are on my TBR (to be read) shelf. And another Yeats fan here.

Thanks!

 

[jackt62]

Welcome. I also read "The Fall of the House of Dixie" and found it covered an interesting aspect of southern history I have not come across elsewhere.

 

[Otoolefan]

Welcome. I also read "The Fall of the House of Dixie" and found it covered an interesting aspect of southern history I have not come across elsewhere.

Yes, that was true for me, too. And one of the things that I really liked about the book.

 

[jackt62]

Well, let me know if you find the other books you mentioned worth reading.

 

[Otoolefan]

Well, let me know if you find the other books you mentioned worth reading.

Though I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it, I'd already recommend THE PRESIDENTS' WAR by Chris DeRose.

 

[jackt62]

ok, thanks

 

[Otoolefan]

Man, just when I think Franklin Pierce couldn't have been a wore President, he finds another gear lol... Re: THE PRESIDENTS' WAR: SIX AMERICAN PRESIDENTS AND THE CIVIL WAR THAT DIVIDED THEM.

 

[Otoolefan]

Finished THE PRESIDENT'S WAR today. Enjoyed it, and learned about what the ex-presidents thought and did while Lincoln was trying to save the Union. John Tyler is the only President to die an enemy of the country he was sworn to protect. But my takeaway from this book is that Franklin Pierce really does deserve the be ranked as out WORST President. I know he's always in the bottom five, but he really earned dead last, in my opinion. Buchanan may have clueless to the end, but Pierce was a traitor during the Civil War as well as a lousy President when he was in office.

 

[KLSDAD]

Very interesting take, as it focuses on the preceeding presidents in the beginning and then how many or almost all of them trying to hinder Lincoln when civil war came. Did not know that at the outbreak of the war, there were 5 former presidents still alive--an occurrence still unique in our history.

Didn't know that, thanks! How about a quick take on how they hindered Abe?

 

[donna]

Welcome from Kentucky.

 

[Otoolefan]

Didn't know that, thanks! How about a quick take on how they hindered Abe?

I'd say most of them were annoyances rather than foes, save for John Tyler who became a Confederate and served in the Confederate congress and also had much to do with leading Virginia out of the Union. The next real thorn was Franklin Pierce, who tried to assemble the ex presidents together to undermine Lincoln, but this plan was quashed by Martin Van Buren, who had met Lincoln about 18 years before and never forgot him--he was very impressed with Lincoln's wit and intelligence. Van Buren and Millard Fillmore come off the best, though Van Buren died about halfway thru the war and Fillmore turned on Lincoln after the Emancipation Proclamation and supported George McClellan for President lol...