- Joined
- Aug 1, 2018
- Location
- Nashville, TN
I'm thinking about going. I'm pretty neutral about him. I recognize the bad things like slave trading, Fort Pillow, and his association with the bad group of people that I don't think I'm allowed to mention here. There are also the things people admire like his military prowess and his apparent change of heart and even efforts towards racial reconciliation towards the end of his life.
To me, he's kind of like Ghengis Khan or Julius Caesar: not an angel and known for brutality, but also a historical figure of note and interesting to study. He became a central figure in my Civil War trilogy, especially in my latest book, Blood for Blood at Nashville, which comes out this Thursday.
As an author who's studied and written about him quite a bit, I feel I ought to go. I'm afraid I'm going to be labeled a bad person by both sides of the culture war for appearing to like him or dislike him too much. I just want to be a dispassionate objective observer. Oh, who am I kidding? I'll probably whip out my fiddle and try to sell some books and make some tips while I'm there.
Anyway, I'm wondering if any of you are going. Come say hi to me if you do and you see me there. Regardless of where you are in all these fights over whatever we fight about, we're friends, man. I mean it. Here's a flyer I got from someone who's going. I don't think they're advertising it because they probably know they'll get a crowd of protesters and counterprotesters showing up and turning it into a circus.
To me, he's kind of like Ghengis Khan or Julius Caesar: not an angel and known for brutality, but also a historical figure of note and interesting to study. He became a central figure in my Civil War trilogy, especially in my latest book, Blood for Blood at Nashville, which comes out this Thursday.
As an author who's studied and written about him quite a bit, I feel I ought to go. I'm afraid I'm going to be labeled a bad person by both sides of the culture war for appearing to like him or dislike him too much. I just want to be a dispassionate objective observer. Oh, who am I kidding? I'll probably whip out my fiddle and try to sell some books and make some tips while I'm there.
Anyway, I'm wondering if any of you are going. Come say hi to me if you do and you see me there. Regardless of where you are in all these fights over whatever we fight about, we're friends, man. I mean it. Here's a flyer I got from someone who's going. I don't think they're advertising it because they probably know they'll get a crowd of protesters and counterprotesters showing up and turning it into a circus.