Take a fiction break

[mt155]

I usually hit Half Price Books here in town at least once a week to look for something new and bargains. I never leave empty handed. My civil war library has grown to over 250 books. Luckily my wife shares my passion for history AND books. We like to tell our friends that we argue over book shelf space instead of closet space. Since I will be heading to Gettysburg in less than a month I have been currently re-reading everything I own on the subject, including periodicals. I like to take a break every now and then and read a good work of fiction. I have read Cornwell's' Nathaniel Starbuck series and of course Foote's' Shiloh. Other than John Jakes, can someone please recommend a good author or book?

 

[ole]

Anything by Michael Chrichton, Joseph Wambaugh, or Tom Clancy. Read the covers--Clancy and Wambaugh have done some non-fiction as well.

ole

 

[cash]

I usually hit Half Price Books here in town at least once a week to look for something new and bargains. I never leave empty handed. My civil war library has grown to over 250 books. Luckily my wife shares my passion for history AND books. We like to tell our friends that we argue over book shelf space instead of closet space. Since I will be heading to Gettysburg in less than a month I have been currently re-reading everything I own on the subject, including periodicals. I like to take a break every now and then and read a good work of fiction. I have read Cornwell's' Nathaniel Starbuck series and of course Foote's' Shiloh. Other than John Jakes, can someone please recommend a good author or book?

Michael Shaara's _The Killer Angels,_ of course. Since it deals with Gettysburg, it's perfect.

Regards,
Cash

 

[mt155]

I have read The Killer Angels and it's prequel and sequel. I am interested in finding some other civil war era fiction.

 

[ole]

Oh. CW fiction. Doctorow's "The March." Vidal's "Lincoln." Safire's "Freedom." Anything by DiLorenzo.

ole

 

[ole]

GWTW is a better book than the movie. And how could we forget "Uncle Tom's Cabin." And Newt Gingrich has his name on a few.

ole

 

[gary]

Surry of Eagle's Nest by John Esteen Cooke who served as an aide to Jeb Stuart. I read that book to learn the circumstances of an illustration made by Winslow Homer.

 

[Susan Sweet]

Fiction connected to Civil War

Two books by Jane Langton are worth reading. They are part of a mystery series she writes . The main characters in all the books are a husband and wife who are college professors in Cambridge Mass. Homer and Mary Kelly.

All most all the books deal with either literature or history. One I love is Murder at Montecello . It deals with Jefferson, Lewis and Clark and modern preprations for vthe 200th anniversary.

The two about the Civil War are called The Deserter: Murder at Gettysburg . The modern day Kellys are trying to prove Mary's great great grandfather was not a deserter at Gettysburg. Langton uses photographs of unknon people from the Civil War period in the book of fiction to represent her characters. The soldiers are all Harvard students or grads.

The sequel is called Steeple Chase. The Kelly are researching a book on churches in the area and find the tail of one of the returning injured soldiers from the Civil War.
Both are well written . Good reads.
Susan

 

[matthew mckeon]

I second Susan Sweet on the Jane Langston CW books. She wrote several good books about New England, then kind of got bad. The new Gettysburg and after books are excellent.

"Miss Ravenal's Conversion" is an excellent novel written in 1867 by a former Union officer, exciting, full of intrigue, surprisingly realistic.

"To Play for a Kingdom" about two squads of Yanks and Rebs who forswear the Overland Campaign to play a series of baseball games, is a intense, deeply detailed book, and real page turner.

"Bring the Julibee" is an odd science fiction book about an alternative United States of the 1940s, after the Confederacy has won its independence.

 

[samgrant]

Oh. CW fiction. Doctorow's "The March." Vidal's "Lincoln." Safire's "Freedom." Anything by DiLorenzo.

ole

I'll second Ole's selections of Vidal's "Lincoln." and Safire's "Freedom.". Both good reads with some good history disguised as fictional. (Safire includes a whole big section on where each of his 'fictional' incidents is derived from factual incidents.) Vidal is just good lit, besides telling a good story.

Haven't read The March yet.

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