Saturday, August 9, 2008

the whirlwind of war and other details

I've started reading The Whirlwind of War. It's oddly compelling for a historic record, although I supposed it might fall more under the category of fictionalized history than nonfiction. Stephen B. Oates writes the war from Sumter to Appomattox using nine first person narrators, including Lincoln, Lee, Sherman and other key players. He uses as many of their own words as possible, drawing from primary and secondary sources, in order to make his characterizations as authentic as possible. I finished the first fifty or so pages in the park this morning, and I'm surprised to report that it's a page turner, almost as much so as Gore Vidal's Lincoln.

In other news, I think I've fixed the settings so you can comment without signing up for a Google account. And despite musings to the contrary, I swear to you I will not fall in love with a reenactor on this trip, nor will the trip cause me to become one (thank you very much, Tom and Jack). And I'll try to post more often so I will never again have to hear the words "your blog is boring."

1 comment:

McBends said...

Hahahaha!! Some friends think you will fall in love with a re-enactor, or become one? That's awesome.