for the 50bookchallenge: no. 57 ~ A Soldier's Heart by gary paulsen. coupled with an article from the Journal of Urology (don't ask, i work in a library, i just come across things) about Joshua Chamberlain's pelvic wound, it was a thoroughly demoralizing evening of reading last night. paulsen's book is, hands down, the most depressing Civil War story i have ever ( Read more... )

september 17, 1862 ~ antietam creekEstimates vary but center around 23,000 total Americans, Northern and Southern, killed, wounded, or missing during this one days fighting. [T]he count of those who lost their lives because of this single day of battle could exceed 7,000. No other day in American history produced a greater number of casualties. If ( Read more... )

Mark 4:35-38He saith to them that day ( Read more... )

today's lesson is "style and no substance" and our "what not to do" example comes to us from the wondermaker who also brought us that astonishing lump of corpolite, Sin City. i'm just not sure how many slow-motion beheadings one ought to endure in a movie and war was simply never made so dull. what thin plot is here is negligible, the acting ( Read more... )

for the 50bookchallenge:no 50. ~ The Physician’s Wife and the Things that Pertain to Her Life by Ellen M. Firebaugh. this was fun. i was hoping for something more, but she tells some funny stories about being the wife of a country doctor before the turn of the century (this was published in 1894). she mostly focuses on how nobody ever pays their bills and how ( Read more... )

for the 50bookchallenge:no. 45 ~ glory, glory, hallelujah! by irvin s. cobb. this is a funny little book written by a journalist who found his 15 minutes of fame touring the country and presenting glowing talks about the service of "colored" regiments during the war. one of those perfect examples of inherent racism even in die-hard abolitionists.

no. 46 ~ inside ( Read more... )

i have totally confirmed in the last week that the more attention i pay to lj, the less work i get done. during my week off from lj, i wrote 60 pages and completed a number of projects. this week, even though i haven't been posting much, i have been reading about all of you on my lovely flist, etc. and i've accomplished very little! yeeks ( Read more... )

i've been a writing teacher for a long time and have read many a student journal. i can decipher most handwriting if i sit with it long enough. general hancock's writing has taken me a long time to acclimate, but i think i have it down for the most part. i have learned how to recognize the difference between his "h", his "p" and his "ss" which, ( Read more... )

catching up for the 50bookchallenge, these being an odd assortment of research ~ i usually don't actually read much biography and certainly not regimental history, but here were some necessary (and curiously interesting) evils:no. 37 ~ Major General John Frederick Hartranft: Citizen Soldier and Pennsylvania Statesment by A. M. Gambone. if his kidneys hadn't ( Read more... )

today's three catch-ups on the 50bookchallenge are all first-person accounts from three of the least objective participants in the conspiracy trial, here in no particular order of ridiculousness:no. 40 ~ The Assassination of Lincoln: a History of the Great Conspiracy by general thomas mealey harris. general harris didn't say much during the trial, but he wrote ( Read more... )