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Post by elisabeth on Jan 13, 2008 4:55:07 GMT -6
Amazon is currently pushing this book, due to be published on January 24th: The Bloody Shirt: Terror After Appomattox, by Stephen Budiansky. (Not strictly speaking Civil War, of course, but not LBH either, so this seemed like the best thread for it.)
Sounds fascinating in its own right -- a study of the nastier aspects of Reconstruction -- but also of 7th Cavalry interest, as he looks in depth at Merrill's activities against the KKK.
I think I'm probably going to give in and get it, despite having sworn to buy no more books this month ... in which case, will report in due course.
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Post by harpskiddie on Jan 13, 2008 10:49:40 GMT -6
I'm trying to save up for England in 2009, Elisabeth - please stop mentioning books. My to-get list is now down to 11 or 12 , but I've just purchased two this weekend that weren't on the list [very cheaply]. I have no willpower whatsoever, even when I have a plan.
God help me if you write a good review of this book.
Gordie
MC
must consume
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Post by elisabeth on Jan 14, 2008 9:08:18 GMT -6
Sorry ...
If either of us had a grain of sense, we'd lean on our local public libraries to do the buying for us -- at least with the newly-published books, anyway. Then we could save our pennies for the rarer stuff that they can't or won't get hold of.
And yet, and yet ... I did manage to get Kershaw's Red Sabbath from the library. I read it, as I thought, assiduously. But there are vast gaps in my memory of it, and things I'd like to re-check or re-read. And even if you make notes as you go, the things you think are important when you have the book on loan aren't necessarily the things you'll want to consult it for a year or so later. So there's no remedy, really.
We're both doomed to perpetual poverty, it seems.
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Post by harpskiddie on Jan 14, 2008 9:25:52 GMT -6
At least we'll be well-read.
Our local libraries are not exactly the repositories of the books I'm most interested in, and even the main branch in Vancouver suffers from the same malady. Did I live in the U.S., I'd be more fortunate in this regard, and could make use of Inter-library services, maybe. The fact remains that, as you say, there is nothing quite like having the book close to hand - for ready reference or for drawing pictures in, I mean making notes.
Gordie
MC
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Post by elisabeth on Feb 5, 2008 9:14:35 GMT -6
Well, I just received my copy a day or so ago, and I have to say I'm enjoying it immensely. Have naughtily skipped to the Merrill segment first (being able to resist anything except temptation) and boy, is it interesting. Fascinating both for his character -- he comes across as a man of great intelligence and ability -- and, incidentally, for some not very flattering sidelights on Custer's. The more illuminating because I don't get the impression that Budiansky cares one way or the other about Custer; he's not out to bash him, but merely to rfelate what's happening to Merrill.
It's very entertainingly written; a truly rollicking narrative. He's done something rather curious with his endnotes: he doesn't reference them in the text, just identifies them by page number and key phrase. It's a bit disconcerting, since you don't know, as you're reading, which statements are substantiated and which aren't. But I suppose the theory is that it leaves the text clear to be read as pure narrative, without being spattered with reference numbers. Fair enough ...
Anyway -- from what I've read so far, highly recommended.
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