re: #137 piratedan

just stay away from Shelby Foote’s trilogy of the Civil War, it’s a great read but it’s a long slog. Think that Ken Burn’s Civil War uses it and a fair amount of the Mary Chestnut diaries to provide historical clarity in allowing you to see these figures as people.

Well, as a compulsive reader, I’ve read it through probably three times. People accuse him of being a Confederate sympathizer (I guess because he doesn’t insult every Rebel on every page) but he’s very clear on the causes of the war. Also I owe to him my ability to see through the Confederate character assassinations of Grant and Sherman—two real American heroes.