DWD's Reviews

It's a collection and like all collections... Published in 2002 by Berkley ...it suffers from the fact that it was written by a dozen different authors. Some are very good, most are decent. Two are awful. The gimmick in this alternative history is, of course, 'What if the Battle of Gettysburg had turned out differently?' It is inspired by this Faulkner quote: Confederate Major General George Pickett (1825-1875) 'For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it's still not yet two o'clock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it's all in the balance, it hasn't happened yet, it

 "It is a tale ... full of sound and fury; signifying nothing." -Shakespeare The above quote tells quite a bit about Olmstead's Coal Black Horse . It is garnish and flair, it is pretty words and gruesome descriptions of the horrors of war, but it is a story without a point, except to say that life is without value and, eventually, someone will end yours and it will all be over. Olmstead borrows heavily from the styles of Howard Bahr and Stephen Crane to create this book. From  The Red Badge of Courage he borrows the stylistic device of never quite letting the reader what battlefields or locations the book is set in - that is until he suddenly tells you that it's in Gettysburg. How Robey avoids tens of thousands Confederate soldiers stacked up along the Potomac River (they massed there for days waiting for flood waters to go down) is a mystery to me. Why Olmstead decides to tell the reader the battlefield at that moment is a mystery as well. Fr

Very good work marred by sloppy editing. Published in 1991 by Facts on File. Civil War and Reconstruction: An Eyewitness History is a good general history of the Civil War. It has good pictures and an easy to read narrative of the war. It also has a lengthy appendix that includes many of the relevant historical documents, such as the Constitutions of the USA and the Confederacy, Lincoln and Jefferson's inaugural addresses, the Gettysburg Address, short biographies of the major personalities of the era and battlefield maps. Confederate General  James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart (1833-64) At the end of each chapter, there is a lengthy section of quotes from participants and commentators of the day. This interesting addition makes the narrative read much quicker, but allows the reader to look at the topic in more detail if he/she chooses. Unfortunately, there are some errors in the book due to poor editing. Two, in particular, bugged me. I used this book to look fo

Very, very, very good. 5 discs. 6 hours. Read by Dick Hill Boogers Are My Beat: More Lies, But Some Actual Journalism  is a collection of Dave Barry's columns from the summer of 2000 through September of 2002. They are read expertly by veteran narrator Dick Hill. I usually hear Hill reading crime novels and the like but I was pleased to hear that he has expert comic timing and turns out to be a perfect narrator for Barry's offbeat sense of humor. Veteran reader Dick Hill Topics include: *The 2000 Democrat and Republican political conventions; *The 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games; *The Census; *Camping in a Wal-Mart parking lot; *and the silly tips in Cosmo magazine on how women can drive men wild. Dave ends with two long essays about 9/11. One was published on 9/12 and does a great job of summing up the raw feelings and shock of the time. The second essay is much longer - by far the longest of the book. It was published on the one year anniversary of 9/

Well-written. Interesting. Nice amount of details. Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg would be an excellent addition for any visitor to the battlefield. The chapters are short enough that a thoughtful tourist would have no problem reading them as he/she stood there. It is a bit pricey for its size but it's a nifty guidebook nonetheless. I know I've seen similarly-priced tour books that weren't as well-written. James McPherson It would have helped to have pictures to help orient the tourist, but this would necessitate editing of the book if the Parks Department begins the restoration projects McPherson mentions (and hopes for). These include removing woods that have grown up since the battle and restoring fences and orchards that have been removed. I own a number of McPherson's books - he is this generation's preeminent Civil War historian - and I'll be glad to put this one on the shelf with the others. Whenever I can convince my wife to let me