for the
50bookchallenge:
meanwhile: Orthopaedic Injuries of the Civil War: $40.51 (we'll break $39 by tomorrow!)
oh, and LookingLand is still lost. news at four.
: o p
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no. 41: Lincoln and Episodes of the Civil War by william e. doster ~ i think i was doster in another life. for those of you who wouldn't recognize the name if it were emblazoned on a mountainface (and why would it be?), doster was the unfortunate provost marshall upon whose shoulders fell the impossible task of defending Lewis Powell and George Atzerodt during the conspiracy trial in 1865. his war memoir isn't all that interesting in terms of overview, but he does have some interesting observations in his journals about his job as the provost (dealing with contraband and curfews and cathouses). his accounts of bull run, chancellorville, and gettysburg all offer interesting tidbits. and his address to LeHigh University on Lincoln in 1909 is quite poignant.i'll prolly finish March this weekend (and Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain), but i don't think i will make it to 50 at this rate. the other books i have started are too long to finish. ah well ~ i gave it an earnest try. we shall see what happens in the next few weeks.
sadly, his recollection of the trial is all written long, long after the fact. it's a pity he didn't keep notes during the trial (or else he destoyed them). it's very clear by his tone that he was very sorry and very bitter about the outcome and ends his book on a very strong assertion that had justice been served, there would have never been any hanging. he was very much convinced that all four who went to their deaths were never found guilty of the charges put to them and his frustration with the process is very evident. you can hear the exhaustion and resignation when he says:More than all, it was the period proper for punishment of the rebellion, and somebody must be hanged for example's sake.i cannot imagine the grief he must have felt over the helplessness of his charge. he was an admirer of Lincoln, a friend to abolition, but also realistic about the sorrowful insurrection and all the misery that came with it. "if Booth was aiming at tyrants," he says, "he shot the wrong man. I do not say there were no officers then at Washington who did use their powers tyrannically. Who they were and what their tyrannical acts were is, however, another story." (and one which he sadly never tells).
no. 42: The Landry News by andrew clements ~ i won this book for submitting to a survey about reading. it's a chapter book for gradeschoolers, very dated, very after-school-special. it was mildly entertaining, but nowhere near deserving of the rave reviews i've seen of it online. it's a good story, but pretty ho-hum in its execution.
meanwhile: Orthopaedic Injuries of the Civil War: $40.51 (we'll break $39 by tomorrow!)
oh, and LookingLand is still lost. news at four.
: o p
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