one of those oh-so-utilitarian posts ~

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 the victorian home: a portrait of domestic life in victorian england by judith flanders. stupendously wonderful book for those of you who love day-to-day minutiae of victorian living. it's very english, but lots of stuff here crosses the pond. invaluable for some of those quirkier domestic questions of sanitation, cooking, and cleaning.

this is an illustration from the book by flanders.
it shows a scene (with numerous symbolic leitmotifs)
of the collapse of the domestic life
as a result of a woman's failure to
manage the household.

and, also for the challenge, here are the trial transcripts, which i am definitely counting as at least a book and a half. there are parts i didn't scrutinize word for word, but i think tackling all 5 books oughta count for something.

no. 47 ~ the trial of the assassins and conspirators at washington city, d.c., may and june, 1865, for the murder of president abraham lincoln. published by the peterson brothers. this is a good solid source even if it is issued by the media. i'm using it as my secondary source after poore.

no. 47 & 1/4 ~ the trial : the assassination of president lincoln and the trial of the conspirators by benn pitman (edited by edward steers, jr.). i'm only using this as a quick reference because it's broken down and indexed in a way the others are not. i can find stuff in here and then know where to look in the other copies. otherwise, it doesn't really serve for what i need.

no. 47 & 1/2 ~ the conspiracy trial for the murder of the president by ben perly poore in three voluminous volumes. the mother of all trial transcripts second only to the national archives' handwritten file in the LAS. this is the script i'm working from primarily. it doesn't have certain details that the peterson transcript has regarding court business, which make the two excellent complements.