"The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara page 95

Whew. I have to take a break from the Russian history for a bit. It is so bleak that I can literally feel it depressing me.

Now, on to Gettysburg. I have taught excerpts of this book, (Chamberlain's speech to the 120 reluctant Maine men as an example of brilliant rhetoric) and had several people whom I greatly respect say it is phenomenal. So I picked it up two days ago and pounded through almost 100 pages. This one might get in the way of my work. What a read.

Already, I can feel my attitudes about the Civil War (one of the greatest oxymorons ever) shifting as these mere names of history are being humanized. My education hitherto in Civil War history was limited to "North: industrial, nice railroads, good guys," and "South: agricultural, racists, bad guys." I should know from years of teaching of "The Iliad" that things are never this cut and dry, black and blue. Shaara through his silken prose is fleshing out the men on both sides so well that I have forgotten who to root for.

The book also seems to be tangling with the very reason that so many books are written, movies are made, and histories are sung about war. . . our futile but irresistible desire to understand it.