The Fourth of July Edition!

Happy Independence Day to all!

I wish you sunny skies, grilled hot dogs, mystery assorted salads (potato? macaroni? who knows!), and fireworks to outdo those of Gandalf himself. My own holiday tradition is a little... quieter. Since we're so far from family and no one's work schedule quite aligns, I forgo the splendor of "rockets red [and green and blue and yellow] glare" for the flickering of the television screen, where I watch Gettysburg and smile at this exchange:

Lee: Then tomorrow is the Fourth of July. Independence Day.
Attendant: I'd quite forgotten.
Lee: The good Lord has a sense of humor.

I thought I'd extend the quiet festivities to you, too, and make today's post thematically appropriate!

A dear friend and colleague gave me this piece of reading when she came across it during an annual office cleaning and it proved a quick and poignant read that ought to be required for any world leaders thinking about "politics by other means." Wishes for victory are more freighted than we might suspect!

If you have any interest in the American Civil War and aren't reading Ralph Peters, you're doing yourself a great disservice. He came to my attention back in my bookstore clerk days, when his first novel was part of a "books for dad" display for Father's Day. I read a few pages and was transported from the thick, green carpet and horrible fluorescent lights to the center of battle, the spray of blood and shot, the sting and heat of smoke, and a gore that felt so visceral that I might have gone white and then green. Peters makes men out of the paper dolls of historical figures, bringing to life the irascible Jubal Early, and bringing to life the (forgotten by me, anyway) presidents McKinley and Hayes, about which I now wish to know more!


This post would be woefully incomplete without the novel that inspired Gettysburg, considered by many to be the best example of Civil War fiction. Like Peters (and well before him) Shaara brings to life figures often overshadowed, shifting the focus from monoliths like Lee to his "Old Warhorse" Longstreet and to Chamberlain and Buford. There is poetry in Shaara's observations and insight into men separated from us by time and death and I was very pleased to return to this classic this year in time for a celebration of a Union still whole!

This is the moment I watch Gettysburg for!