Another eBook uncovered – The Library grows!
Mary Livermore was a Sanitary Commission representative during the war, and a suffragist after it. She was quoted a few times in the Ken Burns series, and with her history I imagine this memoir will prove an interesting read.
Another e-book uncovered on my travels, though I’m shocked that I hadn’t included this one earlier: I read it in university, and it’s a very famous account of life as a female slave in the South. Well worth a read for an insight into the horrors of slavery. Project Gutenberg, as always, provides multiple formats from which to choose.
I can’t find a slot for this tale in my plans for the podcast, but it seems rollicking enough to post it here. Project Gutenberg offers various formats of Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom, the tale of a light skinned slave who – posing as a male planter, and her dark skinned husband pretending to be her servant – made a very public escape from slavery. It was a bestseller in its day, and Wikipedia suggests it’s a good read. I’ll add it to the Library
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom; or, the escape of William and Ellen Craft
I’ve been reading more about John Brown’s Raid, and came across this first-hand account. The author, Osborne Perry Anderson, was the only surviving African-American who took part in the raid. Google has provided scans of the original book in its entirety (isn’t the Internet great?) I’ll add it to The Library.
It seems Bill O’Reilly has co-authored a book
Steers adds that one entire passage of the book about co-conspirator Mary Surratt is flat-out untrue:
The authors write that she was forced to wear a padded hood when not on trial, and that she was imprisoned in a cell aboard the monitor Montauk, which was “barely habitable.” She suffered from “claustrophobia and disfigurement caused by the hood,” and was “barely tended to by her captors.” “Sick and trapped in this filthy cell, Mary Surratt took on a haunted, bloated appearance.” None of this is true. Mary Surratt was never shackled or hooded at any time. She was never imprisoned aboard the Montauk, but taken to the Carroll Annex of the Old Capitol Prison before being transferred to the women’s section of the Federal Penitentiary at the Washington’s Arsenal.
I won’t be adding this one to my library.
http://www.salon.com/2011/11/12/second_expert_trashes_oreillys_lincoln_book/singleton/
As I mentioned before, the Spielberg Lincoln project is on hold. Rising from the (un)dead, however, is a very different Lincoln film. Seth Grahame-Smith – he of the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies “fame” – followed up his Austen meal by sharpening his teeth with Lincoln. Sadly, my library’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter has too many holds for me to have yet indulged, but I’m sure it’s a hoot. (To begin with, Nancy Hanks Lincoln’s death is attributed to vampirism, with “milk-sickness” as a cover.) The best part of this film rendition is that I won’t spend too much time wringing my hands at the historical inaccuracies.
I first read Grant’s Memoirs as a teenager, and remember them as being both engaging and accessible. As one who was (and is, to this day) easily put off by the flowery, verbose prose common to novels from the Victorian era, it was refreshing to read Grant’s simple and conversational writing. You feel you’re getting the essence of the man; Plain and taciturn, yet exuding a deep strength of character and a warm humanism. Judging by the personality demonstrated here, Grant would have been a nice guy to share a beer with, or – knowing what we do of Grant’s foibles – perhaps a lemonade instead.
The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant are available as a free download from Project Gutenberg.