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From chaos, violence comes a brilliant novel
Bob Moyer reviews the latest novel by one of his favorite authors. One note: Despite what Bob writes, not all Southerners called the conflict of the 1860s the War Between the States. Some – I think particularly of an elderly woman who owned a historic house in downtown Charleston that a group of graduate students…
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The questions that haunt us
Paul O’Connor reviews a historical novel that tells a good story while examining questions that are still with Americans today. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor BLACK CLOUD RISING. By David Wright Falade’. Atlantic Monthly Press`. 290 pages, hardcover. $27. In late fall 1863, the Union Army’s African Brigade marched southward from its Fortress Freedom encampment…
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The Civil War – and more
Paul O’Connor observes that even if it shouldn’t be judged by its cover, this book is good reading nonetheless. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor THE WAR THAT FORGED A NATION: WHY THE CIVIL WAR STILL MATTERS. By James McPherson. Read by Grover Gardner. Audible.com. 7 hours and 29 minutes. $19.95. You have to be careful…
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Lincoln, military genius
Paul O’Connor somehow missed this excellent Civil War history when it was published a few years ago, and he’s glad he found it now as an audio book. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor TRIED BY WAR: ABRAHAM LINCOLN AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF. By James M. McPherson. Penguin Audio. 8 CDs. Read by George Guidall. $31.50.…
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Forgotten history
History is important not only in itself, but also in the way it affects the present. Paul O’Connor reminds us of that in his review of a “fascinating“ book about a part of history Americans have too often overlooked. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor FREEDOM NATIONAL: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865.…
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The Civil War – did it have to happen?
Full disclosure: Although he’s lived in North Carolina for decades, and knows more about the workings of government in the Tar Heel State than just about anybody, Paul O’Connor is a Connecticut Yankee. Bless his heart. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, he approached this book about the causes of the Civil War (aka,…