No comments about Colored Memories: A Biographer's Quest for the Elusive Lester A. Walton.

5 comments about Why Sinatra Matters.

1. Many of the basic,well known aspects of FS's life are mentioned here, starting with the Genoan and Sicilian branches of his family history, his quiet father and brash, Democratic Ward Leader mother. The segment on Bing Crosby's huge influence on 1930's popular culture, especially in the new radio-centered family (like TV today) is great, and perhaps not known too much today. FS as an icon for immigrant Italians, along with LaGuardia and DiMaggio, is also a high point. The days with James and Dorsey are also well done, if rehashes, like much of this otherwise excellent book. And much is written about FS's legendary "Fall" and 2nd Rise, the Fall being among the most overdone of FS's incredible life.(Many would love to fall from such Olympian heights!). Mr. Hamill says that the music is what matters. Obviously, he's right! Only Frank could sing so well about the depths of anguish and despair, as well as the thrill of triumph! The author also gives a nice summation of the great work of FS with Nelson Riddle. Unfortunately, short shrift is given to Billy May, and a short paragraph mocks the "sugary" work of Gordon Jenkins. Oddly, the most famous pairing of Jenkins and FS, "September of My Years" is listed in the appendix as among Mr. Hamill's favorite albums! It would have been nice if a CD was included,since this book does not really mine the golden depths of FS's best recordings. Still, all in all, a fine and succinct presentation of The Man and His Music.



2. I like this book because it isn't like all the other Sinatra biographies out there. In fact, it isn't really appropriate to call "Why Sinatra Matters" a biography at all. Author Pete Hamill was an acquaintance of Sinatra's and much of the book is built around conversations that the two men had together, which is very interesting. This book gives a general overview of Sinatra's upbringing and rise to stardom. Hamill explains how Sinatra's childhood and Italian American background contributed to the development of his music. Sinatra's "fall from grace" is also examined, but Hamill is quick to point out that the only thing that really matters is that Sinatra was able to overcome his obstacles and make an incredible comeback. There has never been another singer like Frank Sinatra and there never will be again. Sinatra continues to represent so many things to so many people, which is why his music will live on forever.



3. Ironic that Pete Hamill should write this book. To my ears and eyes, Pete Hamill has never written a sincere or honest word in his life.
   
   The irony is that when Sinatra was asked how he wanted to be remembered, he said he would want people to think of him as an honest singer.
   
   The book is good, but read it with a grain of salt due to the author.



4. This is a small book. Short and sweet. Mr. Hamill gets right to the point . There isnt a lot of fluff in this book. A few pictures and so anecdotes to start some of the chapters. It written well and the layout is succint. This is a must read for any Sinatra fan.



5. Another masterpiece by Hamill. This work reveals the humanity of Sinatra. It is short, but oh soooooo good! If you are interested in Sinatra, read this book. It is sophisicated and loaded with the nuances of the man who did it his way, faults, bruises, and all.

5 comments about Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams.

1. This was a book that I literally could not put down. This is a book that was very well researched. The author doesn't gloss over Hank or put him up on a pedestal like a lost god. He writes about his life as it happened and I read things in here I'd never read anywhere else. This book is a steal at Amazon's price. It's worth every penny.



2. Hemphill brings nothing new to the table.
   
   Because this book was just rehash of better books before it, I found it unsatisfying.
   
   The author comes out of the starting gates, sentimental and reflective, with every intention to write a story, in first person....and I thought I was being taken into A Hank story from a fresh perspective...thinking perhaps that maybe the kid had crossed paths with him a long time ago.......and then, oddly and abruptly, its switches into a Matter-of-fact delivery of Hank's factual life story?
   
   
   Escott's bio is extraordinary....Hemphill coming in on the heels of it...failed to bring anything of his own. Seriously, Im not sure why he wrote the book, when he offered next to nothing new....and in some areas, quite a bit less.
   
   Its not a horrible book, its just not special.



3. I thoroughly enjoyed this short but absorbing biography of the country legend. Having been a fan all his life, Hemphill writes with great empathy and understanding, making the south and the country culture of the 1940s really come alive. So one learns a lot about the history of the southern states, the development of the music and the singers of the time. He analyses the lyrics and makes them more comprehensible in the light of Williams' personal life and background.
   
   It's interesting to learn about the towns, the venues, truckstops and radio stations, and the history of the Grand Ole Opry, the record companies and the major figures of early country music. In those days, live performances were more lucrative than record sales so Hank Williams worked extraordinarily hard on constant gruelling tours. That was before the days of luxury tour buses. Hemphill succeeds in capturing the essence of Williams' poetic genius in his discussions of the famous songs, enthusing the reader to go back to the music and listen with a new ear.
   
   As a music lover, I found the author's discussion of the different popular music genres of the late 1940s of particular interest, and how Hank Williams' songs were covered by artists as varied as Tony Bennett, Louis Armstrong, Perry Como and Dinah Washington. Fifty years after his death, his music had been interpreted by an impressive array of artists from almost every possible genre, like James Brown, The Bee Gees, Nat King Cole, Isaac Hayes, Elvis and even The Residents: Stars & Hank Forever. In the introduction to her version of Pale Blue Eyes, Patti Smith pays tribute to Hank in a brief narration about his death in the back of a car on the way to a gig.
   
   The writing style is a pleasure, down to earth, often witty even when he narrates episodes from the dark side with lots of empathy. Lovesick Blues is one of the most enjoyable biographies of a musician that I have read. But the book would have benefited from a discography and stuff like Billboard country and pop chart positions, as well as an index. Five stars for reading pleasure, but one deducted for the absence of the aforementioned.
   
   Hank Williams: Snapshots from the Lost Highway
   
   Complete Collection



4. An excellent book on Hank Williams.I followed his career and enjoyed him and his music from the beginning.You often hear people say that they remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard JFKennedy was shot,or when the World Trade Center was attacked on 9/11;but I can remember it as clear as a bell when I heard Hank had died.I was in our kitchen listening to the radio;it may well have been a Hank song,but I'm not sure;when the announcer broke in to tell us that Hank Williams had died in the back seat of his Cadillac,on the way to do a show in Canton ,Ohio.
   Even if you have come to know Hank's music many years after his passing;you'll find this an excellent book that tells you what Hank and his music was all about.
   I also remember in those days the local radio station announced and played The Top Ten Country as well as the Top Ten Popular (Pop) Songs. For a year or more after his death, Hank's songs kept making the list;even though several had not even been released at the time he died.
   One should not overlook the fact that Hank's songs were mostly written by himself and were about his life.Today people loosely say that singers are singing from the heart;butif you really want to know what it really means, you will find it with Hank.Having a stable of songwriters,arrangers and so forth produce songs will never have the honesty that we got from Hank.
   I have other Biographies about Hank,including Colin Escott's .They are good,have a lot of facts and information;but this book really gets into the heart and soul of Hank.
   There are numerous references to Hank's Steel Guitar player,Don Helms,and quite rightly so.Don was with Hank through it all,both the good and the bad,and it is unlikely if anyone knew ,loved and understood Hank better than Don;and that includes Hank's wives and family.
   On June 30,2006 ,I heard that Don Helms was going to do a show outside of Hamilton,Ontario.I had forgotten about him,but when they announced that he had been Hank's Steel Guitar player;I just had to go. It was a small crowd,about 150 or so,in a Legion (VFW)hall. Well,was I in for a treat. Don had with him a young singer about 28 or so,about Hank's build dressed in a costume identical to Hank's "Music Suit" ;and accompained by Don and a couple of others sang Hank's songs all afternoon.The young singer,(Hank) Chris Malpow kept us spellbound with his reverent impersonation of Hank, and Don played with the vitality and dedication that he did 50 years ago. Along with them was his wonderful and extremely friendly wife of 60 years,Hazel. They talked one on one,signed autographs,posed for pictures with their admirers,left his famed Guitar on stage for anyone to admire;and seemed as happy to be with us as we were to have them.He said he had hopes to doing more shows.Having been born on Feb 28,1927,makes him 80 today;but I can tell you,he can put on a show as good as the best of them.So,If you get a chance to see him,don't miss it.
   He told us one very interesting story,among many.
   In the final days,Hank's problems were way beyond control. Hank decided to go back to Alabama. Don wouldn't go.He told Hank when he got things straightened out,he'd be waiting for him in Nashville. There had been a recording session already booked in Nashville.So Hank called Don to do what would be their final session,though nobody knew it at the time. Hank said he had written a new song.Don asked for more details,music,etc.Hank said,he wouldn't have any trouble,He would sing it, and Don could just play along.Well,that's what they did. The song was "Your Cheatin' Heart" and that was the only time he and Hank ever sang it ogether. A careful listening will show you that Don tried his best to follow Hank. And,what a song it was.
   As fans of Hank,we are very fortunate that people have made the effort to bring these biographies to us. Another person mentioned in the book is Bill Mcewan.For several years he and Colin Escott collaborated on a 3-Hour radio show every New Year's Day on Hank Williams. They were always telling wonderful stories and turning up recordings that had never been releaded.They often played parts of the "Health and Happiness"shows.
   On page 170 it is stated that ;
   "Hank recorded a total of sixty-six songs,thirty-seven of them making the "Billboard"charts,and the most important number is that he had written fifty of them himself."
   That number seems low to me. One Website lists 166 Songs between 1946 and 1952. Does anyone know what the correct number and the names are?



5. really just an unneccesary book. Totally a rehashing of Colin Escott's book. cant believe someone published it. some worthwhile moments, but not really a book id recommend.

No comments about They Married Adventure: The Wandering Lives of Martin and Osa Johnson.

5 comments about A Beautiful Mind : A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr..

1. In Sylia Nasar's award-winning biography, A Beautiful Mind, which chronicles the life of mathematics genius and Nobel laureate John Nash, she divides his life into three acts (though the table of contents does not): genius, madness and reawakening. Act one, his genius phase, covers the first two parts of the book, and lasts for the first 29 years of his life. Act two - madness, which takes the form of schizophrenia - covers the next two parts, and lasts until he is 62. Act three, his awakening, covers his remission from schizophrenia, his receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for Economics in 1994, and his life at Princeton up to the present. The book was made into an Oscar-winning motion picture by director Ron Howard in 2001 and stars Russell Crowe. Both book and film are phenomenal, as are the man's life and Crowe's portrayal of it.
   
   Particularly interesting about act one of Nash's life, and part one of Nasar's book, is the discussion on game theory. Game theory, up until the time of Nash, was based upon the idea that only one player in a game can win and everyone else must lose. But Nash broke with tradition in his doctoral thesis by theorizing mathematically the results of a game in which everyone won, regardless of the number of players. His thesis became the basis of modern economic theory, and the reason for his eventual Nobel prize.
   
   Nasar does an exceptional job explaining game theory and the workings of the mind of a genius, and especially Nash's original idea, which he called "the Nash equilibrium," and introduced in 1950 when he was only 21. Nash theorized that a game could be both competitive and cooperative - as opposed to the "winner take all" stakes of purely competitive games like chess - and could result in a desirable balance of power, rather than the undesirable condition of domination by a single power. In other words, when a player considers both his own good and the collective good of the other players, the results are better for everyone. This allowed gaming theory to be applicable to economics, politics and other sciences.
   
   In Ron Howard's film, he illustrates this beautifully with the scene in the bar in which all the boys want the beautiful blonde who walks in. Russell Crowe's character, Nash, explains to his friends that if they all go for the blonde, they will all lose, because they will offend the blonde's friends, causing them all to strike out. But if each of them goes for a different girl, they will all score. This is the moment Nash realizes he has found the original idea for his doctoral thesis.
   
   Socially, Nash had no friends growing up. This is ironic for a person whose greatest contribution to science was a theory of relationships. It is also interesting in that it illustrates something about the environment needed to develop into both a genius and a schizophrenic: isolation. As Nasar puts it, "His overriding interest was in patterns, not people." I don't think a lack of interest in people is required for genius, but I do believe an interest in patterns is. It was his ability to see patterns in numbers that led Nash into numerology and decoding imagined ciphers for the Pentagon.
   
   Howard does an excellent job showing Nash's ability to recognize pattern in the opening scene when Russell Crowe insults a fellow student's tie after recognizing several patterns in it that are reflected in the layout of the punch table. He does it again when he is able to pick out the pattern of an umbrella in the stars for his love interest and future wife, Alicia, played by Jennifer Connelly. And when he is decoding for agent Parcher, played by Ed Harris, the patterns that he sees in the numbers and words "light up."
   
   Until he meets Alicia, who would stand by him through his illness and help him overcome it, Nash's relationships are cloaked in mystery and innuendoes. It is not important to get into them here; but let me just say that the homosexual community was vocally disappointed by Howard's choice to leave them out of his film. I believe he was right to do so, if for no other reason than that they would have added nothing to the story; but more because no one is certain of what those relationships consisted. Nash himself did not consider himself a homosexual, so it may be that they were merely codependent. Regardless, they would undoubtedly have been immature and ego-centric, as all his personal relationship were before he met Alicia.
   
   Alicia brought something to Nash's life that he had never experienced before: another focus besides himself and mathematics. Before her, his world revolved around the fact that he considered himself a mathematical genius. Now there was someone else to consider. Alicia drove a wedge into an otherwise self-focused, isolated life. She was the person that would recognize his slipping into schizophrenia - although she didn't know what it was at the time - and she was the one that would bring him back. Connelly is wonderful in the role of Alicia. Howard uses their relationship in the film to turn an otherwise straight thriller into a love story. It is this combination that makes A Beautiful Mind very much like a Hitchcock film; and yet, because it is true, it is even more interesting.
   
   Ron Howard is masterful at blurring the line between what is real and what is not in Nash's world. We are never really sure until the day of the storm, when Alicia goes out to get the laundry off the line and discovers what is in the garage. That is an exciting scene, especially when combined with the scene of the baby's bath, and then with the scene following in which Parcher (Harris) holds a gun on Alicia and tells Nash that she is threatening the mission. The conclusion that Nash voices, as he tries to prevent Alicia from leaving, breaks the tension: "She never grows old" (talking about Charles' niece Marcee). That is when he shows he realizes that something is wrong in his world.
   
   How he deals with his problem is what makes his "a beautiful mind." Once he is diagnosed with schizophrenia, he is given the usual drug and shock treatments. But he realizes that the treatments being administered to save his mind are also destroying it. With Alicia's consent and help, he tries to overcome his problem using the power of his own mind. It is because of her love and support, and the support of the mathematics community, that he succeeds.
   
   There is a key scene in the movie - the scene when he receives the recognition of his colleagues in the faculty dining room in the "pen ceremony" - when Thomas King tells him about his being considered for the Nobel Prize. Nash explains to King how he overcame his schizophrenia. He says it is like having an appetite for something but, rather than feeding it, choosing to starve it. He said he had an appetite for certain things in his life that weren't real. They are still there - talking about Charles, Marcee and Parcher - but he doesn't acknowledge them. Thus, they no longer have the power to affect his life.
   
   To me, this is the take-away from both Nasar's book and Howard's film. We all have appetites for things that are not healthy, not real - fantasies in which we play "what if" scenarios in our heads. Like Nash, we can choose to ignore them and go on to lead happy, healthy, productive lives. Or, as he did during his mad period, we can indulge and become involved with them, allowing them to affect and ultimately destroying us. Like Nash, we have power over our own thoughts, and, thereby, over our own lives. If we choose well, we, too, will have beautiful minds and beautiful lives. It's up to us.
   
   Waitsel Smith



2. John Forbes Nash Jr. is one of the most intriguing personalities I've known or read about. A precocious math genius and one of the few persons responsible for the establishment of game theory, he succumbed to mentally-decapacitating schizophrenia at around the age of 30. I think Sylvia Nasar succeeds wonderfully in recounting the personal aspect of Nash's life such as his various eccentricities and the effects his mental illness had on both himself and those around him, but when it comes to the science and theories the book is a wee bit disappointing. Of course this book is a biography and is therefore more concerned about his life than his work, but a lot of interesting examles could have been been used to more clearly illustrate Nash's theories that I was quite surprised Nasar didn't give at least a few of them. Until his theories are better understood, the enormity of Nash's genius could not be fully appreciated.
   
   Recommended for its storytelling, but if you'd like to grab the gist of the technical stuff read his published papers or game theory textbooks.



3. I assisted Nash with the C programming language at Princeton and was a source for the book.
   
   I found the book accurate, well-written, and readable. The part of the book that talks about the period in which Nash's economics prize was considered was indeed one in which this very private man was under a microscope, and my supervisor warned me to be very sensitive to his condition.
   
   Sylvia Nasar knows her craft very well. The book is narratively organized, and she doesn't need to do dramatic flashbacks or grabbers to get you to keep turning the pages. It's a man's life, in America of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s...to the early nineties, by which time Nash had become the Phantom of Fine Hall.
   
   But, Phantoms have a story too. Anyone interested in the human side of math and science, anyone interested in psychology, anyone who is impressed by women who both "stand by their man" and get a career of their own, will enjoy reading the story.
   
   The book is much more detailed and far more accurate than the movie, which had to take liberties with the truth to be entertaining. It includes Nash's other common-law wife Eleanor and a son by that marriage, which was very different from Nash's relationship with Alicia.
   
   The book is long but will probably be very rewarding for most readers.



4. I saw the movie and loved it, BUT the book is much, much better. I am a physician and have treated patients with schizophrenia. This book is a must read.



5. I read this book about two weeks ago, and I couldn't put it down. Maybe my opinion is biased because I have schizophrenia myself, but I found this story to be particularly encouraging in terms of my own recovery. The genius John Nash refused the coercive treatments of psychiatry and recovered naturally as some people do. I think it's sad that John could never reach the height of his mathematical genius again, after his illness, but it's still a hopeful story because he made a complete recovery, in my opinion. This book explains the mysterious and challenging symptoms of a misunderstood illness, and it also tells a tale of a person with the classic schizophrenic personality. It seems Nash was predisposed to the illness, and his behavior leading up to his first episode is characteristic of they typical schizophrenic. The difference between Nash's story and those of so many others with this difficult illness is that John was a true genius, became mad, and then recovered through sheer willpower. I think this book challenges the prevailing biopsychiatric model of schizophrenia and demonstrates that people can indeed recover without the use of toxic psychiatric drugs. You can also learn a lot about the politics of the Nobel Prize in this book.

No comments about Free Some Day: The African-American Families of Monticello.

2 comments about A White Preacher's Memoir: The Montgomery Bus Boycott.

1. Pastor Robert Graetz left seminary with his young family to take a call to Trinity Lutheran Church in Montgomery, Alabama. As a white pastor during the time of the civil rights activity in Montgomery, he writes of his day to day struggle with racial hatred and how it affected his congregation and his family. This book defines the courage it takes to live out Christian justice and mercy and added a dimension to my knowledge of this era I had not yet experienced before I read it. Although I rated it a 9, if someone did not return my copy, I would buy another. It is a must for my library.



2. One thing I really enjoyed about reading Rev. Graetz's book was that it showed some of the diversity that was a critical part of the Civil Rights movement without making the case that African-Americans could not do it alone.
   
   Anytime a book is written in this type of context - a minority perspective on an issue - there is a danger of overshadowing the majority's struggle. In this case, Rev. Graetz merely tells of his involvement in what he saw as the right thing to do. Never does he make a huge deal about his own sacrifice, but instead talks about the general struggle. In the fine line between unique-diversification and over-the-top self praise, Rev. Graetz clearly falls on the side of the first.
   
   In addition, the book looks at different congregational backgrounds in the black community coming together for the common cause.
   
   There are many stories to be told about the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and this is one that should be read.

5 comments about The Custer Myth.

1. By far the best of the vast Custer literature. Graham gathers together in one place primary data and lets you draw your own conclusions. On Custer, Graham is the only author I have read who writes without massaging his data to support some preconcieved theory. This book, incidently, was published in 1953, not in 1993.(It would be helpful if Amazon would note first copyright dates in book listings.) This book was not bashed out to meet a schedule or catch a market window; Graham gathered data literally for decades. Being an army officer-- Judge Advocate Corp--gave him access to files and access to survivors who were eyewitnesses to the fight at Reno's end of the field.



2. This is Graham's great collction of testimonies about Custer and the Little Big Horn from the Sioux, Cheyene, Rees, Crows, scouts, officers, soildiers and others. An incredible collection of material laid out in categorical chapters. Graham lays this often quoted collection out without prejudice and although he questions the Indian participant's accounts due to their lack of perception of exact time and spatial realities, he presents it all the same. What is quite fascinating are the virtual raw letters of Benteen to William Goldin. The letters show Benteen's bitter side particularly toward Custer and demonstrates that Reno was also not held highly on his list, if anyone was. Also, has Godfrey's great history of the battle and the book even includes challenging letters from Grahams critics to his personal responses. A great book for those that want to know all from multiple perspectives of the participants.



3. This book gives no definitive answers on the biggest puzzles of Little Big Horn ... which is its greatest strength. By pulling together all the available testimony, from both sides and all angles, it's proof of how 'the fog of war' -- as well as participants' own agendas -- makes any battle more confusing to its participants than to those who come after. For the reader, piecing together the conflicting accounts, and assessing the characters/viewpoints/axes-to-grind of those giving them, it's a total immersion not just in the facts but in the feelings, prejudices and atmosphere of the time. A wonderful book. And one that should be basic training for every student of history, whatever their period. This is how history is.



4. It is my opinion that the three most famous battlefields on US soil are (in no particular order) the Little Big Horn, Gettysburg, and the Alamo. Each has a legion of students and enthusiasts accompanied by a number of printed resources. Stackpole Books has added to the printed resources on the Little Big Horn with its' collection of books known as The Custer Library. The most important of these books, in my opinion, is "The Custer Myth" It contains just about all of the available first person accounts of the battle known to exist. Many of the accounts are rather short but all are interesting. For the "Last Stand" buffs, it is like waking up on Christmas morning to find that you got everything you wanted except actual newsreel footage. For the casual observer of the subject, this may be the downfall of the book. After all, the stories greatly overlap and repeat each other. In doing so, they add another dimension of personalizing the battle even more. No Custer enthusiast should be without this book and no private library of American History is complete without it either. Do yourself a favor and add it to your library as well.



5. It was great to find a book published well over 50 years ago, so I could see what "spin" the author had on the battle. Surprisingly, the author did not laud Custer--the title comes from the author's belief that Custer was more made up than real. The author, though retired military, made what appeared to be a fair attempt to reconstruct the attacks from the Indian's point of view. The book does not compare to "Lakota Noon" in analysis, but the author states at the beginning he is just presenting the facts as reported by others. The book also contained other interesting information from Sitting Bull that even my boss, a Lakota, had not seen. Be warned, though: It's a long book with a lot of self-serving statements by Army officers.

No comments about Recollections Of The Early Republic: Selected Autobiographies.

3 comments about Diary of a Confederate Soldier: John S. Jackman of the Orphan Brigade.

1. In February of 1862, 4,000 men left Kentucky as part of the First Kentucky Brigade and marched south. Three years later, 600 returned, among them John S. Jackman. In between, the five regiments saw most of the Civil War in the west -- Shiloh, Vicksburg, Baton Rouge, Chickamauga, the Atlanta campaign -- even ending their days as a unit in Washington, Georgia, just as President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet pass through in their attempt to escape Union troops.

   Jackman saw it all, and as renowned and prolific Civil War author and editor William Davis points out, his account is the longest and most unvarnished of the diaries that have come out of the war about the "Orphan Brigade." "Diary of a Confederate Soldier" is one of the better memoirs to come out of the war, literate, readable, humorous (especially the great snowball battle in March of 1864), and educating.




2. The Orphan Brigade was one of the hardest fighting units in the Army of Tennessee. Jackman writes a very good history from his own expierences, first as a regular soldier then as an clerk for Co. B, 9th Kentucky. He takes us from the first camps of the Orphans through the war, to where he was injured at near where General Polk was killed at Pine Mountain and his hospital visits. While there are thing added either in his transfer of the diary to a new book in 1865 or after the war, William C. Davis helps make clear things that might have been changed. Davis also points out names where Jackman uses initals. Overall, it is worth the price, especially for a Civil War Reenactor like me.



3. This diary of John S. Jackman presents one educated soldier's often daily proceedings, as they "overturn the best government in the world". The entries have a real style, often humorous, with little politics, hate, or even personal feelings. Jackman and this Kentucky "orphan brigade" saw a lot of action in his 3 years, 8 months and 4 days of service; including the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, the blasting of Vicksburg, and Chickamauga and Chattanooga. His group also tried to fend of Sherman's march. On June 14, 1864 a shell fell him till he was out of action, till he joined "the orphans" to see "Uncle Jeff' (confederate president Jefferson Davis), in Washington, Georgia as the president rode away alone --- "and the confederate government ceases to exist".
   
   Jackman's journal was ever present and, as you might expect, there is a focus on food, with talk of getting "bear" (local livestock)", or going off for watermelon and bacon in the morning. Sickness was common for Jackman, and he writes of the pain of new shoes. Jackman's style is often light even in the midst of war, for example, "I fell to my lot to be mounted behind a very large man on a very small horse". He read when books were available, including Cicero (in Latin) and Dickens "Great Expectations". Relevant to today, the soldiers in the confederate army also complained of having their time involuntarily extended. The editor did not over edit the account and the introduction in each chapter was helpful. Including a map would have helped me follow the story.