Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl Our late friend Bill Borland was from Eudora, Arkansas; he loved to cook gumbos and such and hush puppies. Once, before we were on our way to his home for dinner, my wife asked me what a hush puppy was and I said cornmeal, wheat flour, eggs, salt, baking […]
“Watershed Days,” by Thorpe Moeckel
December 29, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl One might be at a loss with this book absent some context, but even with context one might still be at a loss. Mr. Moeckel’s book covers some two years of occasional vignettes, an even dozen from 2005-2006 and another even dozen from 2006-2007: adventures of a sort. The vignettes, […]
“South of the Etowah,” by Raymond L. Atkins
December 7, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl The “Etowah” in the title to Raymond L. Atkins’s recently published book refers to a 164-mile-long waterway rising in northwest Georgia to begin flowing south and then west through Rome, Georgia. If one had the interest, one might build a raft and, Huckleberry-like, float along through Alabama down to Mobile […]
“A Sensory History of the Civil War,” by Mark M. Smith
November 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl There’s an online collection now providing access to over 7,000 different photographic views and portraits made during the American Civil War. The images represent the original glass plate negatives photographed under the supervision of Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner. The images are powerful: the dead about to be interred at […]
“Wrath of the Dixie Mafia,” by Paul Sinor
November 8, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl It could become a film noir but the script would need to be a departure from the novel, remade into a much tauter, no-nonsense rapid-fire dialogue between characters resplendent in their gritty glory. It would help to have hardboiled masters at hand like Raymond Chandler and tough guys like Bogart […]
“This Republic of Suffering,” by Drew Gilpin Faust
October 26, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl The “Preface” to Drew Gilpin Faust’s This Republic of Suffering begins with a pointed sentence: “Mortality defines the human condition.” True in any and all circumstances, including driving to work in the morning or returning home in the evening. Driving our cars, however, is unlike Confederate and Union soldiers gathered […]