As you may know, we are in the midst of honoring the 150th Anniversary of the start of the Civil War. The Washington Post has been printing excellent installments, and I have been collecting them.
I also highly recommend reading the masterpiece, "Reveille in Washington," by Margaret Leech. It was published in 1941, but it remains a classic. It is superbly written and well-researched, resulting in riveting detailed stories.
If you had any relatives who fought in the Civil War or lived and worked in the DC region during that time, this is a must-read.
But even if you do not have familial ties to that era, this book well illustrates the seismic transformation our country underwent during those five years that continues to reverberate to this day.
For example, it chronicles well how DC transformed from being a Southern political power base to a Northern-dominated town, one of the most historically important transitions for our country as it signaled the demise of the Great Compromise of the Constitution (where slaves counted as 3/5 of a person in apportionment).
As historians will tell you, that one compromise impacted our history in many ways, ranging from the election of Jefferson as president in 1800 to shelving the debate on slavery thereby ensuring generations of suffering and irreversibly setting the country toward a brutal Civil War.
And this book shows the macro aspect of that through the telling of countless personal stories.
And for those thinking this book might be just another exercise of reading "dry" history, let me just say that the author showed that our "proper" ancestors certainly had a lustful side to them that would make even readers of today's tabloids blush.
If you live in the DC area, an added bonus will be that this book will make walking and driving around the region so much more interesting for you.
If you can't find the book in your library, (I found mine in a musty bookstore up in southern NY) it is available through Amazon.
If you get a chance to read it, I invite you to share what you think of the book.
I also highly recommend reading the masterpiece, "Reveille in Washington," by Margaret Leech. It was published in 1941, but it remains a classic. It is superbly written and well-researched, resulting in riveting detailed stories.
If you had any relatives who fought in the Civil War or lived and worked in the DC region during that time, this is a must-read.
But even if you do not have familial ties to that era, this book well illustrates the seismic transformation our country underwent during those five years that continues to reverberate to this day.
For example, it chronicles well how DC transformed from being a Southern political power base to a Northern-dominated town, one of the most historically important transitions for our country as it signaled the demise of the Great Compromise of the Constitution (where slaves counted as 3/5 of a person in apportionment).
As historians will tell you, that one compromise impacted our history in many ways, ranging from the election of Jefferson as president in 1800 to shelving the debate on slavery thereby ensuring generations of suffering and irreversibly setting the country toward a brutal Civil War.
And this book shows the macro aspect of that through the telling of countless personal stories.
And for those thinking this book might be just another exercise of reading "dry" history, let me just say that the author showed that our "proper" ancestors certainly had a lustful side to them that would make even readers of today's tabloids blush.
If you live in the DC area, an added bonus will be that this book will make walking and driving around the region so much more interesting for you.
If you can't find the book in your library, (I found mine in a musty bookstore up in southern NY) it is available through Amazon.
If you get a chance to read it, I invite you to share what you think of the book.
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