In this episode, I begin the end of my coverage of the American Civil War Library of America anthology with a gloss on the March to the Sea and related events, as well as the 1864 election.
The crucial election of 1864 took place in the context of decisive Union victories in Atlanta and Virginia. How do these events effect the people who experienced them first hand? I read about it in the Library of American anthology of Civil War writings.
In this episode, I consider documents from the American Civil War on the 1864 peace movement, the siege of Atlanta, the Jubal Early raid on Washington, and other issues.
I continue to explore the American Civil War through primary sources, looking primarily at the brutal outcomes of the Overland Campaign and the soldiers responses and recollections of those costly battles.
In this episode, I begin my look at the final year of the American Civil War through the Library of American anthology. I was particularly moved by Harriet Jacob's school in Virginia. I also look into the Fort Pillow Massacre and the start of the Overland campaign.
The final episode in my review of IT. Let me know what you think of this novel and my coverage of it.
In part 10 of my review of Stephen King's IT, we (almost) get the climax in the sewers. Before we can go there we need to spend around 100 pages watching King set that climax up. It has one of the most memorable and horrible moments in the novel, the confrontation between Beverly and her possessed father.
In this episode I explore three chapters of Stephen King's novel IT. It includes a couple of a my favorite sections: the death of Patrick Hockstetter and a deeper dive into Derry's history in the fourth "Interlude" chapter.
In this episode I look at the chapters "The Smokehole" and "Eddie's Big Break" from Stephen King's novel IT. Sadly these are both chapters that have been neglected or radically changed in the film adaptations, but they are still pretty important.
I continue my deep dive into IT by Stephen King by looking at the turning point chapters on the "Apocalyptic Rock Fight" and "The Album", which set up the confrontation that will dominate the rest of the novel
In this episode, I look at some historical documents produced in the winter of 1863 and 1864. With the tide of the war decisively changed, desperation, desertion, and even some radical proposals appear in the Confederacy. The war was lost at home and on the battlefield.
In this episode I look at the "Walking Tours" chapter of Stephen King's novel IT. It sets up some important themes for the later half of the novel and prepares us for the non-stop unification of past and present that we will experience from here to the end.
In this episode I explore more documents from the American Civil War, focusing on the end of 1863. Topics include Reconstruction, the battles around Chattanooga, and The Gettysburg Address.
This is the episode where I deal with the biggest problem I have interpreting this novel. The question of IT's motivations, the return of the Losers, and the reason they are all rich and childless. I also talk about the second "interlude" chapter and "The Reunion".
The documents from the summer of 1863, after the victories of Gettysburg and Vicksburg, show how rapidly Emancipation changed the fortunes of the war and public opinion in both the North and the South. I had a lot of fun with these documents and hope you enjoy too.
In this episode we continue our slow read through IT by Stephen King and finish up part two of the book. The chapters focus on the power of magic, belief, reason, and the group.
Part three of my review of IT by Stephen King. The chapters I look at here explore the creation of a Ka-tet (to steal a Dark Tower term) and meditate on the power of the group.
In this episode we look at a handful of turning points in the American Civil War by working through the Library of America's anthology of Civil War writings.
Part two of my review of Stephen King's IT. I mostly discuss how much I like the book's relationship to fictional and real history.
As I continue reading through a series of primary sources on the American Civil War, I dig into the events of June of 1863, which set the stage for some climactic events including the draft riots, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the attack on Fort Wagner.
This episode of my non-Hugo-award-winning podcast introduces a mini-series on Stephen King's IT, which will be released alongside my main series. Here I cover the first few chapters of the novel.
When did the American Civil War become a total war? The documents I look at in this episode cover the spring of 1863 and suggest these months may be when the war truly became total.
In this episode I continue my Civil War series and look at the impact of Emancipation on the war effort, diplomacy, and public opinion. I also talk about Sherman's questions about freedom of the press.
A bit of a mixed bag in this episode. I close out my look at Franklin's writings from before his relocation to London in 1757 and take on a grabbag of letters on science and politics.
I read another 100 pages of American writers. This time, it is Ben Franklin's writings from the 1740s and 1750s, up until the Albany Plan of Union and his departure to London. I found the most interesting sections in this bunch of readings involved Franklin's arguments for a proper education.
The 1730s and 1740s saw Benjamin Franklin use his newspaper to promote issues of public necessity such as a post office and a fire department. It is during these years he also helped form the American Philosophical Society. All of this got me thinking about the public domain and the role of the media in building community (or not).
We look at Ben Franklin's writings in the later 1720s and early 1730s. Mostly I consider some of his journalism for the Pennsylvania Gazette, but maybe most interesting from this period is his argument for paper currency.
In this episode I start a new series looking at the works of Benjamin Franklin. This time we will focus on his early Boston and London writings such as the Silence Dogood letters and his philosophical pamphlet on free will and pain.
The finale of my coverage of Sinclair Lewis with my final thoughts on BABBITT (1922). Is there any hope for Babbitt? I am not sure. I see some hints of it before he seems to surrender to conformity at the end. Let me know.
Part two of my review of the excellent novel by Sinclair Lewis, BABBITT. Here we see the calm before the storm of Babbitt's crisis of faith as he tries to invest in his social status in Zenith, without much success.
