Category Archives: General

WWW Wednesday

Posted on December 17, 2025 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? James Buchanan, Jean H. Baker. WHAT are you reading now? Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and Willliam Rufus King, Thomas Balcerski, and 1858 by Bruce Chadwick WHAT are you reading next? … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Top Ten Books On my “Winter” TBR

Posted on December 16, 2025 by smellincoffee

Today’s treble-T is books we think we will be reading this winter. As I did in summer and fall, I want to first look back at the prior quarter’s TBR predictions and see how I did. I did….poorly. Of the … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 22 Comments

From Hero to Zero: Franklin Pierce

Posted on December 13, 2025 by smellincoffee

Franklin Pierce wasn’t high on my interest list of presidents to read about for this America @ 250 project until I learned that he was intimate friends with Jefferson Davis and his wife Varina. Pierce and Davis served together in … Continue reading →

Posted in General, history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

WWW Wednesday

Posted on December 10, 2025 by smellincoffee

WHAT have you finished reading recently? The Battle Cry of Freedom, James McPherson. Review in progress. I have three more ACW books stacking up: Confederate Women, by Bell Irwin Wiley; 1858, by Bruce Chadwick; and The Civil War: An Aerial … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Selections from the Battle Cry of Freedom

Posted on December 9, 2025 by smellincoffee

Quotes Austere and humorless, Davis did not suffer fools gladly. He lacked Lincoln’s ability to work with partisans of a different persuasion for the common cause. Lincoln would rather win the war than an argument; Davis seemed to prefer winning … Continue reading →

Posted in General, quotations | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Battle Cry of Freedom

Posted on December 9, 2025 by smellincoffee

Battle Cry of Freedom is widely regarded as the finest single-volume history of the Civil War — and after finally reading it, I understand why. McPherson compresses an era of extraordinary complexity into a narrative that feels both sweeping and … Continue reading →

Posted in General, history, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Top Ten Books Set in the Snow

Posted on December 9, 2025 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT is “books set in snowy places”. Well, that rules out anything in Alabama! But first, a couple of Tuesday Teases from The Battle Cry of Freedom, by James McPherson. “Soon after dawn on February 16, Buckner sent a … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 18 Comments

A Fine, Quiet Sunday Morning in December….

Posted on December 7, 2025 by smellincoffee

Today’s annual remembrance of the sneak attack at Pearl Harbor has an especially salient echo given that it’s a Sunday. I am reminded of Captain Billy Mitchell’s interwar warning, quoted in The Airman’s War by Albert Marrin. By chance, I … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Book of Common Prayer

Posted on December 3, 2025 by smellincoffee

The Book of Common Prayer is the heart of the Anglican communion, and for my money contains some of English’s best phrasing outside Shakespeare and the Bible. Since 2011, its liturgy has been part of my life, its phrases embedded … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Reviews | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

WWW Wednesday & Earliest Memories

Posted on December 3, 2025 by smellincoffee

Today’s prompt from Long and Short Reviews is, what is your earliest memory? More on that story in a few minutes! First, let’s check in with…. WWW Wednesday WHAT have you finished reading recently? The Book of Common Prayer by … Continue reading →

Posted in General | Tagged , | 10 Comments