Housekeeping

OK, a couple of things.  For one, I have another very long letter from T. J. Goree saved in my drafts.  Problem is, for some reason my visual editor is making a whole bunch of words run together every time I hit spell check or save.  I sent WordPress an email, but they haven’t responded, and I want to leave it there so they can see what I’m talking about.  Every time I have a problem it’s the first time they’ve seen it, despite the fact that there are millions of WordPress blogs.

Also, I’ve finished proofing a manuscript for an upcoming book on First Bull Run.  It was quite a learning experience on several levels, and I’m thankful to the publisher and author for the opportunity to contribute to the project.

I’ve determined that my recent purchase of the new two volume Lincoln biography by Michael Burlingame will be my last Lincoln purchase for a long while, unless I find something I just can’t pass up.  I’m creeping up on 200 AL books (if I haven’t topped it already), and that’s just inexcusable.

I’m still creeping along with the McDougall book Throes of Democracy.  It’s pretty good, but there’s a lot of stuff in there so it’s taking me awhile (I’m around 275 pages in with 335 to go).  After that, I think I’m going to do Vol. II of Freehling’s The Road to Disunion and then Burton’s The Age of Lincoln.  I need a better understanding of antebellum America.  I may throw some lighter reading in there as well.  All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.    I’m thinking of Heroes & Cowards – it may dovetail with a post I’m working on concerning Southern criticism of the character of Southern men.

My Six-Pack column for May’s America’s Civil War has been submitted, and I’ve seen a draft of the layout including the new graphics.  Interesting.

There is a possibility that I may be doing a tour of the First Bull Run battlefield this summer.  While I’ve participated in and even organized multi-day tours before, I’ve never actually conducted one.  I have turned down requests to do them, but I think now it’s time to bite the bullet if I get the chance.

Oh yeah: I’m all done posting the Bull Run OR’s from the Supplement.  Thanks again to Jonathan Soffe for sending those to me.  I wonder how long I should wait before asking him if he can send me the correspondence?