Archives: Civil War

The ‘Specials’ at Gettysburg, more from Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, and a little learning wherever we can: newsletter, July 16, 2021

July 18, 2021 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, Civil War, history, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,303) on Friday, July 16, 2021.   This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,313) on Friday, July 16, 2021. More and more, the sentiment showing in mainstream news outlets is that online learning during our year of Covid was a bust • Read More »

The first man in space, a controversial Union advocate, and possibly reviving the Verse and Vision videos: newsletter, April 23, 2021

April 25, 2021 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, Civil War, history, newsletter, Women writers and journalists, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,374) on Friday, April 23, 2021. The ongoing fight to make public records public traditionally has been led by state press associations and independent members of the news media. As such, it has been viewed by state legislators and the public at large as self-serving. • Read More »

More on William Seward, another walk through the Golden Age, and writing like a rifle: newsletter, November 13, 2020

November 15, 2020 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, Civil War, history, newsletter, reporters, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,5xx) on Friday, November 13, 2020. Some people cook and bake. Some people collect. Some make things. Some draw and paint, some listen (to music, etc.), some watch (birds, airplanes, insects, old movies, etc.), some read. The list could go on and on, of course. • Read More »

William Seward: ‘Just enough virtue’ (part 1)

November 9, 2020 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: Civil War, history, journalism.

William Seward’s modern biographer, Walter Stahr, subtitled his excellent book, “Lincoln’s Indispensable Man.” That sobriquet is hard to argue with when you examine how the Lincoln Administration navigated through the shoals of secession and the fierce opposition of the unionist Democrats. There was no guarantee that Lincoln, Seward, and the Republicans would prevail. But Seward • Read More »

Racism, the 19th century, and the prescience of John Quincy Adams

August 31, 2020 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: Civil War, history, journalism.

Despite the fact that one of America’s great accomplishments of the 19th century was the ultimate abolition of slavery, racial attitudes did not advance toward accepting racial equality at all. By the end of the century, the nation had wrapped itself into the knots of Jim Crow laws that embedded segregation into just about every • Read More »

Changing American attitudes toward slavery, police reporting reconsidered, and reader reactions: newsletter, July 17, 2020

July 18, 2020 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, Civil War, history, newsletter, reporting, Women writers and journalists, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,5xx) on Friday, July 17, 2020.   The world gets crazier and the pandemic, in America, gets worse. My heart is with those who have to make difficult decisions, from sending their kids to school to ordering businesses to shut down. I pray for their • Read More »

Marguerite Higgins finds a place for a woman in a combat zone, Stevie Wonder, and what Lincoln looked like: newsletter, May 22, 2020

May 26, 2020 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, Civil War, history, newsletter, Women writers and journalists, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,5xx) on Friday, May 22, 2020. This summer is likely to turn into my Wolf Hall summer. I have waited too long to dive into Hilary Mantel’s widely-acclaimed trilogy of historical fiction about the life of Thomas Cromwell. Mantel published the third volume of the trilogy (The • Read More »

Julia Ward Howe’s visions of glory, the fountain pen, more about libraries: newsletter, June 14, 2019

June 17, 2019 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, Civil War, journalism, newsletter, Women writers and journalists, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,775) on Friday, June 14, 2019.   Beans on the stand, tassels on the corn, blooms on the cucumbers, tomatoes on the vine — the garden continues to amaze us with its seasonable miracles. The months of planning, planting, watering, weeding, and watching are being • Read More »

Good advice for the General: Write like you talk

October 16, 2018 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, Civil War, history, journalism, writers, writing.

As a writing teacher of several decades, I never cared for the advice “write like you talk.” Most people don’t talk all that well. Besides, writing is a different process from talking. Talking is easy. Writing is hard. But “write like you talk” was the advice that Ulysses S. Grant got from Robert S. Johnson, • Read More »

Route 66, Buried Truths, Copyboy; the saga of two failures continues, newsletter, July 27, 2018

July 30, 2018 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, Civil War, journalism, newsletter.

This newsletter was emailed to everyone on Jim’s email list (3,251) on July 27, 2018   The summer is fully upon us here in East Tennessee — heat, humidity, and tomatoes. We always plant far more tomato plants than we need, and we are always surprised, with a bit of mock-horror thrown in, at how • Read More »

Two failures who saved each other – and then saved a nation (part 1)

July 19, 2018 | By Jim Stovall | 1 Comment | Filed in: Civil War, Home, journalism.

Well into his adult life, Cump Sherman considered himself a failure. So did others. He had attended West Point and had accomplished some relative successes in his military career. But when he left the army, he proceeded to fail at everything he tried. His health — he suffered from asthma — and his mental stability were • Read More »

Reviews, they always help; Battlelines: the complete Gettysburg

July 17, 2017 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: Battlelines, Civil War, fiction, newsletter, Point Spread, writing.

Jim Stovall’s email newsletter for July 14, 2017 Hi there, I hope you’ve had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend. Reviews Writers always want people to read their books, and they want their readers to love what they read. But what the writer needs is honesty. That’s why I alway suggest • Read More »

Battlelines: Gettysburg: Day 1, July 1, 1863

July 1, 2016 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: Battlelines, books, Civil War.

Once again, we are sharing a post with the Knoxville Civil War Roundtable. Note: The annual anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg is this weekend. To commemorate that, we are posting, with permission, excerpts from Battlelines: Gettysburg, that describe aspects of the battle. Battlelines: Gettysburg contains the battlefield drawings of Alfred Waud and Edwin Forbes, • Read More »

What did Lincoln look like?

June 14, 2016 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: Civil War, history.

The 19th century was just as image conscious as our age, and one of the masters of image was Abraham Lincoln. The sidebar on page 389 of Journalism: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How tells about a famous photo of Lincoln that was used in the election campaign of 1860.