The Book Shopper

Revisiting Civil War Reenactors

Battle, n. A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would not yield to the tongue.

– Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

 

As the 150^th anniversary of the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain (GA) approaches later this week (June 27^th) with planned festivities including a re-enactment, I am reminded of Tony Horowitz's 1998 book, Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War, which I still have on my shelves.

I wonder if there is still a hierarchy among re-enactors that Horowitz  described so well via one hardcore re-enactor Rob Hodge, who tried to do everything authentic except fight in battle with live ammunition. According to Horowitz, it also included dietery restrictions:

Losing weight was a hardcore obsession, part of the never-ending quest for authenticity. “If you look at pension records, you realize that very few Civil War soldiers weighed more than a hundred thirty-five pounds,” Rob (Hodge) explained. Southern soldiers were especially lean. So it was every Guardman's dream to drop a few pants sizes and achieve the gaunt, hollow-eyed look of underfed Confederates.

In this world, chubby re-enactors with spotless gray or blue uniforms are referred to as “farbs” who are looked down upon by the hardcore reenactors. But after rereading a few chapters about hardcore reenactors  you realize there is something maniacal about a person who prefers sleeping in leaky tents and eating rancid bacon just to be authentic.

Something to look for about if you go to a reenactment at Kennesaw or any other reenactment around Atlanta. (Thinking of the Union soldiers wearing dark wool uniforms in the Georgia heat is enough to make me cringe and avoid the crowds. My  photo was taken in winter.)

Bierce and Baseball

Two well-known people were severely wounded at Kennesaw Mountain, one was the writer Ambrose “Bitter” Bierce who I wrote extensively about in an earlier posting. An interesting aspect about Bierce is that he was the only major literary figure of American letters who actually fought in the Civil War.

No wonder the man was able to produce a work like The Devil's Dictionary.

Another wounded survivor is the father of first commissioner of Major League Baseball, Kenesaw Mountain Landis (1866-1944). Abraham Landis lost a leg at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain and two years later named his newborn son, Kenesaw (?!?), who later became the commissioner. It was Landis who restored integrity in baseball after the Black Sox Scandal of 1919, which led to the banishment of Shoeless Joe Jackson.

 

Getting My Sherman (Alexie) (Amaz)On

Earlier this year I mentioned that I picked up a copy of Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony (1977) based on an interview in The New York Times of Sherman Alexie, the author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007). Alexie said Ceremony was his favorite book of “Native America literature.” Curious about this book, I picked up a copy while book shopping in New York last holiday season.

Well, I did read part of Ceremony, but did not finish it. This is not a reflection of the book, because the writing was fine, and the theme and the portrayal of a young soldier Tayo, who returns to the reservation after World War II seemed authentic, as Alexie suggested.

Sometimes as a reader you know that even though a book is good, you just don't feel like completing it. I am from the school that says “Read what you like or engages you at the moment, if it doesn't work for you, then move on to something else. You can always come back to it.” People can criticize my lack of fortitude attitude, but if I am forced to read something I don't like, then I just quit reading. Not much point in that. (It also explains why I don't do many reviews of books on this blog.)

The irony is that a longtime friend read the book shopping New York posting and bought me a pre-owned copy of Alexie's novel, which I did finish. It's the story of a middle school-aged boy who leaves his reservation school to go to a white school. All the problems of adolescence combined with the life and despair of growing up as a self-loathing Native American and then being alienated from his own community and family, make this a downer like Ceremony. On the positive, Alexie's breezy narrative style and the illustrations by Ellen Forney– both what you might expect from a boy who is hitting puberty hard – keeps you reading. (You can see the influence of Ceremony on Absolutely True Diary.)

Alexie has been getting attention lately for appearing on The Colbert Report bringing to attention the plight of his publisher Hachette who is fighting Amazon's unfair business practices. I have no doubt that Amazon is a bully and appreciate the importance of independent bookstores, but I doubt throwing a sticker on your book saying you didn't buy the book at Amazon will do much to change that. Besides large publishers and independent bookstores are not above reproach for their practices and policies as well. Ask any published author  and he or she will tell you that writing the book is not enough – it is up to you to hump and hustle to sell a few copies during it's short, short, shelf life.

It's only when an obscure mention in an article or an insignificant blog like this one says something about your past book that you can get another sale or two and be assured that the only likely way you can buy that out-of-print book is thru Amazon.

 

 

Note: Another interesting coincidence between Sherman Alexie and William T. Sherman (subject of a lot of posting lately)  is that after the Civil War, Sherman was responsible for some of the policies that led to the further placement of indigenous tribes  on reservations.