I’ve been reading a lot about the Civil War lately, trying to decide if I’m going to write about my great-grandfather or not. A benefit (and sometimes a curse) of the period is how much has been written about it. To do it right, I have to read a fair amount of what’s out there to try to understand the period, how people lived through it, what some of the key battles were like, and what happened afterward. With historical fiction, the devil is in the details. Rebecca Scott at Literary Hub describes what it’s like when research on the era is almost non-existent.
If you follow journalism sites on the web, you’ll (sooner rather than later) discover the considerable amount of handwringing that goes on about the public not trusting the news media. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch occasionally indulges in this as well, forgetting that its editorial page (and much of its news coverage) resembles an echo chamber. Gallup did a recent survey on trust in the media, finding – surprise! – the public’s confidence in the media is at record lows. More handwringing to follow.
If you visit Parliament Square in London, one statue you immediately notice is that of Winston Churchill, facing the Houses of Parliament. Walk around the space, and you’ll discover, as did American historian Neil Chatelain, another statue facing Parliament – that of Abraham Lincoln.
More Good Reads
Writing and Literature
The Perfection of Jane Austen – Eva Brann at The Imaginative Conservative.
Ten Reasons to Believe We’re Living in the Golden Age of Texas Fiction – Texas Monthly.
Past Lives of the Paragraph – Richard Hughes Gibson at The Hedgehog Review.
The Bookseller Who Helped Transform Oxford, Mississippi – Casey Cep at The New Yorker.
Faith
The Uselessness of “Christian Nationalism” – Miles Smith at Mere Orthodoxy.
Religion Goes Off the Rails – Greg Doles at Chasing Light.
Jesus Shall Reign: The Remarkable Story of the First Missionary Hymn – Scott Hubbard at Desiring God.
Ukraine
Ukrainian Christians Recall 51 Days Huddled in Church Building as City Was Destroyed – Erik Tryggestad at Religion Unplugged.
A Ukrainian priest splits Sundays between church and the front lines – Steve Hendrix and Serhii Korolchuk at Washington Post.
Famed Ukrainian medic describes ‘hell’ of Russian captivity – Lori Hinnant and Vasilisa Stepanenko at Associated Press.
A return to duty - Campaign Diary: Bedbound reflections on the ongoing brutality of war in Ukraine – Patrick Caddick-Adams at The Critic Magazine.
Life and Culture
Why Woke Organizations All Sound the Same – Gabriel Rossman at City Journal.
When Pro-Choice Stops Being Pro-Choice – Aaron Earls at The Wardrobe Door.
'It Has to Change': Small Business Owners Sound Off on Crushing Inflation – Nancy Rommelmann at Common Sense.
American Stuff
Religious liberty has a long and messy history – and there is a reason Americans feel strongly about it – Stacy Morford at The Conversation.
Horror of the Hedgerows: Thankless, Miserable, Disheartening – Francis Sempa at Real Clear History.
The End of the All-Volunteer Force? – Edward Chang at American Conservative.
Poetry
On the Anniversary of My Father’s Death – Jeffrey Essmann at Society of Classical Poets.
Never Enough (from The Greatest Showman) – Karl Loxley
Painting: A Girl Reading, oil on canvas (1884) by Frank Huddlestone Potter (1845-1887).
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