[Leaning Right]

Thanks for the recommendations. I think I’ll look into ‘The Civil War of 1812’ in particular. Now here’s the thing. When I was 20 I first looked at the topic to see if I wanted to read a book. Now that I’m over 60 I first look to see if it’s available in large print. 🙂

[JohnBrowdie]

any e-reader fixes that. you have complete control over font size. I’d be lost without my kindle.

I’d also throw Ecstatic Nation, by Brenda Wineapple, into this conversation. She covers the cultural underpinnings of the political storms that were raging from about 20 years before the civil war through the end of reconstruction. she bounces around a good bit, but I was a bit surprised at the lack of attention that period seems to receive.

many works on reconstruction. entirely too many bullet-by-bullet accounts of every military campaign in the civil war. not so much on the economic and cultural lead up to the civil war beyond the single issue of slavery (not that it wasn’t the ultimate cause of the conflict, but it was by no means the only cause). but virtually nothing that takes you from, say, the Polk administration through the election of Hayes.

[Alas Babylon!]

I read all my books on first a Kindle, and now an iPad.

I can make the text as large as I need.