[Tax-chick]

Thanks. Some interesting points. It makes me think of some of the letters and diaries I've read of Civil War soldiers. Their spelling and punctuation, in those unstandardized times, were truly bizarre; however, if you read aloud, their composition is usually very clear and elegantly phrased, because they were used to listening to the Bible, some of the classics, and newspapers written by journalists with a classical education.

[NicknamedBob]

Truly good writing is not about people -- heroes and villains, victims and victimizers, strong men and weak -- but about the ideas that make them somewhat more than human.

Michael Sharra's "Killer Angels" is not exclusively about the Civil War, but about the influence of belief systems in giving superhuman strength to the weakness of human flesh, and such is the nature of the literature of ideas.

Humanity is an animal made most remarkable by its ability to communicate. It is language ability which elevates us, and it is the ability of language itself to rise above its origins by making it possible to describe ideas and concepts which have no clear analogues in the physical world. This is world which is accessed in this remarkable realm of letters.

[cyborg]

A lot of poor folk were taught to read using the Bible.

[Antoninus]

Thanks. Some interesting points. It makes me think of some of the letters and diaries I've read of Civil War soldiers. Their spelling and punctuation, in those unstandardized times, were truly bizarre; however, if you read aloud, their composition is usually very clear and elegantly phrased, because they were used to listening to the Bible, some of the classics, and newspapers written by journalists with a classical education.

Exactly. I often think of Civil War era prose when I think of great American writing. One of the radio talk show hosts, I can't remember which one (maybe Hugh Hewitt) recently read the entire text of Lincoln's second inaugural address on the air. It was pure poetry from start to finish. I thought to myself, "now, that fellow knew how to get an idea across with style!"

For what it's worth, the ancient Romans didn't bother too much with punctuation either...