Art Np2

If you're interested you can take the Civil War and Reconstruction class with David Blight on  Youtube .  There are 27 video classes of about an hour each.  I'm just trying to get through the books.

In an earlier post I wrote about the free Civil War and Reconstruction class I'm taking from Yale Open Courses.  The class is taught by Professor David Blight.  It is available on Itunes and  here. During the past few days I've tried to get through Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott.  Alcott wrote some books for adults.  Alcott told of her experiences as a volunteer nurse in 1862.  She served in Washington, D.C. and at the beginning of her term Union soldiers from the battle of Fredericksburg filled the hospital. The battle of Frederickburg took place in Virginia from December 11-15, 1862.  There were many more Union casualties than Confederate.   Wounded Soldiers outside hospital Hospital Sketches is really hard to read because the young men that Alcott took care of were full of holes, missing limbs, had parts of their heads and faces blown off, and emotionally traumatized.  Mercifully some of them died.  Yes, it was that bad....

I'm supposed to be reading the classics.  I agreed to complete several challenges, but I let myself be pulled into The Hunger Games .  The first book was scary and I didn't finish it, but then I saw the film.  So after reading Catching Fire and Mockingjay , I am anxiously awaiting the next movie.  For me it's just as bad as my obsession with Harry Potter. Then I ran across David Blight's course Hist 119: The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845-1877 free on Itunes.   Find course here or on Itunes.   I became interested in with what happened during The Civil War that so I decided to listen to all the lectures and read some of the books. I am fascinated by how many men died on both sides, the nonsensical reasons the South gave for continuing slavery, and the devastating pain Sherman's march to the sea caused the civilian population.  How could countrymen  do such terrible things to one another? The books to be read during the course are: Why the ...