a shot of Shiloh, to steel the nerves

"The source from the water used in making this batch of Battlefield Bourbon is taken from water sources on privately owned property on the Shiloh battlefield, about 125 miles southwest from Franklin, between Savannah, Tenn., and Corinth, Miss. By using water from the battlefield, Hicks is providing an opportunity to actually taste part of this hallowed ground. Each bottle is signed and numbered by Hicks."

[from Brentwood Home Page, "Hicks' second 'Battlefield Bourbon' made with Shiloh water"]

700 University of California Press eBooks, and a lot more

The University of California Press e-books collection holds books published by UCP (and a select few printed by other academic presses) between 1982-2004. The general public currently has access to 770 books through this initiative. The collection is dynamic, with new titles being added over time.

Readers looking to see what the collection holds can browse by subject. The curators of the site have kindly provided a second browsing page that shows only the publicly accessible books, omitting any frustrating off-limits titles.

The collection’s strengths are in history (particularly American history and the history of California and the West); religion; literary studies; and international studies (with strong selections of Middle Eastern Studies, Asian Studies, andFrench Studies titles).

A quick browse yields a multitude of interesting possibilities for future reading: Shelley Streeby’s 2002 book about sensational literature and dime novels in the nineteenth-century United States; Luise White’s intriguing-looking Speaking with Vampires: Rumor and History in Colonial Africa (2000); and Karen Lystra’s 2004re-examination of Mark Twain’s final years. (The image above comes from another Twain text by Randall Knoper.) Two other noteworthy texts include Roland Barthes’ Incidents and Hugh Kenner’s Chuck Jones: A Flurry of Drawings.

Sadly, you can’t download the books to an e-reader or tablet. Happily, there is a “bookbag” function that you can use to store your titles, if you need to leave the site and come back. [About Open Culture: http://www.openculture.com/faq]

Causes of the Civil War (James Epperson)

An internet classic. For nearly 20 years, Jim Epperson's Causes of the Civil War site has been a go-to resource for interested students, and anyone evaluating the still-pervasive influence of the Lost Cause narrative. For those fighting the good fight against the forces of neo-Confederate nonsense, this assemblage of essential primary source material has been indispensable. I've visited this page hundreds, if not thousands of times, and am glad to see it's still being maintained. Thanks Jim.

James Loewen: "Why do people believe myths about the Confederacy? Because our textbooks and monuments are wrong."

From today's Washington Post.

Gordon Rhea on the Confederacy's legacy. . .

Gordon Rhea is an attorney based in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, and an author of books on the history of the Civil War. He has lectured on military history at the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, at several National Military Parks and at historical societies and Civil War round tables across the country. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN) The Confederacy's toxic spirit still casts a long shadow over the American South. . . Read Gordon's full op-ed piece here. 

American Experience: Last Stand at Little Big Horn

139 years ago. . .

Drought exposes Civil War veteran's grave

The broken headstone recently secured to a concrete slab marks the burial site of Civil War veteran Corporal John McBride on the dry lake bed of Lake San Antonio in southern Monterey County on May 27, 2015.
(Vern Fisher, Monterey Herald)

Click HERE to read the full story at the San Jose Mercury News site.