Sam Watkins fought as a Confederate soldier during the Civil War. Twenty years after the war, Watkins wrote this memoir, Co. Aytch about his experience. His stories about surviving enemy fire border the surreal.
Co. Aytch book cover
His company was named “H.” Back then, they spelled words they way they sounded – hence the title. Sam’s regiment hailed from Tennessee. Since I live in Tennessee, I recognized a lot of the places he mentions. Continue reading
It just so happened that I had to wait on the kids almost the entire day at co-op and at orchestra rehearsal. That gave me time to read this book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, in one day – to be precise, in about four hours. The book is only 78 pages long and the plot moves fast.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass – the first of his three autobiographies
I knew what to expect – shocking portrayals of slavery during the 19th century. That is why I hesitated before reading it. Violence in a book or a movie never appeals to me. In fact, I avoid it as much as possible. It was hard to read the four or five passages in which Douglass describes horrible acts of violence against African Americans. Continue reading