"Rereading Old Classics" Topic

I started rereading Ward's War of the Revolution a few days ago and I must say, it's nice to reread a classic and immediately remember why you loved it the first time around. Growing up in the 70s and 80s I had never heard of this two volume history of the war. When I finally got my hands on a set in the early 90s, I loved it! It's a narrative but has a lot of detail and while reading it this time I recognize many concepts and ideas I've run across in more recent histories, which isn't really a surprise since most list it a a secondary source.

I also recently reread Thomas Fleming's Now We are Enemies. Still a great read, although it has a bit of the feel of one of his novels this time around. Still good detail and it really gives me the feeling of being there with the participants.

I would encourage those of you who have older histories on your shelf to give them a go again and revisit old friends (at least in my case). :)

Just read "1776". Not an old classic, but a good read. Good information on the individuals and their perceived thinking. Their opinions of their troops and differences between areas of the colonies. Also not loaded with any PC, to obtain the acclaim of fellow associates. It Instead was on the armies, leaders, individuals, tribulations and campaigns of 1776.

I prefer the old classics. In college, near the end of the last century, I was warned about not using secondary sources that were published prior to 1975! This struck me as idiotic at the time and still to this day I read what I want without regard to ideology.

Exactly!! One should read all sources and then make your own decisions and judgements.

There are likely as many dubious secondary sources published after 1975 as before that date. Date of publication has little bearing on quality of scholarship.

I read whatever I can find on subjects of interest to me. I also read scholarly reviews to help me judge the interpretations of the evidence. For gaming purposes I sometimes go with Romantic but Wrong, like my red coats in the Sudan.

I agree with Russ about revisiting old friends. My favorite friend to revisit is Bruce Catton's Army of the Potomac trilogy: Mr. Lincoln's Army, Glory Road, and A Stillness at Appomattox.

Don't let your professors find out. Once in grad school I unwisely pointed out that an older history was a better military account--more detailed, better maps--of a particular war than that year's hot new book on the same war, which trailed off into politics and diplomacy. Not a pleasant day.

William, I love Catton! Just something about his writing style that is very readable. Richard Ketchum is a favorite of mine for the AWI.

"War of the Revolution" is a nice read. Read it several months ago. I love its focus on the military side of the Revolution.

I grew up on Ward. I still consider it an excellent work. Unfortunately my brother got all the 18th century material when we broke up my parents' book collection.

I agree with Russ about revisiting old friends. My favorite friend to revisit is Bruce Catton's Army of the Potomac trilogy: Mr. Lincoln's Army, Glory Road, and A Stillness at Appomattox.

So this morning I found myself panicking when I realized that I'd finished my "take-it-with-me" book and needed a new one.

I chose Mr Lincoln's Army, which I've not read since the 90s. And from the first page I realized that I had chosen well. Very well.

Mark