"The Foolishness of Civil War Reenactors"
Author Glenn W. LaFantasie, the Richard Frockt Family Professor of Civil War History at Western Kentucky University, gets a little long winded, in my opinion, in his scorn for Civil War Reennactors in this May 8th article on the website "Salon." While there may be a couple of valid points he makes, most just show his disdain for people who enjoy being "living historians."
I am not sure I agree with his assesment of author Jeff Shaara's writing ability, either. LaFantasie says about Shaara: "The novels of Shaara’s son Jeff are not as beloved as his father’s book, which won the Pulitzer Prize; the younger Shaara wrote a prequel and a sequel to his father’s book, and in both instances the son’s extraordinary lack of talent as a writer is embarrassingly revealed (nevertheless, his books are uncritically adored by Civil War buffs)." I personally enjoy Shaara the Younger's books, and I suppose that would make me just another undereducated hick to the good professor.
If you have the time, read the article
here .