CIVIL WAR HISTORY IS MOST COMPELLING OF ALL

I recently re-read The Killer Angels by author Michael Shaara, easily one of the best historical novels of recent times.  It is non-partisan in that it is told from the viewpoint of the people who participate in the Battle of Gettysburg and favors neither North or South.  The novel is breathtaking for its action, its character development and for telling of the horrors of war, suffered by both sides.  In my view, the book is better than the movie ("Gettysburg") - simply because the essence of Shaara's prose cannot be captured entirely on film.  The first book in the trilogy, Gods and Generals, was also quite good.

Shaara's son, Jeff, authored The Last Full Measure, the epic about the final two years of the War Between the States.  Again, moving and historically realistic without favoring South or North.

Reading Civil War history should be required, not discouraged.  If the works explored are truthful, colorful and accurate, as Shaara's books are, the readers will be truly educated about America's past and will gain much needed insight into the present.  Unfortunately, I don't think high school students spend much time, perhaps almost no time, on real American history, let alone the Civil War.  It seems to me, and I was one a history teacher, that curriculum now days major in the minors.  

The average American high school student cannot tell you in which century the Civil War was fought.  Many cannot discuss the reasons for the war beyond the patent answer, "Slavery."  If you asked students, even in college, to state 5 results of the Civil War, my guess is that they would be hard pressed.  

It can only be hoped, probably in vain, that the richness and depth of experience that comes from reading Civil War history will be fostered by our educational system.  I don't want us to become a society of technicians who fail to appreciate who we are, where we came from and where we are headed.  On second thought, when I look at our mathematics and science scores, I don't think I have to be concerned about technicians, either.