Readin’ me some hysterical books

NewMexiKen mentioned the other day that I was reading Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief by James M. McPherson.

I’ve completed the book. If you are knowledgeable about the Civil War and want McPherson’s take on the juggling the commander in chief managed so well — “policy, national strategy, military strategy, operations and tactics” — it’s a good read. There are, however, better studies of Lincoln and better studies of the battles. The best single volume on the Civil War is McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom.

I’ve begun David Hackett Fischer’s Champlain’s Dream, a new biography of Samuel Champlain, explorer and founder of Canada. Champlain and French Canada are subjects that interest me, and Fischer is just about the best historian writing today.