Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Allen Charles Guelzo: "Gettysburg"

Another book on Gettysburg?

Yup, another book on Gettysburg, which is the largest battle ever fought on North American soil, and one which, no doubt, changed the course of American history.  But this is a book well-worth tackling regardless of how much, or how little, you've read on the subject before.

Allen Guelzo is a capable historian and an interesting writer.  He has a knack for laying out established facts, which he then fleshes out in light of the opinions and observations of the participants (Guelzo makes extensive use of personal correspondence from the period).  Guelzo also has a knack for making very sane judgments (judgments which won't please revisionists) about the events he's just discussed.  And where applicable, he teases out the ramifications of these events for subsequent American history.
If you've read Michael Shaara's Killer Angels or have seen the glue-on beard marred epic movie "Gettysburg" (which actually isn't bad, except for Martin Sheen's horrible portrayal of Robert E. Lee as some sort of Eastern mystic), then you probably believe that the South's failure to capture Little Round Top toward the end of the second day (July 2) was the turning point of the three-day battle.  Not true. 

For more, see:  http://kimriddlebarger.squarespace.com/the-latest-post/2013/7/25/gettysburg.html

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