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Asked my library for help picking between two big Civil War books and now I'm stuck on which to finish
I went to the reference desk at the Aurora library branch on a Saturday with a real problem. I wanted one big book on the Civil War and the librarian pulled two for me. One was Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson and the other was The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote. She told me McPherson was the one most history classes use and Foote was more of a storyteller, almost like reading a novel. I checked out both like a fool, thinking I could skim them side by side. Two weeks in and Foote has me hooked on the people, but McPherson keeps explaining the why behind everything and I keep flipping back to him. Now I'm 400 pages into each one and my renewals are about to run out. Has anybody else gotten talked into two books by a librarian when you only asked for one, and how did you decide?
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hugoharris10d ago
Did the same thing with books on WWII and ended up reading the storyteller one first just for fun, then going back to the other for the facts. Pick Foote to finish since he's got you hooked, then hit McPherson after for the why.
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abbyl4910d ago
Foote for the drama then McPherson for the guilt trip, classic @hugoharris move, signing up for a Civil War depression speedrun.
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