5/23/2005

You have angered my crimson sun

A fine sample of Civil War "history" raging out-of-control:

Author Robert G. Elliott imagines a lanky 18-year-old ancestor resting against a tree stump by a riverbank during spring, with "a crimson angry sun casting a brassy glow up on the waterfront."

Imagined historical details are the very best.

In his book, Elliott describes how [he imagines] "wisps of steam and smoke puffed from the vessel's tall funnel," as the iron monster floated safely through the "snapping and crackling of small arms fire" from Union gunners.
It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly a shot rang out. A bloodcurdling cry filled the night air as another history project fell dead, victim of that sadistic killer called "Literary Pretense."