Decapitation of the Union

[John Fazio]

Laurie. Herb. Eva, Wild Bill, et al.:

The reason you have not heard from me is that I have been abroad for ten days and just returned late last night. We went to the Italian lakes (Lugano, Como, Maggiore and Garda). They are beautiful, bountiful, peaceful and Hemingwayesque. The great American writer was there as a young ambulance driver during WWI and left his mark. One floor of a hotel on Maggiore is devoted entirely to him. A Farewell to Arms, which is loosely autobiographical and is descriptive of the area and the war, was made into a movie twice, once with Gary Cooper and, I believe, Helen Hayes (possibly Irene Dunn) in the title roles and the second time with Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones. He wrote the book, one of the world's great love stories, in Key West when he was about 28. Compared to that kind of genius, I am a babe in the woods.

Thank you very much for your comments about "Decapitation"; I greatly appreciate them. Yes, the reviews (Amazon and others) have been quite good, but whether that translates into book sales remains to be seen. ("Amazon Customer", whoever that is, said he/she thought it was "the best book on the Civil War currently on the market". That's quite an accolade. Even I am not sure it is that good, but I will not argue the point. Commentary pro and con is welcome. If anything noteworthy comes along outside this thread, I will pass it along.

John