Spying on the South

[L Verge]

While not directly related to a particular segment of Lincoln history, I highly recommend the book Spying on the South by Tony Horwitz, his last book released just at the time of his suddent death this past spring. As I mentioned in a trivia thread, the book serves a dual purpose -- first to chronicle Frederick Law Olmsted's travels through the South in the 1850s as a journalist for The New York Times to comment on the way of life under a "slavocracy" (as the abolitionists were prone to say); and then to make the trek himself to comment on the way of life in the same areas today (bulk of it written in 2016).

I learned so much history on a variety of states, cultural heritage, social interactions, and more from Maryland across the North-South Divide to Texas and even into Mexico. And in typical Horwitz style (did you read Confederates in the Attic), the book makes you laugh, cry, be shocked, and instantly remember folks that you have met in life that match the characters encountered by both Olmsted in the 1850s and Horwitz in our generation.

There is one chapter that Wild Bill just has to read, because if I remember correctly, he met his wife while both were working at the Grand Canyon -- and I think Bill was a trail guide who rode a mule. Horwitz's experience with a mule trip in Texas that lasted for days is absolutely hilarious, and the head honcho leading him was as mean and nasty as any slave driver of Olmsted's day. Olmsted and his brother, who accompanied him, stuck to horses.

Again, if you really want a good piece of "non-traditional" history, head to Amazon, a bookstore, or the library and expect to spend a good part of a week reading this book.