Time Life, the Civil War, The Struggle for Tennessee. I'm slowly making my way through this series (I've only had it for 20 years). It's a really good overview of the war, detailed and informative.
Roger Lea MacBride, Bachelor Girl. It was pretty fascinating watching the evolution of shy, innocent, impatient, heedless country girl to shy, innocent, impatient, heedless city girl. Rose's personality remained the same, but the circumstances changed drastically, and she was completely unprepared for them to do so. I am glad to have finished the series - Rose definitely not my favorite character - but it was an interesting experience to work my way through it.
Susan Cheever, American Bloomsbury. It's an interesting premise, looking at mid-nineteenth-century Concord and the literary community there from a modern gossip-magazine standpoint. But it didn't succeed. The chapters were organized confusingly, the coverage of events was spotty, and overall there was too much attention to salacious details of who was in love with whom and not enough about ... well, anything else. Also, the author kept interjecting herself and her own experiences in, which was jarring and felt unscholarly.
P.L. Gaus, Blood of the Prodigal. This was an interesting mash-up of mystery and slice-of-life look into a small Ohio community, both Amish and English. The characters were interesting, the book well-written. And even if the denouement hung on a detail that didn't mean what the characters assumed it meant, the book was entertaining and enjoyable.
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