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Sheryl

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Sheryl is Currently Reading

Sheryl is currently reading

Evangelical Gothic: The English Novel and the Religious War on Virtue from Wesley to Dracula (Victorian Literature and Culture Series)

by Christopher Herbert

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Sheryl said: " I would be keenly disappointed in Evangelical Gothic had I purchased it for the main subject, because I haven't even finished the first chapter, and Herbert quotes Wesley and the Bible like a New Ager trying to prove reincarnation -- he plucks out pr ...more "

May 05, 2025 07:58AM · see review

Sheryl is currently reading

The Deadliest Indian War in the West: The Snake Conflict, 1864-1868

by Gregory F. Michno

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Sheryl said: " Haven't finished it yet because this book is interesting but some of it is kind of repetitious. Which, to be fair, is true of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, too, and I think is probably a given when the author is covering so many similar Indian tribe Haven't finished it yet because this book is interesting but some of it is kind of repetitious. Which, to be fair, is true of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, too, and I think is probably a given when the author is covering so many similar Indian tribes in the same period of history. Although in Michno's defense he had me cracking up over a certain Captain Drake, who had about one officer he trusted and thought all the rest were idiots. And Drake may have been right -- one of his officers was in charge of watching the picketed horses overnight, so the guy goes out in the middle of them and flaps his blankets around while making his bed, spooking some of the horses, who pull up the bushes they were tied to and take off, stampeding the rest, so they have to spend most of the night rounding them up.

The rest of his officers weren't that bad, but one tended to jump the gun and ruin the surprise in their attacks, while a third tended toward overcautious. He tried pairing those two up, but that just guaranteed that after the one flushed the Indians out and sent them running, the other would ensure they didn't pursue. The only officer he thought worth his salt got killed in that operation, which didn't help much.

Drake's Surgeon once managed to get himself lost, even though he was always keeping to the rear dealing with stable patients instead of keeping up front where he could do the work with the guys who just got injured and were at risk of dying from shock. Although Drake seems to have been a kind leader -- all his most irate comments come from his journal, while his reports to his superiors on his men were far more temperate.

To quote:

Drake called [Surgeon] Dumreicher "a morbid, crusty, indolent old muggins and is of no account on such a campaign as this; cannot take care of himself much less take care of others.” Dumreicher quarreled with Drake, and one morning, got into a shouting match with Captain Porter. Drake wrote that Dumreicher “wants half the command to wait on him and is not worth a curse for a trip of this kind.”
...

When Drake refused to let Dumreicher take his large stack of personal gear on campaign, the surgeon blew up, reminding Drake that he was a major on the general staff, while Drake was only a captain. That was tough, said Drake, for Dumreicher didn’t seem to understand that as a surgeon on the general staff, his rank was only a title, and he had no authority to command. While they were in the field, Drake was boss and Dumreicher would be treated as any of the other lieutenants, which was not saying much, since Drake didn’t care much for his lieutenants either."

....

As Drake moved east toward the South Fork Malheur on June 18, he camped on Crane Creek, which he described as “the most uninviting place I have seen since leaving The Dalles.” The barren sage valley surrounded by rocky bluffs left Dumreicher “highly disgusted with the camp,” and, almost inevitably, wrote Drake, the officers would “facetiously call it Camp Dumreicher.”

...

There was another flare-up among Drake’s officers. Surgeon Dumreicher, described [this time] as “a stiff, aristocratic old fool morbid in his sensibilities and contemptible,” was thought to have wanted the campaign to fail, rather than see Drake get accolades. Dumreicher, called “Pills” by the officers, was happy to cause as many rifts between them as possible. Drake was on good terms with the quartermaster, Lieutenant David W. Porter, and that aggravated Dumreicher. On September 2, Dumreicher had Porter come to his tent and sample much of his supply of “medicinal” alcohol. Lieutenant Noble joined them and they got boisterous, staggering to Small’s tent, which was sure to create a scene. The noise awoke Drake, and he stopped the gaiety and berated Noble, assuming he was the cause of the commotion. Porter stewed all night, believing Drake’s comments were meant solely for him, and the next morning, said Drake, Porter “got mad as the devil.” Porter remained sullen. “Pills” had succeeded in driving a wedge between the two men who had once been good friends. Drake believed the doctor had “been laboring to produce this rupture between Porter and myself.” ... by the end of August, Drake was fed up and thought he would leave the service. “I am tired of it myself,” he wrote.

Which Drake does, or at least he's out of the Snake wars after this and I am sad. I would probably enjoy reading Drake's journal myself but I'd have to go to Oregon to do it. Bummer. ...more "

Sep 14, 2023 06:24AM · see review

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Christmas Unwrapped: Consumerism, Christ, and Culture

by James Tracy

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Sheryl said: " I picked up this book based on review clips like, "Any Christian who is concerned about reclaiming Christmas as a celebration of Christ's birth will learn much from and be challenged by Christmas Unwrapped."—Christian Retailing, and "Christmas Unwrap I picked up this book based on review clips like, "Any Christian who is concerned about reclaiming Christmas as a celebration of Christ's birth will learn much from and be challenged by Christmas Unwrapped."—Christian Retailing, and "Christmas Unwrapped is an illumination and a challenge, a book that can change culture and rescue faith—in sum, a gift." — James Carroll. I'm now, I dunno, three or four chapters in (depending on whether you count the intro), and no one has so much as mentioned Advent, let alone the Nativity Fast practiced by the Orthodox.

The introduction claims, "there was absolutely no scriptural basis for celebrating the birth of Jesus," but when you get right down to it, what scriptural basis is there for ANY Christian celebration? Plenty of Christian groups throughout the ages have rejected any and all celebrations as unjustified; at the same time, plenty of other Christians felt free to celebrate any number of historic events, and another group of Christians celebrate the festivals as laid out in the Old Testament. It's pretty clear that the apostles and first Christians observed Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7-8) and Pentecost (Acts 20:16, 1 Corinthians 16:8), but at the same time there's no direct order to observe them and no description of how to go about it, as there is with the OT festivals.

It is also clear that Christians have considerable freedom in this area:

"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:" Colossians 2:16

"One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. ...But why dost thou judge thy brother?" Romans 14:5, 6, & 10

That being the case, since this is a book grappling with Christmas from a supposedly Christian perspective, I'm surprised and disappointed that Advent and the Nativity Fast have not come up. It may yet, but I have my doubts, since it's not in the fairly extensive index! Certainly the discussion on how Christmas excludes black people (hence the creation of Kwanzaa) and Jewish people (hence the greater popularity of Hanukkah) made the exclusion of Christians who want to spend the so-called "Christmas season" in contemplation or outright mourning glaringly obvious. I certainly thought it worth mentioning when the writer mentioned that the people who celebrate Kwanzaa can take advantage of post-Christmas sale, that Christians who observe Advent and give modest gifts during the 12 days of Christmas, or who give gifts on Epiphany, can do the same. Which, in both cases, can be a rejection of the folly and frenzy of Christmas shopping. For that matter, some Advent-practicing Christians reject the whole idea of indulgent gifts, and if they give gifts, those gifts are either home-made, or practical, or meant to promote activity (tools, raw materials for crafts).

I'm not surprised that businesses and other consumerist organizations generally either ignore Advent or offer items not really in tune with the season (Advent calendars full of chocolate, for instance); they're trying to subsume Advent into commercialized Christmas. And obviously people who love consumerism aren't going to publish the existence of a Nativity Fast, which is a rejection of all they celebrate.

But in a book talking about consumerism clashing with Christ at Christmas, this neglect is egregious. I'm finding the book quite readable so far, and fairly interesting, however if I finish it and there's no discussion of Advent, then I'll have to conclude that this book is deeply flawed and a very poor examination of its subject. ...more "

Nov 02, 2014 08:40AM · see review

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