Chalmers' book should be read as historical fiction, with stress on the noun. Books such as Vidal's "Burr" may be read with some confidence as to factual accuracy; Chalmers', with its invented cast of characters, dialogue, and situations, should not. Gerard K. On May 11, 2006, at 12:00 AM, NYHIST-L automatic digest system wrote: > There is 1 message totalling 61 lines in this issue. > > Topics of the day: > > 1. "How The Irish Built The Erie" by Harvey Chalmers II > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 21:21:08 -0400 > From: Dave Ruch <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: "How The Irish Built The Erie" by Harvey Chalmers II > > This is a multi-part message in MIME format. > > ------=_NextPart_000_0327_01C673AE.7CCB2670 > Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" > Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable > > I've had this book in my library for several years, but am just now = > getting around to reading it this month. I've seen it listed in = > countless places as a Non-Fiction book, yet it reads so much like = > Fiction, or perhaps Historical Fiction, complete with quotations of = > lengthy conversations between people in the 1810's and 20's, letters = > between Canvass White and a bateaux boat keeper on the Mohawk River > with = > language that seems much more like 1950 than 1818, etc. > > Do others have experience with this book &/or author? If so, I'd > love = > to hear your comments. > > Dave R. > ------=_NextPart_000_0327_01C673AE.7CCB2670 > Content-Type: text/html; > charset="iso-8859-1" > Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable > > <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> > <HTML><HEAD> > <META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; = > charset=3Diso-8859-1"> > <META content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.2900.2873" name=3DGENERATOR> > <STYLE></STYLE> > </HEAD> > <BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff> > <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>I've had this book in my library > for = > several years,=20 > but am just now getting around to reading it this month. > I've = > seen it=20 > listed in countless places as a Non-Fiction book, yet it reads so > much = > like=20 > Fiction, or perhaps Historical Fiction, complete with quotations of=20 > lengthy conversations between people in the 1810's and 20's, = > letters=20 > between Canvass White and a bateaux boat keeper on the Mohawk River > with = > > language that seems much more like 1950 than 1818, etc.</FONT></DIV> > <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> > <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Do others have experience with this = > book &/or=20 > author? If so, I'd love to hear your comments.</FONT></DIV> > <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> > <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Dave R.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML> > > ------=_NextPart_000_0327_01C673AE.7CCB2670-- > > ------------------------------ > > End of NYHIST-L Digest - 9 May 2006 to 10 May 2006 (#2006-38) > *************************************************************