Not Just a Role Playing Game!

Ewalt, David.  Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play
       It.  New York: Scribner, August 2013.  ISBN: 978-1-4516-4050-2

You do not have to have been a nerd, geek, played D &D, read Conan the Barbarian, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, or other sword and sorcery books to appreciate Of Dice and Men.  But it does help with the jokes. 

David Ewalt takes the reader on an enjoyable, whirlwind tour of Dungeons and Dragons from the beginning in 1974 to the introduction of the newest rule set in 2012.  Along the way, he introduces you to all the major personalities in the evolution of the role-playing system.   This is a book of how a concept became a phenomenon that swept the country and the world before the age of the Internet while showing how it had changed to fit the times.

Like Man of War and Leaving Mundania, David Ewalt mixes his personal involvement with D & D into the history and stories using excerpts of his gaming sessions to introduce chapters and clarify concepts.  He is not afraid to discuss problems the D & D may cause in a life, but he also illustrates how it can help.  The book reminded this reviewer of the fun times he had with D & D in college and brought back many memories.

Highly recommended for readers interested in brand creation, company histories, gaming history, and role-playing.

High Tide of the Confederacy?

Tucker, Phillip Thomas.  Barksdale's Charge: The True High Tide of the Confederacy at 
        Gettysburg, July 2, 1863.  Havertown, PA: Casemate Publishers, 2013.
        ISBN: 978-1-61200-179-1

Like most readers of history, especially American Civil War history, any time I see a book about Gettysburg, I resist adding it to the stack of books I want to read.  Most visit the same ground, emphasizing the same fights, and retelling the same stories.  I am glad that I made an exception with Barksdale's Charge.  Phillip Tucker makes a very convincing case that the often overlooked Mississippi Brigade's charge, routing a large part of Sickle's Third Corp, came the closest to splitting the Army of the Potomac which could have led to its defeat in detail.

 Tucker did not write your standard book on the Battle of Gettysburg.  Instead, he wrote a well-documented study of on particular unit (Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade of McLaws' Division in Longstreet's Corp) and the pivotal, but forgotten, role it played in almost defeating the Army of the Potomac.  Tucker sets the stage with two chapters discussing Barksdale and the other leaders of the Mississippi regiments, the units and their men.  He follows this with a chapter on the previous engagements of the Mississippi Brigade.  Chapter four sets the scene with narration of the battle for July 1 and July 2, 1863, as all the actors take their places.  Finally, in chapter five, the Mississippi Brigade is unleashed upon Sickle's men.  For the next eight chapters, Tucker uses quotes from letters and diaries, well-laced with maps to put the reader on the battlefield with the participants.  We can thrill with the enthusiasm of the Confederates as they overcome one obstacle after another only to fall into grief as the Confederates finally ran into a fresh unit they just could not overcome.  Then the "romantic" disaster of Pickett's Charge, state prejudice in the Army of Northern Virginia, and the death of Barksdale cast the role of the Mississippi Brigade into obscurity.

Take the time to read the book.  Your understanding of the Battle of Gettysburg will be changed as a result.