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Congratulations Director !
 
Great to see you getting this recognition, even if it's not the first time. Each and every nod is very deserving. Congratulations, Director! :D
 
Nice choice. Congratulations Director :)
 
Congratulations Director!
 
Thank you, robou, and thanks to all of you who took the time to wish me well. I'm suffering through some serious personal problems right now, and your good wishes are sincerely appreciated.

I recommend Grant's 'Personal Memoirs' to anyone with an interest in military history. It is clear, clean, relatively evenhanded and has been called the best military memoir since Julius Caesar explained the 3-part nature of Gaul. Grant was dead broke and dying of throat cancer when he wrote it. His friend Mark Twain set up a deal with the publisher, promising an annuity for Grant's wife and children in exchange for the memoir. Grant was in great pain, but he finished it and immediately died. The passages on the Mexican War, on his journey to California, and of course on the Civil War, are amazingly well-written and easy to follow.

I'd always heard he was a drunk - not true - and a butcher - also false, as anyone who studies his campaigns can see. He never possessed the grace and charm of Lee or the furious battle instinct of Jackson, but he was never intimidated, never stunned, and almost always victorious. The challenge in getting my conception of Grant on paper is that he was not given to pomp or show, rarely spoke on public occasions and had no personal warmth. What he could do was organize, train and use the men in his command, better than almost anyone else on the Union side.

Still, I like him and respect him. Without him the war might not have been winnable, or won at such length and at such cost as to permanently cripple the country. For Belmont, Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga and the Overland Campaign, and for the surrender of three Confederate Armies, we are in his debt. He did his part - and more - to preserve the Union.

Lastly, I thank all of you who have taken the time to read and comment in 'A Special Providence'. If you haven't read the whole thing, try out the last few posts. There is always room for a few more readers. :)
 
The time has come to pass the baton along to the next runner. For my choice, I give you:

ComradeOm, for his characters in So Far From God, an AAR of Mexico.

The Comrade has written this one in historybook style. So why does it qualify for a Character Writer award? Because he has the knack of bringing a character's basic motivations to light in a few quick strokes - direct, deft, elegant. You may not find deep insights into the motivations of, say, Santa Anna, but you will be told everything you need to know in order to understand why the character does the things he does. Equally important, ComradeOm's characters remain true in their actions to their character as he has described it: in short, he lets his characters stand and fall according to who they are, rather than who we might wish them to be.

Join me now in a warm round of applause for our newest awardee. Then do yourself a favor and go read 'So Far From God.' :)
 
Congratulations Comrade! Much deserved!
 
Congrats!
 
Love your work , Omster ! Keep it up :D
 
Nice choice. Congrats.
 
Congratulations ComradeOm :)
 
One of my favorite AARs. The writing is so superbly crafted, the characters, as Director pointed out, do what they would rather than what we wish; a point many of us could pick up on and I include myself. Anyway, many congratulations old friend!