This weekend I stopped by the bookstore and picked up a copy of Gods and Generals, the paintings of Mort Kunstler. It makes a good coffee table book, with lots of illustrations to offset the text. The text for the book happens to be written by my old Civil War professor Dr. James I. Robertson. Dr. Robertson is an Alumni Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech, and an authority on General Stonewall Jackson. I have several of his books, but just hadn't gotten around to picking up this one.

I got a chance to socialize with Dr. Robertson when he was in Atlanta about two years ago, and he told me about his work as a historical consultant for an upcoming film. Gods and Generals is set to be released in February (with a limited release in December), and it looks to be a pretty good Civil War flick. The estimated running time is 3 hours and 30 minutes, with the directors cut running a staggering 5 hours and 25 minutes. Of course Dr. Robertson also hit me up for a donation to the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech, for which I gladly gave him a check.

Civil War history has always been a passion of mine, and I look forward to seeing the film when it opens. Until then, I'll be reading the illustrated book and checking out the unofficial web site (which has much more information than the official site). Also, one of these days before the movie opens I'll get around to picking up the novel that the movie is based on by Jeff M. Shaara.