Reviews for Touched With Fire: Civil War Letters and Diary of Olivier Wendell Holmes

The average rating for Touched With Fire: Civil War Letters and Diary of Olivier Wendell Holmes based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-12-01 00:00:00 William Bush I have finally read Touched with Fire: Civil War Letters and Diary of Olivier Wendell Holmes and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a series of letters and drawings by a young Oliver Wendell Holmes during his time fighting in the Civil War. Oliver Wendell Holmes was one of America's great jurists, best known as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court (1902-1932). He was most proud of his service as a 1st lieutenant and an aide-de-damp during the Civil War. In fact, he insisted on being buried at Arlington National Cemetery and his gravestone lists his time in military service before his tenure on the United States Supreme Court. This book isn't for everyone; in fact, some people I know who have read it either gave up on it or found it "boring." But I found it insightful, especially with Holmes' his legal philosophy of, "The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience." Go Cards! L1C4!!

Review # 2 was written on 2014-06-25 00:00:00 Steve Bellows Oliver Wendell Holmes was a great man and his Civil War career was interesting, but this collection of letters and diary excerpts was incredibly dull for me. :(