I continue my tack of reading more than one book at once, which only slows the whole effort down. I'm still reading "Grant's Memoirs" - reading his thoughts about the northern press tells me that frustration with the media is hardly a new thing in American history. Then, I started reading "The Crusades Though Arab Eyes", which is a fascinating piece. It's compiled from contemporary Arab sources, and opens a whole new window on the era. Good stuff, I highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in that period of history. Finally, reading about the Crusades got me interested in the entire area of religious fanaticism - I read two books by Bernard Lewis recently, on the fanaticism that is prevalent in the Islamic world right now. I picked up "The Thirty Years War" by Victoria Wedgewood, because the West went through its own era of religious fanaticism in the wake of the Protestant schism with the Catholic church. It's a well written book, and is giving me a decent background in that period - about which I knew just about nothing previously. Again, if you want some balanced background on the topic, this book is highly recommended - the author's style makes for a good read.