Dear Prof. HCR,

What a riveting account of the Battle of Mobile Bay! Thank you! I, for one, am rarely captivated by accounts of war, yet you had me on the edge of my seat -- it was the change of tactics -- that of unification -- brought about by Ulysses S. Grant. Isn't that always a brilliant manoeuvre -- to work in tandem?

That said, I do hope that you will give us the pleasure of reading your insights about "the rising radicalism of the Republican Party." This is where, I believe, that we can learn a few Grantian military procedures that may serve us well against the current GOP. Perhaps, we need some way of unifying the Democrats and Progressives in a common quest to fight tooth and nail with a Farragutian cry of: "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"