Notes Concerning the Author
Members of the Society of Independent Southern Historians know V. P. Hughes as Valerie Protopapas who join our Society the first month we got underway and has long had intense interest in Col. Mosby’s life and impact on military and political thinking. Mosby’s life spanned from 1833 to 1916, providing to us, though a study of it, a wonderful window into those crucial years in American history. For we Southerners, it is refreshing to find such dedication to truth among residents of New York State.
In her related article in The Barnes Review (Vol. 33, No. 1., Jan-Feb 2017), Valerie explains her interest in the subject: “My interest in Colonel John Singleton Mosby began in 1950. However it was not until 2002 that it led to extensive research on the subject, centered upon newspaper reports on the man.” Quoting further, “V. P. Hughes has a background in historical research devoting special attention to men who, using wit and skill, fought and defeated larger, more powerful foes . . . an now in Confederate Colonel John Singleton Mosby, she found a man whose character and exploits made him such a hero.”
Our Review
Quoting further from The Barnes Review, we read, “Huges’ understanding of Mosby established a relationship of scholar and subject that produced a book exonerating him of the many calumnies from which he continues to suffer to this day.”
This is not just another history of greatness in leading men in battle, although Mosby’s military leadership is worthy of a book to be sure. Just as importantly, this is a book about greatness in advocating for truth in the political arena.
You are encouraged to read Hughes’ article on Mosby in the above reference issue of The Barnes Review ( http://barnesreview.org/product/the-barnes-review-januaryfebruary-2017/ ).
A studious review by a reader who patronizes Amazon is helpful:
“Hughes’ research is amazing in quantity and quality. The newspaper articles presented served Hughes and serves us, the readers, as the foundation for inescapable conclusions, not only about the subject of Hughes’ book, Colonel John Singleton Mosby, but also about the author of that book—a gifted, amateur historian of the very type once prevalent in the U.S. before the professionals with vitriol and ridicule propagandized successfully that only “those possessing academic degrees in History” have the ability to present or interpret the past happenings of mankind. The professionals castigated anyone failing to employ footnotes or endnotes. They even belittled writers who included the references within the text.
“Hughes shares a multitude of amazing findings with readers—amazing truths– all in a tome glowing with a scholar’s dedicated meticulousness, an ethicist’s integrity and an artist’s sensitivity. This Hughes’ text is a work of art founded on imagination disciplined by irrefutable evidence.
“There can be no doubt in the mind of any serious thinker, that Hughes presents history in its most dramatic, most memorable, fashion—its story telling form, with the validity of every story substantiated by some Yankee newspaper. The book’s pages reveal thousands of hours of the search for the factual accuracy forming the basis for Hughes’ carefully weighed, carefully judged interpretation of American history. Most interesting is the fact that the Hughes’ conclusions are totally devoid of the current communistic historical interpretations which harken back to what was common in New York City neighborhoods fifty years ago and still prevail in the works of too many professional historians.”
This is not a short book, but some of the hundreds of newspaper articles can be lightly read to speed the process across the paperback book’s 790 pages.
Availability of this Book
Readily available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=v.+p.+hughes+Thousand+Points+of+Truth
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