Most of my inspiration, if that's the word, came from books themselves.

Getting close to books, and spending time by myself, I was obliged to think about things I would never have thought about if I was busy romping around with a brother and sister.

My second book, Follow Me Down had some success, got good critical notices, went into a second printing and things like that, but Shiloh was by far the most successful of those first five novels.

I don't want anything to do with anything mechanical between me and the paper, including a typewriter, and I don't even want a fountain pen between me and the paper.

Grant was something rare in that or any war. He could learn from experience.

And I really do think that the difficulty of research makes it more real to you than punching a thing to find out how many men were killed at this particular action.