Civil wars Books

Book SynopsisWhether it was planter patriarchs struggling to maintain authority, or Jewish families coerced by Christian evangelicalism, or wives and mothers left behind to care for slaves and children, the Civil War took a terrible toll. From the bustling sidewalks of Richmond to the parched plains of the Texas frontier, from the rich Alabama black belt to the Tennessee woodlands, no corner of the South went unscathed. Through the prism of the southern family, this volume of twelve original essays provides fresh insights into this watershed in American history.Trade ReviewThe quality of work is uniformly excellent. This collection will prove useful to a wide variety of scholars. It will appeal especially to those working on the Civil War, the family, gender relations or African American studies. * Journal of American Studies *Catherine Clinton has brought together a fine collection of twelve essays exploring the diverse and multiple experiences of the war years and their legacy in the American South ... solidly researched and welcome contributions to the new social history of the Civil War. * American Studies Today *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: Michael P. Johnson: Looking for Lost Kin: Efforts to Reunite Freed Families after Emancipation 2: Michelle A. Krowl: For Better of Worse: Black Families and 'the State' in Civil War Virginia 3: Donald R. Shaffer: In the Shadow of the Old Constitution: Black Civil War Veterans and the Persistence of Slave Marriage Customs 4: Amy E. Murrell: "Of Necessity and Public Benefit": Southern Families and their Appeals for Protection 5: Judith Lee Hunt: "High with Courage and Hope": The Middleton Family's Civil War 6: E. Susan Barber: "The White Wings of Eros": Courtship and Marriage in Confederate Richmond 7: Jennifer Lynn Gross: "Good Angels": Confederate Widows in Virginia 8: Daniel W. Stowell: "A Family of Women and Children": The Fains of East Tennessee during Wartime 9: Henry Walker: Power, Sex, and Gender Roles: The Transformation of an Alabama Planter Family during the Civil War 10: Lauren F. Winner: Taking up the Cross: Conversion among Black and White Jews in the Civil War South 11: Anne J. Bailey: In the Far Corner of the Confederacy: A Question of Conscience for German-Speaking Texans 12: Ted Ownby: Patriarchy in the World Where There is No Parting?: Power Relations in Confederate Heaven

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Book SynopsisThe first full account of Whitman's Civil War years sheds new light on the man, his poetry, and the treatment of the war's sick and wounded.Trade ReviewIn this first full account of Whitman's Civil War years, Morris leaves readers with a new image of what he calls `a great mothering sort of man' who visited the hospitals in and around Washington, D.C. for three years, bringing his charges ice cream, tobacco, brandy, books, magazines, pens, and paper; he wrote letters for those who could not, and more than a few died in his arms.--Library JournalA thrilling narrative told with empathy and vast learning, rich with images that reinvigorate figures as familiar as Lincoln.--The New York Tiems Book ReviewMorris's skills as a researcher are evident and his writing is first rate. Teens can read Better Angel as a moving introduction to Whitman, for its information on the home front and the medical profession during the Civil War, or to gain insight into the sociological and psychological aftermath of the war on individuals or nations.--School LibraryBrillantly researched and written, Morris' book gives a full account of poet Walt Whitman's profoundly transformative Civil War years. Through his tireless tending of the sick and wounded, Whitman found his true, compassionate poetic voice, and Morris' examination is an invaluable addition to Whitman scholarship.--ETC, Etcetera MagazineThe Better Angel illuminates Walt Whitman's Civil War years with frankness and compassion. Its insights and compelling narrative afford us new and humanly rich understandings of the poet and his vision of America.-- Robert H. Abzug, author of Cosmos Crumbling: American Reform and the Religious Imagination and Inside the Vicious Heart: Americans and the Liberation of Nazi Concentration CampsRoy Morris, Jr.'s elegant and moving book shows how the great civil war that redeemed the nation's soul also reawakened the soul of the nation's greatest poet, Walt Whitman. It is essential reading for everyone who cares about American culture.-- Sean Wilentz, Princeton University, author of Chants Democratic and The Kingdom of MatthiasThis deftly written, almost unbearably moving book serves us to remind us powerfully of the horrors faced by the wounded on the Civil War battlefields, of the genius and compassion of Walt Whitman in dealing with them, and of the remarkable skill of one of America's most accomplished biographers in researching and telling so poignant a story.--Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and The MadmanThis pathbreaking study of Whitman's Civil War years reveals more facts--and a greater understanding--of the man than the vain, foppish poet-nurse that too many writers have sought to create.--James I. Robertson, Jr., author of Stonewall JacksonA particularly thorough and informative account of the poet's activities during the Civil War.--The Boston Book ReviewMorris brings us in for a close, often harrowing look at the poet in a moment of national and personal crisis. He follows Whitman's descent into hell and reveals how the lifeblood of a nation of young men revitalized and reinvented the 'Good Gay Poet'--Out MagazineThe Civil War years were transformative for Walt Whitman, leading him to a new, more direct poetic style. In The Better Anger, acclaimed biographer Roy Morris Jr. presents the first full account of this period in Whitman's life.--Inside BordersA thrilling narrative told with empathy and vast learning, rich with images that reinvigorate figures as familiar as Lincoln.--The New York Times Book Review, Books in Brief

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Book SynopsisBehemoth is Thomas Hobbes''s narrative of the English Civil Wars from the beginning of the Scottish revolution in 1637 to the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, and is his only composition to address directly the history of the events which formed the context of his writings in Leviathan and elsewhere on sovereignty and the government of the Church. Although presented as an account of past events, it conceals a vigorous attack on the values of the religious and political establishment of Restoration England. This is the first fully scholarly edition of the work, and the first new edition of the text since 1889. Based on Hobbes''s own presentation manuscript, it includes for the first time an accurate transcription of the passages which Hobbes had deleted in the text, and notes made by early readers.Trade Review[Seaward's] edition compares to the standard Töennies edition rather as a colour television compares to black and white ... Seaward's Behemoth fulfils the promise of the Clarendon series - under Noel Malcolm's leadership - to give readers the scholarly editions which the texts deserve. * Deborah Baumgold, English Historical Review *Paul Seaward has produced a major piece of scholarship ... to those who have been captivated by this multi-faceted book for a long time, it comes as a blessing. * Luc Borot, Hobbes Studies *Table of ContentsList of Abbreviations ; List of Illustrations ; General Introduction ; Textual Introduction ; 1. To the Right Honourable Sr. Henry Bennet Baron of Arlington ; 2. First Dialogue ; 3. Second Dialogue ; 4. Third Dialogue ; 5. Fourth Dialogue ; Register of variants ; Appendix: Readers' notes in early copies of Behemoth

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Book SynopsisHistorical accounts of major events have almost always relied upon what those who were there witnessed. Nowhere is this truer than in the nerve-shattering chaos of warfare, where sight seems to confer objective truth and acts as the basis of reconstruction. In The Smell of Battle, the Taste of Siege, historian Mark M. Smith considers how all five senses, including sight, shaped the experience of the Civil War and thus its memory, exploring its full sensory impact on everyone from the soldiers on the field to the civilians waiting at home. From the eardrum-shattering barrage of shells announcing the outbreak of war at Fort Sumter; to the stench produced by the corpses lying in the mid-summer sun at Gettysburg; to the siege of Vicksburg, once a center of Southern culinary aesthetics and starved into submission, Smith recreates how Civil War was felt and lived. Relying on first-hand accounts, Smith focuses on specific senses, one for each event, offering a wholly new perspective. At Bull Run, the similarities between the colors of the Union and Confederate uniforms created concern over what later would be called friendly fire and helped decide the outcome of the first major battle, simply because no one was quite sure they could believe their eyes. He evokes what it might have felt like to be in the HL Hunley submarine, in which eight men worked cheek by jowl in near-total darkness in a space 48 inches high, 42 inches wide. Often argued to be the first total war, the Civil War overwhelmed the senses because of its unprecedented nature and scope, rendering sight less reliable and, Smith shows, forcefully engaging the nonvisual senses. Sherman''s March was little less than a full-blown assault on Southern sense and sensibility, leaving nothing untouched an no one unaffected. Unique, compelling, and fascinating, The Smell of Battle, The Taste of Siege, offers readers way to experience the Civil War with fresh eyes.Trade ReviewSmiths choice of episodes is inspiring. Perhaps not evident from the last two chapters titles, themes are introduced with playful language, his enjoyment in writing this volume evident throughout ... I would be surprised if this book does not change historical accounts of warfare. The twentieth century brought total war to greater numbers of civilians of many other nations, but historians have yet to write the sort of total history, which adequately conveys the full meaning of such collective trauma. Yet again, Smith has provided us with a model. * Jonathan Reinarz, University of Birmingham, The American Historical Review *Read this book for an original methodology that encourages readers to consider the influence of the confusions of battle, the noise of shells, and the stench of death. Smith describes some of the key encounters of the civil war, including the Battle of Bull Run and Gettysburg, in terms of assaults on the senses and shows how that affected outcomes. * Books of the year 2014, War on the Rocks *Historians often ask readers to imagine the intense sights, sounds, and smells of battle. Smith goes one step further and explores how such sensory assaults affect the conduct of war itself. * Lawrence D. Freedman, Books of the year 2014, Foreign Affairs *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The Sounds of Secession ; 2. Eying First Bull Run ; 3. Cornelia Hancock's Sense of Smell ; 4. Hollowing Out Vicksburg ; 5. The Hunley's Impact ; Epilogue: Experiencing Total War

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Book SynopsisDespite the abundance of books on the Civil War, not one has focused exclusively on what was in fact the determining factor in the outcome of the conflict: differences in Union and Southern strategy. In The Grand Design, Donald Stoker provides for the first time a comprehensive and often surprising account of strategy as it evolved between Fort Sumter and Appomattox. Reminding us that strategy is different from tactics (battlefield deployments) and operations (campaigns conducted in pursuit of a strategy), Stoker examines how Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis identified their political goals and worked with their generals to craft the military means to achieve them--or how they often failed to do so. Stoker shows that Davis, despite a West Point education and experience as Secretary of War, ultimately failed as a strategist by losing control of the political side of the war. Lincoln, in contrast, evolved a clear strategic vision, but he failed for years to make his generals implementTrade ReviewThe Grand Design is an excellent military study of the Civil War. It is well researched and written. It flows smoothly and keeps the reader's interest. It is critical of both sides ... and Stoker is not afraid to offer controversial interpretations. * Dr. J. Boone Bartholomees Jr., Parameters *Table of ContentsPreface ; 1. 'We only want to be left alone.' - The Confederacy's Political Objective and the Union's Rebuttal ; 2. Making War a Little at a Time ; 3. Mr. Lincoln Goes to War ; 4. The Border States: Policy, Strategy, and Civil-Military Relations ; 5. King Cotton's Tarnished Crown: Confederate Economic and Diplomatic Strategies ; 6. McClellan on Top: The Evolution of Union Strategy, July 1861 - March 1862 ; 7. The Foundations of Naval Strategy ; 8. The War in the West - Breaking the Cordon ; 9. A New Year and a New Strategy ; 10. War in Virginia ; 11. The Summer of 1862 in the West ; 12. To Free Maryland and Tennessee! ; 13. The Union Rebuffed: The Autumn of 1862 ; 14. The Emancipation Proclamation - Strategy, Policy, and Escalation ; 15. 1863: A New Year and New Hopes ; 16. Vicksburg and Exhaustion ; 17. The Cruel Summer: 1863 - The Gettysburg Campaign ; 18. From Vicksburg, to Chickamauga, to the Rappahannock ; 19. Indecision and the West ; 20. Decision and Desperation, 1864 ; 21. The Full Fury of Modern War - Exhaustion and Attrition ; 22. War Termination ; Some Conclusions ; Acknowledgments ; Notes ; Index

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Book SynopsisThe greatest military historian of our time gives a peerless account of America’s most bloody, wrenching, and eternally fascinating war.In this magesterial history and national bestseller, John Keegan shares his original and perceptive insights into the psychology, ideology, demographics, and economics of the American Civil War. Illuminated by Keegan’s knowledge of military history he provides a fascinating look at how command and the slow evolution of its strategic logic influenced the course of the war. Above all, The American Civil War gives an intriguing account of how the scope of the conflict combined with American geography to present a uniquely complex and challenging battle space. Irresistibly written and incisive in its analysis, this is an indispensable account of America’s greatest conflict.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisFew people would have expected bloodshed in Kansas Territory. After all, it had few slaves and showed few signs that slavery would even flourish. But civil war tore this territory apart in the 1850s and 60s. Nicole Etcheson seeks to revise our understanding of this era by focusing on whites' concerns over their political liberties.Trade ReviewMakes a significant contribution to the historiography of the 1850s.... Will be a necessary starting point from now on for anyone seeking to learn what 'bleeding Kansas' was about and why it mattered. - Journal of American History ""Well written, phenomenally well researched, and a wonderful addition to the scholarship of this important period.... Highly recommended for anyone interested in the crucial role of Kansas in shaping the sectional ideologies that would lead eventually to Civil War."" - North & South ""Etcheson breaks new ground and demonstrates that the violence of Bleeding Kansas forced free soilers to examine their own racial biases. The result was a significant ideological transformation.... Her book skillfully recreates this important egalitarian moment."" - Western Historical Quarterly ""A thoughtful and well-written addition to the scholarship of Kansas and the coming of the Civil War. The book deserves a wide readership."" - Missouri Historical Review ""A lively political history highly recommended for all libraries with collections in U.S. history."" - Choice

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisA magisterial work by a veteran historian, The Early Morning of War blends narrative and analysis to convey the full scope of the campaign of First Bull Run - its drama and suspense as well as its practical and tactical underpinnings and ramifications.Trade ReviewIn this book, Edward Longacre has applied his considerable skills as a biographer to a vivid piece of American history, injecting humanity and fresh insight to the story of the Civil War's first major battle. Practicing the lost art of personification and characterization with both flourish and wisdom, Longacre makes the players in this immense drama live anew."" - John Hennessy, author of Return to Bull Run: The Campaign and Battle of Second Manassas""Extensively researched and full of fresh insights and information, Edward G. Longacre's finely crafted Early Morning of War offers a remarkably thorough, highly readable account of the men and events that shaped the course of the first great campaign of the American Civil War."" - Ethan S. Rafuse, author of McClellan's War: The Failure of Moderation in the Struggle for the Union and Manassas: A Battlefield Guide

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Book SynopsisFrom the first passage in William C. Davis' book about “the twilight of America's innocence” to the last, the reader is carried through what many in the 1860s believed would be the only major conflict between North and South.

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Book SynopsisThe story of General Price - as this account by Albert Castle shows - is the story, in large part, of the Confederacy's struggle in the West. The author draws a fascinating portrait of Price the man - vain, courageous, addicted to secrecy - and produces insightful interpretations and much pertinent information about the Civil War in the West.

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Book SynopsisExamines the 111 artillery, cavalry, and infantry units that Louisiana furnished to the Confederate armies. No other reference has the complete and accurate record of Louisiana's contribution to the war. For each unit, Bergeron provides a brief account of its war activities, including battles, losses, and dates of important events.

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Book SynopsisSimilar in scope to H.H. Cunningham's Doctors in Gray, George Worthington Adams' Doctors in Blue, originally published more than forty years ago and now available for the first time in paperback, remains the definitive work on the medical history of the Union army.

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Book SynopsisThe contributions of more than 600 Catholic nuns to the care of Confederate and Union sick and wounded made a critical impact upon 19th-century America. This text covers this era in detail, describing the suspicion and prejudice, suffering and self-sacrifice, ingenuity, benificence, and gratitude.

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Book SynopsisIn this commanding study, Scott Mingus, Sr, offers the first significant detailed exploration of the Louisiana Tigers during the entirety of the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign.

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Book SynopsisThe Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot: The Fort Stevens Story recounts the story of President Abraham Lincoln's role in the Battle of Fort Stevens in July 1864. This engagement stands apart in American history as the only time a sitting American president came under enemy fire while in office. In this new study of this overlooked moment in American history, Cooling poses a troubling question: What if Lincoln had been shot and killed during this short battle, nine months prior to his death by John Wilkes Booth's hand in Ford''s Theater? A potential pivotal moment in the Civil War, the Battle of Fort Stevens could have changedwith Lincoln''s demisethe course of American history.The Day Lincoln Was Almost Shot, however, is more than a meditation on an alternate history of the United States. It is also a close study of the attempt by Confederate general Jubal Early to capture Washington, DC, to remove Lincoln and the Union government from power, and to turn the tide of the Civil War in the SouthTrade ReviewMost Civil War buffs are aware that Lincoln came under Confederate fire, and this work presents all the details they could wish to learn about the incident. It occurred in July 1864, when the president traveled to one of Washington’s forts to see the combat that erupted when a Confederate force attacked. To prepare his readers for the narrative of the battle that Lincoln witnessed, Cooling describes the military preliminaries, which began with General Robert E. Lee’s dispatching a force to threaten Washington. Recounting its progress under its commander, Jubal Early, Cooling runs through its march through Maryland, victory at the Battle of Monocacy, and approach toward the defenses of the federal capital. Noting the anxieties Early provoked among government leaders, Cooling recounts the reinforcements they summoned and the battle that occurred at Fort Stevens before delving into such questions as the precise location from which Lincoln observed the proceedings. After balancing witnesses’ recollections, Cooling describes the postwar memorialization of the battle site, which can be visited today—indeed, battlefield tourists will be Cooling’s best customers. * Booklist *This is a detailed and skilled account of a faded chapter in the annals of Civil War history that should not be ignored. * Publishers Weekly *Cooling fills the book with interesting and arcane anecdotes, using participants' words to move the narrative. . . .This is a colorful and unusual tale. * America's Civil War *Cooling has produced a work well worth buying and reading. * On Point: The Journal of Army History *Cooling presents an exhaustive history of pre-battle events, Lincoln’s activities at the fort, and Union troops’ courageous actions defending the capital. . . .Cooling has written what should stand as the definitive treatment of the Fort Stevens story for years to come. -- Thomas A. Horrocks, John Hay Library at Brown University, Director * Civil War News *

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Book SynopsisOne of the Confederacy's most articulate advocates was Lieutenant General James Longstreet's aide-de-camp, Thomas Jewett Goree. Present at Longstreet's HQ, and party to the counsels of Robert E. Lee, Gore wrote incisively on strategy and politics. These letters of his reflect that acuity.

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Book SynopsisChronicles daily life on the battlefront, and also records interactions between blacks and whites, men and women, and northerners and southerners during and after the war. The author tells of being born into slavery and of learning, in secret, to read and write.

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