Starving the South: How the North Won the Civil War Review

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(More customer reviews)I am a civil war reenactor who specializes in period cooking and the history of commissary and supply. Starving the South reads like a breezy magazine article (that's a compliment btw), but don't let that fool you. It is chock full of good information for both reenactors and casual students of the Civil War. Understanding commissary, supply, and logistics is an overlooked but absolutely critical part of understanding the Civil War, and this book does a great job of laying it all out for you. It will also give the casual reader insight into some of the ways the Civil War influenced the logistical infrastructure of the U.S. today. Clocking in at just over 200 pages, you can knock this out in a couple days and be much more knowledgable for your minimal investment in time. The End Notes and Bibliography are extensive for those that want to carry their research further.
A couple of minor criticisms...
- Although the book does touch on the supply advantages of the Union side, I would have liked to have had more detail about that. Perhaps that will be a topic for a sequel, Eating to Yankee Victory.
- There isn't much on the day-to-day meal preparation of the common Confederate or Union soldier, i.e. what they cooked, how they cooked it, the equipment they used. However, that is a minor nit given since that topic has been explored in numerous texts and memoirs.
One final word of praise, the author does an excellent job of maintaining his objectivity. If he favors north or south, you won't be able to tell it from his writing. While he clearly sees the material advantages of the North as being a decisive factor in the conflict, you will find no "Lost Cause" mythology here.
All in all, bravo Andrew Smith for a job well done!

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Slavery: A World History Review

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(More customer reviews)A great book, scholarly but easy to read. Originally published in two volumes, the first half deals with slavery from ancient times to the Renaissance, the second half concentrates on the African slave trade, and also covers some of the modern uses of forced labor, gulags and other types of near-slavery. I particularly appreciated reading about slavery in earliest history, a topic that is rarely covered. The comprehensive nature of this book keeps slavery in perspective, but doesn't shy away from the worst abuses when people are classed as property.

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Slavery is not and has never been a "peculiar institution," but one that is deeply rooted in the history and economy of most countries. Although it has flourished in some periods and declined in others, human bondage for profit has never been eradicated completely.In Slavery: A World History renowned author Milton Meltzer traces slavery from its origins in prehistoric hunting societies; through the boom in slave trading that reached its peak in the United States with a pre-Civil War slave population of 4,000,000; through the forced labor under the Nazi regime and in the Soviet gulags; and finally to its widespread practice in many countries today, such as the debt bondage that miners endure in Brazil or the prostitution into which women are sold in Thailand. In this detailed, compassionate account, readers will learn how slavery arose, what forms it takes, what roles slaves have performed in their societies, what everyday existence is like for those enchained, and what can be done to end the degrading practice of slavery.

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John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace Review

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(More customer reviews)While not everyone knows the name of John Newton, everyone knows his song and at least a bit of his story. Immortalized in the words of "Amazing Grace," the most-recorded song in history, everyone knows that John Newton was wretched and miserable until saved by a grace that forever transformed his life. Two centuries ago, fewer people knew his song, but far more knew his story. That story is told again and told afresh in Jonathan Aitken's new biography John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace.
John Newton lived a life that could only have been more dramatic if it were the product of fiction. Forced into naval service when he was young, Newton endeared himself to no one, living a life of utter disregard for authority. While attempting to desert he was captured and dropped to the lowest ranks of seamen. He eventually found a way to be released from the military and wormed his way onto a slave shape with which he sailed down the long coast of Africa. Being deserted for a time on that dark continent, he was made the slave of a slave-trader and suffered terrible abuse at the hands of his captor. After a time he was rescued and became the captain of his own slave ship. But then, during a long passage across the Atlantic Ocean, he began to read a Bible and underwent the remarkable transformation chronicled in the song he wrote years later.
Newton worked in secular employment for a time but soon felt the call to ministry and was ordained an Anglican priest, a position he retained until his death in 1807. In the intervening years he became widely-known through his biography and through his efforts to abolish the slave trade. He served as mentor to William Wilberforce who fought a long but ultimately successful campaign to ban the British slave trade. It was two hundred years ago that this battle was won and two hundred years ago that Newton died. As Eric Metaxas has written a new biography of Wilberforce to mark the occasion, Aitken has done the same with Newton.
And it is quite a good biography. Aitken, who has previously chronicled the lives of Richard Nixon and Chuck Colson is a recent convert who underwent quite a radical conversion. He does a fine job of bringing the life of his subject to a whole new generation. While it may lack the depth of some of the greatest biographies of the greatest Christians, it is eminently readable and enjoyable from the first page to the last. A unique contribution of this book is that it relies on diaries and correspondence that have previously been unpublished. Newton's own writing, and especially his letters, provide a good deal of the book's content and some of its most edifying. In fact, the content and depth of these letters persuaded me to seek out a volume published by Banner of Truth titled simply The Letters of John Newton.
The theme of this biography can be aptly summarized by the final words spoken by this hero of the faith. "I am a great sinner, but Christ is a great Savior." This account takes us from Newton's days of joyous depravity to his dramatic conversion to his new life and ultimately to the moment he went to meet the great Savior he had come to know and love. It is a worthwhile addition to any library.

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