Showing posts with label civil war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label civil war. Show all posts

Civil War in the Southwest: Recollections of the Sibley Brigade (Canseco-Keck History Series) Review

Civil War in the Southwest: Recollections of the Sibley Brigade (Canseco-Keck History Series)
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Civil War In The Southwest: Recollections Of The Sibley Brigade by Civil War scholar and historian Jerry Thompson presents eighteen distinctive episodes written by members of General Henry Hopkins Sibley's command who fought and traveled more than eight thousand miles through snake-infested bayous to snow-capped mountains to fight and die in more than sixteen major battles of the American Civil War. The brigade consisted of young, zealous Texans who sought to invade New Mexico Territory as a step toward the Confederate conquest of Colorado and California in order to seize their resources (including the gold fields) in support of the South. This compendium of eye witness accounts is positively riveting and is enthusiastically recommended as a unique, invaluable contribution to Civil War Studies supplemental reading lists and reference collections.

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Generation Of Warriors Review

Generation Of Warriors
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This is a well researched book that goes behind the scenes of a major civil war battle. The author describes the effect of war from the commanding general to the common soldier as well as the hardships faced by the local civilians. He doesn't stray from the actual events of the "Battle of Chickamauga' and gives a detail account of the action that took place. I thoroughly enjoyed the interweaving from the battlefield to the homestead and all that takes place with the main characters. I would characterize this book as a historical novel and highly recommended reading. With the recent interest in historical movies I believe this book would make a fine movie as well, along the lines of 'Cold Mountain' and 'Gods And Generals'

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Hard Tack and Coffee Review

Hard Tack and Coffee
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Josh Billings served with the 10th Mass Battery of Light Artillery during the Civil War. After having written the Official "History of the 10th Mass Battery" he responded to numerous requests to write a book about daily life in the Union Army. "Hardtack and Coffee" is an unpretentious, humorous look at life in the Union Army, Particularly the Light Artillery During the Civil War. Mr. Billings paints a vivid picture of living life under canvas, in the field. He addresses such topics as Army food, The day by Bugle calls, Beats (people who "avoided work"), punishments and more. This book is not a comedy, but is written with a light and readable style that makes it interesting to the average reader, as well as to those interested in the Civil War. this book is a must read for all readers of Civil War literature.

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Originally published in 1888, this first-person account of everyday life for the foot soldier during the Civil War became an immediate bestseller. 8 cassettes.--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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Hard Tack and Coffee: Soldier's Life in the Civil War Review

Hard Tack and Coffee: Soldier's Life in the Civil War
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This is a very genuine and accurate account of a subject that has always fascinated me. It is written by the person who would know the material best--a genuine Civil War soldier--in excruciating detail and a suprisingly lively, colorful style for a book of nonfiction, not the stuffy, pompous style of encyclopedias. It contains well-articulated, balanced, open-mided opinions that are probably as unbiased as is possible for someone so close to the source.
Be aware, though, that this book contains only the personal experiences of the author, and is thus a source of information only about the Union, not the Confederacy. Still, it is an extremely informative book that reads almost like a novel, and I highly recommend it to any intellectual who is curious about conditions for the common soldiers in the American Civil War.

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Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics, and the Pennsylvania Campaign (Civil War America) Review

Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics, and the Pennsylvania Campaign (Civil War America)
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Kent Masterson Brown has spent more than twenty years researching and writing his 500+ page book on the retreat from Gettysburg. I first met Kent ten years or so ago, and I was aware that he was working on this project then. He has spent years and years on it, and it shows.
This book appears destined to become a standard reference work on the subject. The bibliography is 28 pages long, and he found a tremendous volume of primary source manuscript material that is unfamiliar to even me, who has also been studying the retreat for more than ten years. The work is extremely scholarly in nature, but yet is amply mapped and amply illustrated, making it attractive to less sophisticated students of the Gettysburg Campaign. There are also unpublished photos that I have never seen before that add a lot to the story, including a photo of Capt. George Emack, the company commander who held off Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick's entire cavalry division at Monterey Pass for much of the night on July 4.
Brown's primary thrust is the logistics of the retreat, and he shows that there are many complex reasons why the definitive fight did not take place on the north bank of the Potomac River after Gettysburg. Those who are inclined to criticize Meade may well reconsider their positions after reading this.
Congratulations to Kent Brown for writing a terrific and much needed book that addresses a too-often overlooked aspect of the Gettysburg Campaign in the level of detail that it has long deserved.
This book definitely needs a place on the bookshelves of any student of the Gettysburg Campaign, and also on the bookshelves of any student of army logistics and how they can make or break a campaign.
Highly recommended.

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In a groundbreaking, comprehensive history of the Army of Northern Virginia's retreat from Gettysburg in July 1863, Kent Masterson Brown draws on previously unused materials to chronicle the massive effort of General Robert E. Lee and his command as they sought to move people, equipment, and scavenged supplies through hostile territory and plan the army's next moves.
More than fifty-seven miles of wagon and ambulance trains and tens of thousands of livestock accompanied the army back to Virginia. The movement of supplies and troops over the challenging terrain of mountain passes and in the adverse conditions of driving rain and muddy quagmires is described in depth, as are General George G. Meade's attempts to attack the trains along the South Mountain range and at Hagerstown and Williamsport, Maryland. Lee's deliberate pace, skillful use of terrain, and constant positioning of the army behind defenses so as to invite attack caused Union forces to delay their own movements at critical times.
Brown concludes that even though the battle of Gettysburg was a defeat for the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee's successful retreat maintained the balance of power in the eastern theater and left his army with enough forage, stores, and fresh meat to ensure its continued existence as an effective force.

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The Perilous Road Review

The Perilous Road
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I read the book The Perilous Road by William O. Steele. If you like exciting books you should read this one. I really don't like to read but this book I really enjoyed reading. The story takes place during the Civil War. Chris Brabson hates the union troops for many reasons. He tries ro get them back for stealing their food through a variety of ways.

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Canawlers: A Novel of the C&O Canal Review

Canawlers: A Novel of the CandO Canal
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The Canawlers is an excellent introduction to life on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the effects of the Civil War on it. It is suitable for junior high through adult readers. Those who live near or are familiar with the canal from Washington, DC, to Cumberland, MD, will be especially interested.
The book is set from March to November, 1863, and is the tale of a family owned boat plying the canal. It includes family life, courting, war, rape, spying, mule care, murder, bar fights, arson, mischief, hunting, prostitution, the Battle of Antietam, wound nursing, business operation, beatings, operation of the underground railroad and gun and knife fights.

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The Road From Chapel Hill Review

The Road From Chapel Hill
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My favorite way to learn about history is from good fiction. THE ROAD FROM CHAPEL HILL, sure does fill the bill. Ms. Scott whisked me away to that tense period of the Civil War, when so many lives were wrecked and so many hearts broken. The main characters, socialite Eugenia, now destitute, Tom the runaway slave seeking true freedom, and the wounded Clyde, the farm boy must make life changing and heroic decisions, and while they fit so well into their time period, the reader can see the problems they face are universal and always relevant. For a peek into history while meeting unforgettable characters, I recommend this fascinating book. I, for one, couldn't put it down.

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An unforgettable epic novel of the Civil War South from an award-winning author. From Joanna Catherine Scott comes a sweeping tale of the Civil War, unique in its perspective and exquisitely woven, in which three young Southerners worlds apart are joined in a quest for something greater than themselves. Eugenia Mae Spotswood, the daughter of a failed aristocrat, longs to regain the life she lost. The slave Tom wants one thing: freedom. After becoming the property of Eugenia Mae, a dangerous affection grows. But he learns freedom is not something she can give him-he must fight for it himself. Clyde Bricket, the farm boy responsible for Tom's capture, has always believed in the South. But he soon learns that sometimes the only way to redeem yourself is to fight against everything he thought he believed in.

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Abraham's Battle: A Novel of Gettysburg Review

Abraham's Battle: A Novel of Gettysburg
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Abraham's Battle, by Sara Harrell Banks, is about the Civil War, more specifically, The Battle of Gettysburg. But that is only skin deep, it is a novel about equality, about hate, and about love. The story centers around a white northern girl, Ladybird, and a runaway slave man, Abraham, the best of friends, despite the time in which they are living, which may frown on such friendships. They are perfectly happy together, and enjoy walking with the mule, Charity. But their simple existence is complicated when a soldier for the south arrives at the farm, asking for food. Abraham, despite himself takes a liking to this homesick young man and is almost sorry when they part at the end of the day. Later on, Abraham saves his life. Throughout the entire book, Banks is constantly reinforcing the message that all men are created equally but in such delicate and subtle methods that the flow of the story is never once interrupted. For example: Ladysmith's friendship with Abraham, Abraham saving a man fighting on the opposite side in the war, and Abrahams conversation with the president that shares his name. Abraham's Battle is a flowing and poignant tale that is subtle and yet a still powerful narrative that should be enjoyed for generations to come.

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Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant Review

Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant
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General Grant wrote this book while dying of throat cancer. He had been swindled by a dishonest Wall Street Broker and his trophies and possessions were stripped from him to satisfy the demands of his debtors. Bankrupt, suffering from a terminal illness and never passing a moment without acute pain, he produced this magnificent monument to his greatness. Those who denigrate Grant as a drunkard, butcher, bumbling President need to read this book in order to correct these errant assumptions. It is impossible to read this book and not realize that Grant was an inordinately intelligent man and one hell of a writer.
Grant's Memoirs are a deserved classic in American literature and considered the greatest military Memoirs ever penned, exceeding Caesar's Commentaries. Grant wrote as he lived: with clear, concise statements, unembellished with trivialities or frivolities. The only "criticism" the reader might have is that Grant bent over backwards not to wound the feelings of people in the book. He takes swipes at Joe Hooker and Jeff Davis, but what he left unsaid would have been far more interesting. A compelling and logical reason why Grant was so spare in his comments was because he was involved in a race with death. He didn't know how long he could live and therefore, "cut to the chase."
Grant's assessments of Lincoln, Sherman, Sheridan and other military leaders are brilliant and engrossing. His style, like the man himself, was inimitable and couldn't be copied. In everyday life, Grant was a very funny man, who liked to listen to jokes and tell them himself. His sense of the absurd was acute. It's no accident that he loved Mark Twain and the two hitched together very well. Twain and Grant shared a similar sense of humor, and Grant's witicisms in the Memoirs are frequent, unexpected and welcome. There are portions where you will literally laugh out loud.
Though Grant's Memoirs were written 113 years ago, they remain fresh, vibrant and an intensely good read. I have read them in! their entirity 30 times in my life and I never weary of the style and language that Grant employed. He was a military genius to be sure, but he was also a writer of supreme gifts, and these gifts shine through on every page of this testament to his greatness. All Americans should read this book and realize what we owe to Grant: he preserved the union with his decisive brilliance. In his honor, we should be eternally grateful.

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ReadHowYouWant publishes a wide variety of best selling books in Large and Super Large fonts in partnership with leading publishers. EasyRead books are available in 11pt and 13pt. type. EasyRead Large books are available in 16pt, 16pt Bold, and 18pt Bold type. EasyRead Super Large books are available in 20pt. Bold and 24pt. Bold Type. You choose the format that is right for you.

This is Volume Volume 1 of 5-Volume Set.To purchase the complete set, you will need to order the other volumes separately: to find them, search for the following ISBNs: 9781425095642, 9781425095659, 9781425095666, 9781425095673

"Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant" is considered among the greatest of military memoirs. Marshalling the forces of the North in the American Civil War, he was the only general who was able to bring the South to heels. The descriptions of the great battles and his assessments of the generals, many of whom he knew intimately from the Mexican war, are worth reading.

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Vicksburg: 47 Days of Siege Review

Vicksburg: 47 Days of Siege
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The book uses a day-by-day approach to the story, quoting and paraphrasing first-hand references--diaries and reports of people on the scene. I found it very readable and interesting. Lots of good info and tidbits.
One complaint--and for me a big one--NO INDEX. It should be against the law to publish an historical book like this with no index. This makes it difficult to use as as serious reference work.

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Civil War diaries and memoirs of inhabitants of besieged Vicksburg and soldiers reveal the heroism and sacrifice that marked the Confederate experience.

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Confederate Money Review

Confederate Money
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This book is great!! It accurately tracks much of the war. The adventure brings this time period alive and answers many questions about how the war actual ended for the South in Florida. The decline in the value of Confederate money, The benevelance of the people of the time, and the tendency to do good in hard times are central themes of the book. One is caught up in the adventure to the point that it is hard to put the book down. The battles at Shiloh Church, Chicamauga, and Olustee receive excellent coverage. However, the best parts to me were rescue of some white slaves that Sherman sent north, and the daring raid on the Confederate treasury as the war ended and the treasury was being divided in Archer Florida. A must read.

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Buffalo Days: Stories from J. Wright Mooar (Texas Heritage Series) Review

Buffalo Days: Stories from J. Wright Mooar (Texas Heritage Series)
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Good personal reminiscence. Very good end notes. Certainly not politicaly correct but a very good view of the prevaling mind set of the nineteenth century buffalo hide trade.

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"Because he has been criticized as a destroyer, a ruthless killer, and wastrel of a great game resource of a Nation, the buffalo hunter appeals to the bar of history for his vindication. . . . Within four years we opened up a vast empire to settlement, and put the Indians forever out of Texas."J. Wright Mooar tells the story of the buffalo hunter, from the hunter's perspective, in this first-person account published more than seventy years ago in several installments in Holland's, The Magazine of the South. Mooar was more than eighty years old when he sat down with Methodist minister/educator James Winford Hunt and recounted his years as a buffalo hunter.He describes how buffalo hunting became a huge business that thrived for less than a decade in the 1870s and makes the case that the buffalo hunter, more than anyone else, opened the way for white settlement by eradicating the Indians' source of food."Buffalo hunting was a business and not a sport. It required capital, management, and a lot of hard work. Magazine writers and others who claim that the killing of the buffalo was a national calamity and was accomplished by vandals simply expose their ignorance, and I resent such an unjust judgment upon us."If it had not been for the work of the buffalo hunters, the wild bison would still graze where Amarillo now is, and the red man would still reign supreme over the pampas of the Panhandle of Texas."Any one of the families killed and homes destroyed by the Indians would have been worth more to Texas and to civilization than all the millions of buffalo that ever roamed from the Pecos River on the south to the Platte River on the north.""Here is an odyssey of hairbreadth escapes from death with wild Indians, wilder white men, and thundering herds of wild buffalo," writes J. W. Hunt, founding president of Abilene's McMurry College (now University), in his introduction.Illustrated by Texas folklore artist Granville Bruce, the stories of J. Wright Mooar make for lively reading and continuing debate.

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Alligator Gold (Cracker Western) Review

Alligator Gold (Cracker Western)
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I loved this book. It took me on a trip back to the 1860s when the Florida wilderness was filled with wild cattle and wilder men.
The hero, Caleb Hawkins, better known as Hawk, is coming back from Yankee prison camp in Maryland. While he was delirious with malaria in the camp, his arch-enemy Snake Barber, gets him to give up part of the secret of Pappy's gold.
If you like a rapid-fire western, books about the Florida frontier and cowhunters, you'll love this fast-paced read. I couldn't put it down. I read it all the way through in one sitting. It's filled with horses, cow dogs, gold-stealing bad guys all wrapped around a blossoming romance.

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Finally a new book for Cracker Western fans! Meet Caleb Hawkins. He's just back from the Civil war and has a heap of trouble with Snake Barber. Then Maddy Wilkes, pregnant!, enters Hawk's life and things get even more troublesome. But a big old gator might just be the answer.

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Carrying the Flag: The Story of Private Charles Whilden, the Confederacy's Most Unlikely Hero Review

Carrying the Flag: The Story of Private Charles Whilden, the Confederacy's Most Unlikely Hero
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The author, Gordon Rhea, notes in the INTRODUCTION that "....books about privates are rare" and continues "None tell a story half as fascinating as that of Charles Whilden...." The text is a brief account of Whilden's life stating that his first forty years were characterized by mediocrity and failure. However, Whilden's brief fifteen minutes of glory came at the Bloody Angle at Spotsylvania Court House where he vividly demonstrated the capacity of an insignificant player "to alter the course of history."
Chapter 1 gives a short review of the 1864 strategic conditions in central Virginia which "By most estimates, 1864 loomed as the war's decisive year." In March 1864 President Lincoln made Grant commander-in-chief whose aim was the destruction of the Confederate armies, not to capture territory. The author observed "Thus the stage set for the Civil War's decisive campaign....The campaign would be a duel to the death between Grant and Lee, the best generals either side could field. The prize was the fate of two nations." Chapter 2 presents a concise account of pre-Civil War Charleston, S.C. stating the source of Charleston's wealth was rice and that the city's affluence "rested on the back of slaves." The author gives an interesting review of the area's concern about a slave rebellion and continues "As the Carolina Low country's slave population grew so grew the white minority's unease about servile insurrection."
After a unsuccessful brief career as a lawyer, Charles moved to Detroit where his lack of success continued to plague him.He left Detroit in 1855 and accompanied Colonel Grayson to Santa Fe, New Mexico as the colonel's personal secretary. In Santa Fe his mediocre success continued. When the Civil War commenced, Charles began the long trip home to Charleston. The ship he was on heading for the Carolina coast was badly damaged; and his health was compromised; for the rest of his life he suffered from epileptic seizures. In Charleston he tried to enlist a number of times; but due to his epilepsy he was unsuccessful in enlisting. By January 1864, Confederate manpower shortages were critical; and at age 39 Whilden was at last able to enlist as a private in Company I of the 1st Carolina at Orange Court House in February 1864.
Author Rhea uses Whilden and the 1st Carolina as the narrative vehicle for an interesting account of the battles of The Wilderness and at Spotsylvania. Whilden's unit was "destined to the worst of the campaign's carnage." Whilden received his baptism-under-fire on May 5 in the Battle of the Wilderness, had not run and was appointed as flag barrier when the flag barrier was wounded. Rhea observes "The post of flag bearer was important, not only for sentimental reasons but for practical ones as well." Charles career as a color barrier was off to a bad start as Union General Hancock troops overran Charles's unit. Only the last minute arrival of Confederate General Longstreet on May 6th saved the day. On the night of May 7-8 Grant's and Lee's armies moved south to the vicinity of Spotsylvania Court House where Lee erected sophisticated earthworks. The text briefly narrates Grant's fruitless efforts over the next three days to break through Lee's battlements.
Lee had erected a salient, nicknamed The Mule Shoe, and Grant had selected it for a massive attack by Union General Hancock on May 12. Union troops soon overran the pickets and the outer earthworks including the high ground, referred to as "the angle", to the Confederate left. The author gives a chilling account of the gruesome, bloody chaotic fighting as the Confederates fought to regain the angle and survive. Lee ordered General McGowan's brigade into the Mule Shoe. Charles, "still wracked by seizures" clearly understood the situation and fixing his eyes on the angle, carried the flag never expecting to reach the angle alive. When the flag was shot from its pole, Whilden wrapped the flag around his body. Behind him followed a "motley band of rebels." By ten o'clock in the morning Charles led his fellow Southerners to take over the Bloody Angle thus saving the battle for the Confederates. The butchery of May 12 was horrendous with the two armies suffering approximately seventeen thousand causalities. While Lee had won another battle, "the war in Virginia settled into a siege that would last ten months....but Grant had won the campaign, destroying the Army of Northern Virginia's offensive capacity."
His epilepsy making him unfit for service Charles returned to Charleston in August 1864 and was discharged after only eight months of duty. On September 25, 1866, during an epileptic seizure he fell facedown in a mud puddle, and drowned. While there are no monuments to Charles Whilden, his heroic action on May 12, 1864 at the Bloody Angle lives on as a tribute to the potential of an insignificant player who altered the course of Civil War history.
Gordon Rhea has done considerable research on the campaigns of 1864, having previously written several books on these campaigns. This is an easy book to read. Civil War buffs who want a brief/limited account of the battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court and a private who won his fifteen minutes of fame in 1864 at the Bloody Angle, will find this book interesting.


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Rousing Songs & True Tales of the Civil War Review

Rousing Songs and True Tales of the Civil War
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Rousing Songs and True Tales of the Civil War is an anthology of vintage songs and anecdotes from the American Civil War. Each song is fit onto one page, in simple musical notation with the lyrics printed both within the music notation and separately for easy reading. Black-and-white photographs and illustrations embellish the histories behind individual tunes and some just plain eye-popping tales. Especially ideal for Civil War buffs as well as anyone interested in singing vintage pieces or performing them on any simple instrument (the tunes appear to work especially well with a harmonica), Rousing Songs and True Tales of the Civil War perfectly captures the spirit of a troubled and transforming era.


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Here are the songs and stories that made history.Includes lyrics, music, song histories, trivia, humor plus 100 CivilWar photographs and illustrations.A great companion to ourrecording, "Ballads & Songs of the Civil War."5 1/2" X 8 1/2",perfect bound, full color cover.

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

Starving the South: How the North Won the Civil War
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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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