2020 What are you reading?
ForumAmerican Civil War
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1Just1MoreBook
Is anyone else reading about the civil war during this Covid-19 pandemic? I have discovered In the Presence of Mine Enemies War in the Heart of America by Edward L. Ayers and The Thin Light of Freedom also by Edward L. Ayers. His writing is so wonderful that I completely forget about Covid-19!
2jztemple
Let's see, since this is a 2020 thread, I've read the following Civil War books this year:
Our Man in Charleston: Britain's Secret Agent in the Civil War South by Christopher Dickey
The CSS Arkansas: A Confederate Ironclad on Western Waters by Myron J. Smith Jr.
Out of the Storm: The End of the Civil War, April-June 1865 by Noah Andre Trudeau
Small Arms at Gettysburg: Infantry and Cavalry Weapons in America's Greatest Battle by Joseph G. Bilby
Our Man in Charleston: Britain's Secret Agent in the Civil War South by Christopher Dickey
The CSS Arkansas: A Confederate Ironclad on Western Waters by Myron J. Smith Jr.
Out of the Storm: The End of the Civil War, April-June 1865 by Noah Andre Trudeau
Small Arms at Gettysburg: Infantry and Cavalry Weapons in America's Greatest Battle by Joseph G. Bilby
3Piedmont_Trails
The Army of Robert E. Lee by Philip Katcher I enjoyed the reading of this one.
Shrouds of Glory by Winston Groom I really wanted the "down deep" facts with this one. I found myself researching for more answers about the Tennessee involvement during this particular time period of the war.
Burnside's Bridge by Phillip Thomas Tucker 5 stars for me personally, details to the max engulfed with the experiences that the 2nd & the 20th Georgia were subjected too. 5 stars again !!
Shrouds of Glory by Winston Groom I really wanted the "down deep" facts with this one. I found myself researching for more answers about the Tennessee involvement during this particular time period of the war.
Burnside's Bridge by Phillip Thomas Tucker 5 stars for me personally, details to the max engulfed with the experiences that the 2nd & the 20th Georgia were subjected too. 5 stars again !!
4ModraMakes
I read Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America's Most Perilous Year by David Von Drehle - I really dug into the first 2/3 of the book where it lays out the struggle between Lincoln and his main general, McClellan, and many elements affecting Lincoln during the year (personal tragedies including the death of one of his sons and the grief that almost tore his marriage apart). It broke down to me toward the end and I was less enamored by the writing, and I felt the trajectory of the story took a more generalized term, whereas at the beginning it did seem to set out to show how Grant's appointment to the top spot would be pivotal, it was hardly mentioned.
Even with the ending falling off a bit I highly recommend it, as the book lays out in detail how our government was able to get through an immensely trying time.
Even with the ending falling off a bit I highly recommend it, as the book lays out in detail how our government was able to get through an immensely trying time.
5qwertytypo
I dont know anything about the CW but a friend recommended Civil War by Shelby Foote and I just got all 3.
6rocketjk
I finished Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery by Leon F. Litwack. About two months ago, my friend Kim Nalley, who is both an internationally know jazz and blues singer and a Ph.D. candidate in history at UC Berkeley, sent around a list of suggested reading about the African American experience and the history of racism in America. I will be going back to that list perhaps every third or fourth book I read until I've worked my way through it.
Checking in at 556 pages, Been in the Storm So Long constitutes a commitment of time and energy, but an extremely worthwhile commitment. I was under the impression that the book would provide an overview of the Reconstruction Era, but in fact Litwack stops right as Radical Reconstruction get going. Instead, the book starts with a description of the conditions endured by the prisoners of slavery as the Civil War neared, continues on to describe conditions and events during the war years, and then covers the first few years after Emancipation. Litwack makes detailed use of letters, diaries, newspaper articles and interviews. He lays on example after example after example of each condition and development he describes. At times it seems like perhaps he's still doing that even after the points been effectively made. However, at all times I felt like the effect created with this tactic was an important one. Because it made each element not just something to be told and then to be moved on from, but instead something to consider over and over again until something like knowledge perhaps had seeped in.
Some of the key historical points, some of which I can say that I knew, perhaps, but often only in a vague manner and are extremely important for every American (at least) to be strongly aware in more detailed ways:
1) Slavery was a horror.
2) The crossing of thousands of escaping slaves across the advancing Union lines and, eventually, into the Union army, was an extremely important factor in the North's military victory.
3) The Southern planter class was determined during and after the war that Emancipation would not in any way mean the end of White supremacy. Acknowledging that slavery was over did not in any way signify to them that Blacks should have any rights whatsoever. That included voting, testifying in court, serving on juries or, in many places, owning land.
4) The occupying Union forces sympathized much more with the White aspirations listed above than with helping protect ex-slaves from getting cheated out of the wages their former "masters" were now supposed to be paying them or even physical attack and murder at the hands of whites displeased by their behavior in one way or another.
That's a very, very short list of the major issues covered in this fascination and essential history.
Checking in at 556 pages, Been in the Storm So Long constitutes a commitment of time and energy, but an extremely worthwhile commitment. I was under the impression that the book would provide an overview of the Reconstruction Era, but in fact Litwack stops right as Radical Reconstruction get going. Instead, the book starts with a description of the conditions endured by the prisoners of slavery as the Civil War neared, continues on to describe conditions and events during the war years, and then covers the first few years after Emancipation. Litwack makes detailed use of letters, diaries, newspaper articles and interviews. He lays on example after example after example of each condition and development he describes. At times it seems like perhaps he's still doing that even after the points been effectively made. However, at all times I felt like the effect created with this tactic was an important one. Because it made each element not just something to be told and then to be moved on from, but instead something to consider over and over again until something like knowledge perhaps had seeped in.
Some of the key historical points, some of which I can say that I knew, perhaps, but often only in a vague manner and are extremely important for every American (at least) to be strongly aware in more detailed ways:
1) Slavery was a horror.
2) The crossing of thousands of escaping slaves across the advancing Union lines and, eventually, into the Union army, was an extremely important factor in the North's military victory.
3) The Southern planter class was determined during and after the war that Emancipation would not in any way mean the end of White supremacy. Acknowledging that slavery was over did not in any way signify to them that Blacks should have any rights whatsoever. That included voting, testifying in court, serving on juries or, in many places, owning land.
4) The occupying Union forces sympathized much more with the White aspirations listed above than with helping protect ex-slaves from getting cheated out of the wages their former "masters" were now supposed to be paying them or even physical attack and murder at the hands of whites displeased by their behavior in one way or another.
That's a very, very short list of the major issues covered in this fascination and essential history.
7GeorgeScott
I humbly suggest for this group my new Civil War novel, "I Jonathan, A Charleston Tale of the Rebellion." I put up a review of it, and am eager to have others than my own. If you are a member of NetGalley, here is the widget:https://bit.ly/35EbPp1
The Civil War is seen through new eyes, told from the point of view of a stranger marooned there just as the war begins. There is a human story of love and adventure built on extensive research of the historic record.
See my author page for more information, and I'd love to discuss this with the group when some have read it. It is being offered as a free giveaway to LibraryThing readers.
The Civil War is seen through new eyes, told from the point of view of a stranger marooned there just as the war begins. There is a human story of love and adventure built on extensive research of the historic record.
See my author page for more information, and I'd love to discuss this with the group when some have read it. It is being offered as a free giveaway to LibraryThing readers.
