5 comments about The Children of Pride.

1. Today a friend asked me what had been the best Civil War book I had ever read - not a straight history book - and after the briefest thought I said "Children of Pride." I've spent many years thinking about the War, trying to understand the motivations of Americans at that time, and then how they survived such a horrendously wrenching time. "Children of Pride" does it better than anything I have ever read.
   I think it is understood that primary sources are the best way to truly understand times as these; this book provides the thoughts of the entire family, all literate and well-spoken people, over the entire period from the 1850s, just living their ante-bellum experience, to the idea of the war on the horizon, entering into it and living it day by day. This is all seen through ordinary every-day experiences, family anecdotes, and discussions of what is occurring. I can't recommend it highly enough for a true understanding of Southern life and views through all these years and well into Reconstruction.
   As readers said earlier, the abridged versions absolutely do not do any justice to what the book truly is. The whole work is the only way to experience "Children of Pride."
   It has lived with me since I first read it in the 1970s; I would never let my copy out of my hands, and as said above today I realized it was the single best book about the Civil War that I have ever read.



2. A significant collection of the letters of an influential low country family, from before the Civil War and right after. These letters show the attitudes, morals, mindsets, goals, worries, and daily lives of their writers, and seem at once both modern and dated, universal and unique. What one reads here also shows how, arguably, the English language reached its height during this era. The beauty of the wording of so many of these letters, even short chatty ones from one family member to another, have much to teach us, and should dispel any residue of belief that those who lived in eras before our own were unlearned and intellectually inferior to us. It is particularly interesting to read along from the position of hindsight and see how men and women who lived through momentous times regarded them as they were about to happen, as they were happening, and in the days that came after the events. These letters are not only educational, they are also, as a bonus, very interesting.



3. Like being able to eavesdrop on history, the letters give a vivid account of life before, during and after the civil war. I became fascinated with this format and time period and have also read Mary Chestnutt, Sarah Morgan, and many others, but am now reading The Children Of Pride for the second time. Someone offered to buy my copy, but there is no way I'll ever part with it. It's worth every penny, and every minute spent finding the complete version!



4. Factual account of day to day life in easy to read wording. Historically accurate.



5. Winners of the wars get to write the history books...so you have to look a little further to get truer impressions. I use a lengthy excerpt from this book in advanced US History classes to give the kids a clue why the South was so bitter about Reconstruction. They come away very thoughtful. But the unabridged version is the only real deal.

5 comments about Charles Dahlgren of Natchez: The Civil War and Dynastic Decline.

1. Anthropologists tell us that human brains are indelibly informed by the experience of ice age survival some twenty-four thousand years ago; that adaptability and improvisation in a world of violent, cataclysmic change enabled humans to abide the destructive power of ice and satisfy the evolutionary imperative of endurance. Fast forward myriad millennia to the turbulent time of America's defining cataclysm, the Civil War, and meet Charles Dahlgren: brawler, adventurer, opportunist, patriarch, Yankee by birth and breeding, Confederate slave owner by chance and choice, and avatar of those primal qualities that exalt fortitude over fortune. Dahlgren's odyssey encompasses most of the nineteenth century and touches people representing the lavish spectrum of characters that age has to offer, from slaves to presidents, from dowagers to mercenaries, from victors to vanquished, and is masterfully rendered by Herschel Gower in "Charles Dahlgren of Natchez: The Civil War and Dynastic Decline." Using verbatim the recorded words of many, including significant passages from Dahlgren's exceptional diary, Gower combines eloquent narrative with authentic utterance to create a robust immediacy that delivers enthusiasts of history and anthropology, alike, back to the intrinsically familiar.



2. Future meet the past, and the quality of human spirit that is an integral part of modern America. Time travel is possible with Herschel Gower's beautifully written book. The story of General Dahlgren has everything necessary for a work of fiction, but this is, indeed, fact. General Dahlgren was a first generation American, a hard working self made man, a lawyer, a planter, a frontiersman, a business man who rose to greatness within his community, joined the ranks of the Confederacy in defense of his ideals, then faced bankruptcy and poverty in defeat, only to remake himself and rebuild his shattered world. Mr. Gower is not interested in hero worship, however, and the General is presented to us with intimate detail, both good and bad, both invigorating and humiliating. This intimacy is often from the General himself, who Gower allows to tell his own story at every turn. There is so much to glean from a history of this sort, from a deep and varied accounting of day to day existence to an understanding of the minds and thought patterns that shaped men's worlds in the 19th Century. Anyone who reads this work will develop an admiration for a time, place and people completely self aware, not only of surroundings, but of advantages that a lifetime can put into rare and fragile perspective. The similarities are sometimes suprising, for instance: boys playing pranks and party goers appreciating a pacificity of existence. Who today hasn't remarked that life is good? But who today could survive the daily struggle that was a 19th century life, and do so with grace, humility and humor? General Dahlgren's story is compelling and fascinating and perfectly relevant in today's world of financial boom and bust. Herschel Gower's work is impressive in scope, delicately and beautifully written and as much a page turner as any adventure novel. This book is definitely a must.



3. Intrigued by initials carved on a rock on August 31,1860, and discovered on August 31, 1990, Herschel Gower began his research on the Dahlgren family by identifying all the members of a house party in the last summer before the Civil War. The resulting narrative of lives and homes and dreams changed and lost from 1861 to the early twentieth century is the story not only of Charles Dahlgren and his family but also of many Confederate families with Union relatives. Their letters and diaries are eloquent with the truth about survival in hard times. One of the survivors, looking back in 1917, said of the Dahlgrens in 1860, ". . . we were happy and we knew it and we thought the happiness would go on and on."



4. Herschel Gower's meticulous research and well written story of Charles Dahlgren and his family have brought history and the Dahlgrens to life. Any reader will find this a fascinating story as well as a great insight into history. Congratulations to Dr. Gower for his splendid work!



5. Enthralling account of day to day living during the union invasion and reconstruction of the South. Details and facts abound in this fascinating account of Charles Dahlgren of Natchez. If you ever wanted to know anything about the Antebellum South, The War, the impact of the War on the South this is the book you cannot put down.

No comments about John Washington's Civil War: A Slave Narrative.

1 comments about Jeb Stuart and the Confederate Defeat at Gettysburg.

1. Professor Robinson has contributed a refreshing new look to a much confused aspect of the Battle of Gettysburg. Jeb Stuart was, and remains, a controversial figure--a love `em or hate `em sort of guy. And that's the rub. Over the past 140 years much has been written about his role in the Battle of Gettysburg, and unfortunately it has been written with an emotional pen. The facts have been buried and lost under mountains of hyperbole and replaced by contorted logic and strained reasoning.
   
   Is Jeb Stuart to blame for the Confederate loss at Gettysburg? Did he follow Robert E. Lee's orders or was he the innocent victim of vague and flawed command direction?
   
   Professor Robinson's book recalibrates the past through an objective analysis that's steeped in a clear and easy to follow writing style. He has meticulously combed the record, presented the unvarnished facts, and drawn the common sense conclusions that inevitably follow.
   
   Gettysburg was a defining chapter in American history, and it continues to capture the passions of many. Serious students and casual tourists will greatly benefit from this well written book. It is more than a new look at much written cavalry subject; it is a framework to better understand this pivotal battle of the Civil War.

No comments about Memoirs of General W.T. Sherman, both volumes in a single file.

No comments about General Sherman and the Georgia Belles: Tales from Women Left Behind.

3 comments about Libby: The Sketches, Letters and Journal of Libby Beaman, Recorded in the Pribilof Islands, 1879-1880.

1. A very interesting accounting of an adventurous woman in the late 1800's. I would have given this 5 stars EXCEPT that the print is so small one almost needs a magnifying glass to read it.
   (I wanted to send it to my Aunt but knew she would not be able to read the print.)



2. ...evidently this is a very highly edited and perhaps even augmented version of her journal. In the editorial review from "500 Great Books by Women"--which does not appear on the Amazon page for this edition but is included on the page for for another, unavailable edition of the book (ISBN#0395493250)--it refers to the fact that some of the gaps have been filled in by the author's granddaughter, Betty John, who is the one who actually had the book published.

   In the forward of the edition I read (which has a different ISBN from both this edition and the one mentioned above), Betty John notes that when she got the sketches and journal some of the pages were missing. She then says, "In Libby's book, therefore, I've had to fill in some gaps by conjuring up memories of the stories she told me and by doing research into her times. Her story, nonetheless, is the true tale of a very real woman... ."

   In the epilogue, she adds "What was left of [Libby's] journal and sketches ... came to me after her death. Those pages have been the basis for the book."

   In the book itself, there are maybe one or two small bracketed notes--not longer than a few words--where the editor fills in details.

   So I am a little puzzled about how much of the book really is Libby's journal. The comments in the foreward and epilogue imply that more than just a few details are added, yet there isn't much notation in the text to show what has been added and what is original. I would rather the publishers had made it clear what parts of the text were added, edited, or paraphrased, and what were the real journal.

   The way it reads, like a novel (almost like a romance novel at times) and the sometimes modern-sounding prose makes me suspect it may have been heavily edited and/or rewritten. Also the fact that she was commiting some very personal things--things she probably did not want her husband to read--to paper made me wonder a bit. (She talks about her husband's boss's attraction to her and hers to him. These are the parts that read like a romance novel--complete with the gruff, aloof-seeming hero who often seems to be mocking her, but actually is attracted to her--total romance-novel stereotype!)

   That said, I found the book very enjoyable. Libby Beaman's family was very friendly with Abraham Lincoln and in the beginning she gives an interesting look at Lincoln's election and the circumstances under which he came into office--how he had to sneak into Washington because his life had been threatened by Southern sympathizers. Stuff I may have learned in school, but forgot. She was apparently an interesting woman, impatient with the restrictions that were put on her gender and class. (At the end of the book she recants a bit, though.) There are descriptions of the Alaskan wildlife and of the people and history, and just reading about how Libby and her husband coped with the culture shock and vastly different living conditions in Alaska was fascinating.

   I just would have liked to be able to tell what was her authentic voice and what was added or changed in the editing.




3. Libby gives her account of her life before and during her time on the Pribilof Islands. Her letters and journals provide a look at what life was like for the middle class woman of her era with an honesty I have never come across in any other widely-available account of the post-Civil War years. I read the book while I was Alaska, and it was startling to see both similarities and differences between the lives people live in the far north now and in Libby's experience. Libby has the intensity of a well-written novel, and a depth of truth only a woman writing for her eyes alone could present. If you're interested in women of her era, life in the north, or simply an interesting story by an excellent writer, Libby is worth the purchase.

5 comments about Freedom Rising: Washington in the Civil War.

1. War time Washington: Sharpsters, con men, spies, heroes, winners, losers. Some in uniform, some not. An eclectic mixture of the best and the worst the country had to offer and all focused on their own unique visions of opportunity.
   
   Ernest Furgurson captures the tumult of those four years, from Lincoln's early arrival, slipping into town in disguise, to his leaving as a corpse. Furgurson's Lincoln is a wonderfully human individual. And so are the rest of the supporting cast, the cabinet, congressmen, soldiers, contractors and everyday people who persevered in this most amazing struggle to save the Union and create a nation rededicated "to the proposition that all men are created equal."
   
   This was no easy task, no simple accomplishment, but rather a rough, rowdy brawl that was almost always out of control. This is a most gripping account of the chronology of major and minor events, of the very few triumphs, and the almost continuous sacrifice of all of the participants in what had to have been a most maddening struggle. In reading this book you can begin to understand the continual frustration and disappointments that ultimate success demanded. You will not be disappointed. This is a very good work.



2. This is a well written book. It is comprehensive yet not overwelming with detail. I am confused though how a journalist with Mr. Ferguson'snewapaper backgound would get some of the little facts WRONG! I am a member of the voluminous number who would be called Civil War Buffs (whatever that means)...yet I am not by any means an expert or an academic. But, with my ameteur acquantence with the topic I am appalled that in one line Mr. Ferguson puts Gettysburg in "Franklin" not Adams county, Pennsylvania and in another states that Mrs. Lincoln's Brother in law was killed in September at "Chattanooga"-when in fact he was killed at the Battle of Chickamauga. I must confess that such looseness with the facts-easlily checked-tends to put distrust in any other factual information he presents. A newspaperman, which Mr. Ferguson was for many years, must get the Who, What and Where correct! Sloppyness might be a result of poor editing...the final responsibility goes to the author.



3. Ernest Furgurson uses the statue atop the Capitol as a metaphor for the survival of the U.S. and the liberation of African-Americans. Even throughout the turmoil of the war, construction of the Capital continued, albeit haltingly, its progress symbolizing the triumph of the Union. This book is a must read for anyone who lives or works in the capital.
   
   Riddled with southern sympathizers and spies, the capital nevertheless became a truly federal city. Slave markets stood on the south side of Independence Ave, now a two-mile-long chain of government departments, and even on Lafayette Square. D St. and 21st, the present location of the State Department, was a huge stables; on Boxing Day, 1861, a fire broke out that killed thousands of horses and sent thousands more running through the city. For days afterwards, the city stank of burned horse meat. Present day conservatives would say that they still haven't cleaned out all the horse---- from the area. Federal Triangle was the red light district, catering to all tastes; digs have found piles of bottles of expensive French champagne where the bawdy houses one stood. Constitution Avenue was a canal -- Tiber Creek -- and all of the mall west from the Washington monument was the Potomac. Within months of the outbreak of war, Washington saw a string of firsts -- the first use of trains for strategic mobility, the first use of aerial reconnaissance, the first machine gun, the first suspension of habeas corpus, the first nursing corps, the first aircraft carrier (a balloon moored to a boat in the Potomoc that allowed the feds to observe the Confederate withdrawal from Occoquan and the Pohick Creek area where I now live). Furgurson writes of Lincoln, Stanton, Seward, Chase, Winfield Scott, Grant, and McLellan; of Confederate spies such as Antonia Ford; of dozens of soldiers and nurses, poets such as Whitman, and others who created the rich fabric of a capital at war, surrounded by hostiles. Washington, Furgurson writes, went from a town divided and fearful in 1861 to a "place of focused and confident power" in 1865. He does a superb job of reporting this huge political and physical transformation.
   
   Some other notes. George Washington's grand-nephew fought on behalf of the Confederacy, and was killed in September 1861. Some vengeful Northerners wanted to confiscate Mt. Vernon but a collection of women persuaded the military authorities to let them retain it as a national historic landmark. If the hallmark of sharp political speech is that it remains as relevant today as when it was uttered, these words of Lincoln to a crowd celebrating his re-election bear diirectly on the calls of some to postpone the Iraqi elections of January 30, 2005. "We cannot have free government without elections, and if the rebellion could force us to forgo or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us."
   
   "Freedom Rising" was enlightening as well in how deeply runs the Democratic Party's visceral distrust of the federal government, whether as a player on the national stage or more currently in the international arena. The Democratic platform in 1864 "shrugged at slavery" and all but assured Lincoln's reelection. Gideon Wells described the platform as "unpatriotic, almost treasonable to the Union. The issue is made up. It is whether a war shall be made against Lincoln to get peace with Jeff Davis. Those who met at Chicago prefer hostility to Lincoln rather than to Davis." Democratic Party leaders still struggle with the dilemma of supporting a Republican leader in time of war.



4. I work in Washington, D.C, specifically in the US Capitol, and I felt that while this work lacks significant historical interpretation (as some reviewers point out) we should remember that the author is a journalist first. This book gives a strong feel for what was going on in the city during the civil war, as if the reader were following events as they were likely to be covered in the newspapers at the time. There is also more in depth coverage, gleaned from personal accounts - as though the author were interviewing those writers, and as though the author / reader were working or living in the city at the time. It should be noted that MANY of the sites by the author are from contemporaneous periodicals. No surprise there. All these first hand accounts shed some much needed light on other than a typical military history of the city and its suburbs.
   
   Looked at in that light, this is an excellent work. It is unfettered with the typical historian's personal academic spin on events. I felt I was looking through a clearer and more familiar window into the past, as opposed to those fogged by the breath of the historian. Based on this read, I will definitely purchase the author's work on Richmond during the civil war.



5. I must begin this review by stating that this is the first book I have ever read on the Civil War. My review, thus, will be from the perspective of a person who possessed limited knowledge of the subject in retrospect to the other fine reviewers who have written in great detail about the subject.
   
   Overall, I enjoyed Ernest B. Furgurson's 'Freedom Rising: Washington in the Civil War', as I found many interesting and well researched subject matter easily presented and carefully constructed in the narrative. Through an incredible amount of research that is well placed, Furgurson managed to keep my interest from the beginning of the book, which starts out with the creation of Lady Liberty's bronze statue, all the way through the inevitable. In between, the reader learns of the many scandels, the outlandish behavior of all the players, the suggested but failed compromises, and the evolution of the slavery issue from not as significant with respect to Lincoln's desire to keep the Union as one, to the importance of the matter in keeping the country one nation. In contrast to the detail, I felt some of the more important players were minamized, particularly of U.S. Grant. There were times that I felt there was a lack of consistancy on the author's direction, but was more than willing to take the journey, and understand the issues presented in the country's capitol.

5 comments about Custer Victorious: The Civil War Battles of General George Armstrong Custer.

1. this book is valuable as a reference to Custer's Civil War service. At least you will learn in which battles he participated. Whether or not he was the brave hero portrayed is questionable simply because this author is so in love with Custer that everything else is disregarded.
   
   Urwin was only 24 years old when he wrote this book, and it shows. It's almost adolescent in its praise of Custer. He denigrates everyone who criticized Custer during his 7th Cav days. The enlisted men were "trash", the officers "petty and jealous". This is a book written by a young man with a lot to learn.



2. George Armstrong Custer is known to most people today as the general who led his soldiers to slaughter at the hands of the Indians at the Little Bighorn in Montana. But it was the glory and fame earned as a dashing and courageous Civil War cavalry officer that made that defeat so shocking and controversial. Gregory J.W. Urwin focuses on those Civil War years in this study.
   
   Custer graduated last in his class from West Point in 1861 (he may have been expelled if the army wasn't in desperate need of officers at the time). Assigned to a cavalry regiment, he first saw action at First Bull Run. There and later with McClellan on the Peninsular and then with General Alfred Pleasanton, Custer gained a reputation for bravery and bravado. He especially distinguished himself at Gettysburg and in the Shenandoah Valley with Sheridan in 1864. But perhaps his greatest achievement was the constant pressure he and his troops put on Lee as he retreated toward Appomattox Court House; Lee said it was a major factor in his decision to surrender.
   
   Custer was dashing and fearless in battle - and was not shy about having the spotlight on him. This, of course, breeds jealous enemies as well as cheering supporters (and is one reason why the Little Bighorn debacle was, and remains, so controversial). Urwin goes out of his way to make sure his book has no odor of the academic about it (despite the numerous footnotes and extensive bibliography): he writes in a familiar and totally informal style and describes much of the action in a novelistic way. This makes much of the book a page-turner - a fresh thing for historical writing. A most enjoyable read, and probably the definitive account of Custer in the Civil War - before his experiences on the Plains changed him and ultimately led to his downfall.



3. This is a good read and will open up a new opinion of Custer for most people. It was only in the 20th century that the name of George Armstrong Custer became associated with the ultimate bad decision and failure. In the last half of the 19th century, he was still remembered for his daring and SUCCESSFUL civil war exploits. It is nice to see his Civil War record documented in one spot so that future generations can see that there was more to this warrior than the Battle of the Little Big Horn. He employed the same tactics but with much more confidence and obviously greater success.



4. This book tells the fascinating story of George Armstrong Custer's Civil War career. The self-confidence of this man, followed by his real accomplishment, is amazing. Prior to reading this book, I was aware of only Custer's battle with Jeb Stuart at Gettysburg. Now I find that Custer met Stuart on numerous occasions and, in fact, it was his brigade that was responsible for Stuart's death at Yellow Tavern. For the life of me, I can't figure out why this epic rivalry between these two great cavalry leaders is not better known.
   
   The bad news is that the writing is merely adequate. The prose is a tad purple and the last chapter, in which the author summarizes his theory that Custer was truly a great military leader, is superfluous in that the author has done a much more convincing job in merely telling the tale. Finally, I might quibble about the title. I almost didn't buy this book because I thought it was an alternative history of Little Big Horn.
   
   We live in an age with a scarcity of heroes. This book presents us a hero in the classic mold. We could do worse than to emulate this man. It is perhaps telling of our times, however, that rather than to acknowledge Custer's heroism, we defame his memory.



5. Being from Michigan, I knew George Custer was a Civil War hero. After reading this book I realized just how important that man was to the Union cause. Although young, Custer was mature beyond his years, his prowess as a calvaryman is second to none. He was loved by his troops and respected by his enemies, some who he bested many times during the Civil War. He was a true leader in every sense of the word. Fearless and steady, always leading his troops into a charge. Ever concerned for the well being of his men. This book is a wonderful piece on a great man who was lost in history by speculation and heresay. Had he his Michigan Calvary Brigade, his beloved "Wolverines" or men like them at Little Big Horn and not 17 and 18 yr old troops as recently discovered, even though being outgunned I am sure there would have been different results for historians to ponder. Rest in Peace Major General Custer, your name is forever cleared.

No comments about Planting The Union Flag In Texas: The Campaigns of Major General Nathaniel P. Banks in the West (Red River Valley Books).