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- Pictures of the Civil War from begining to end
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Harper's Pictorial History of the Civil War
Alfred H. Guernsey
Manufacturer: Random House Value Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0517224224
Release Date: 1987-08-19 |
Customer Reviews:
Pictures of the Civil War from begining to end.......2000-09-08
The pictures and articles in this book were accurate and precise. Unfortunantly, my pictorial was damaged in a house fire. I acquired it from my sister after the fire and really enjoyed the articles and photographs. I have gained a great deal of knowledge from what is left of this great book. Hopefully one day I will be able to afford this same publication by Guernssy & Alden. Hope everyone enjoys this book as much as I have, even though there was a considerable amount damaged. Enjoy this reading!!
Book Description
This original diary of the wife of Confederate General James Chestnut, Jr., who was also an aide to President Jefferson Davis, provides an eyewitness narrative of all the years of the war. Period photographs illustrate this you-are-there account of the daily lives and tribulations of all who suffered through the war, from ordinary people to the Confederacy's generals and political figures.
Customer Reviews:
History From the Inside.......2006-01-04
Mary Chestnut's diary received great exposure as a result of Ken Burns' documentary on PBS. It is well worth reading because 90% of the history we read of the American Civil War focuses on the military campaigns and the politics. Ms. Chestnut tells us more about the social impact of the war than we get from most authors. On top of that, she was a highly intelligent woman who was writing things in confidence that she would be unlikely to say outloud. She had a unique window into the workings of southern society and Confederate politics and she was completely honest in her evaluations. What we get here are very carefully worded opinions that no self-respecting southerner would have dared to admit in 1863. On the topic of slavery, Ms. Chestnut declares, "Ours is a monstrous system." Amid newspaper reports blasting Union General Grant for his brutal tactics and lack of finesse, Ms. Chestnut observes, "He has the disagreeable habit of not retreating before our irresistable veterans." All in all, hers is one of the most honest and well-written accounts of civilian life in the south during the Civil War.
The southern homefront.......2005-06-24
C-Span did a series called "American Writers" in 2001 and although I consider myself well read it was the first time I had ever heard of Mary Chesnut.
This story of the Civil War, told from the perspective of the civilians at home, was a real eye opener. Mary Chesnut, the wife of a Confederate general, was well off, but even Mary and the ladies in her circle couldn't get shoes to replace their worn ones and could only afford the outrageous prices for food because they had money. One can only imagine the suffering of those less fortunate. Life for civilians was severe and the news from the front, often heartbreaking, added to their woes. This is a unique first person account of the Civil War.
I remember reading that the author of "Gone With the Wind", Margaret Mitchell, did about five years of research before she actually started writing her book. I feel it is highly likely that she read Mary Chesnut's book as part of that research.
Superseded Edition of a Classic.......2005-04-09
Mary Chesnut's diary of life in the South during the American Civil War is possibly the best of all American diaries. You could spend weeks making your way through the labyrinth of events -- trivial and important -- and personalities found in the diary.
This edition of the diary is superseded by a better one: "Mary Chesnut's Civil War" edited by C. Vann Woodward which won a Pulitzer Prize for History in 1982. Woodward's edition offers a more complete text and is heavily footnoted with explanatory material. The text in Woodward includes many interesting passages excluded from "A Diary from Dixie" because of limitations of space and because some of them reflected unfavorably on the South and Southerners.
One virtue of this edition is a fine foreword about the diary by literary critic Edmund Wilson, but Wilson's foreword can also be read in his book "Patriotic Gore." I recommend you read Woodward's "Mary Chesnut's Civil War" instead of this book.
Smallchief
5 Stars for educational value.......2004-07-23
This book deserves 5 stars for educational value alone. While it does have its slow points, I can say that I have learned more about antebellum culture and Southern war perspective from this book than any other I have read up to this point. The book gives us a glimpse into the mindsets of a demographic of the Southern population we can rarely find anywhere else, and it's incredible to believe that this work was almost thrown into the fire for fear of capture when McClellan's forces dwelt a mere six miles from Richmond's door in early 1862.
An invaluable insight into the Southern Confederacy.......2003-10-03
This primary source document is one of the best windows we have into southern society during the American Civil War. Mary Chestnut was a southern aristocrat, married to the man who was the first to resign his seat in the US Senate before the war. She knew many prominent Confederate leaders well--Jefferson Davis, John Bell Hood, and Wade Hampton among them--and was acquainted with nearly all of the major players in the war (she even spent several occasions in the company of Robert E. Lee and Joseph Johnston). Because she knew so many people, she was in a position to cast a very revealing light on the war from the southern point of view.
Besides knowing so many influential leaders, Mary Chestnut also lived in both Confederate capitals--Montgomery, Alabama and Richmond, Virginia--while they were the government seats. Her husband's plantation was in South Carolina, and in fact her home in Columbia, South Carolina lay right in the path of Sherman's destructive march through the South. As such, Chestnut is poised to offer very interesting commentary on the fire that burned much of that city. Mary and her husband gave their all to the Confederacy, and lost much of what they had because of the Civil War.
Several things in this journal are unique and worthy of mention. First, Chestnut and her friends are living the high life for much of the war, having parties, dinners, and luncheons and more-or-less living it up, even when the Yankees are approaching Richmond. They live comfortable lives, and, though Mary has a very insightful perspective into the suffering of her soldiers, she often spends as much time complaining about some minor inconvenience (such as being without her maid for a week) as she does deploring the sorry state of the starved and ill-clothed soldiers. Mary does what she can, and helps in many ways, but she is not willing to give up her parties, even when her husband repeatedly begs her too.
This diary also provides a unique view of slavery. A staunch abolitionist, Chestnut hated slavery less for the cruel treatment of the slaves than for the insolent behavior of many of them. Her husband's slaves were well taken care of, and did less work than they consumed in goods. Mary recounts many horrific tales of what happened when the slaves were set free--a story of a white family going along a road and picking up a wagonload of Negro infants which had been abandoned by parents enjoying their freedom, for example. She never questions that slavery is wrong, but she does argue that Harriet Beecher Stowe's account of slavery was the exception, not the rule. This is an interesting perspective, whatever the truth of it.
All in all, this is a great diary, and a splendid resource. Thank goodness this book has been reissued. The edition edited by Ben Ames Williams contained unsatisfactory notes, including some in which Williams shamelessly engaged in self-promotion of his novel. This book is indispensable for anyone looking for primary accounts of the human aspect of the war between the states.
Book Description
Every generation of readers has interpreted the meaning of The Red Badge of Courage anew. Its appeal is both historical and universal--historical in its Civil War setting and universal in its relating of the experiences of a young man who is thrust into a situation he does not understand and cannot cope with. This collection of historical documents, collateral readings, and commentary will promote interdisciplinary study of the novel and enrich the reader's understanding of its themes and historical context. A wide variety of more than 40 primary documents and firsthand accounts brings to life the Civil War experiences of leaders and soldiers of the Union and Confederacy, especially in the Battle of Chancellorsville, which is the setting for the novel. Carefully selected memoirs, poems, short stories, newspaper articles, and interviews illuminate the historical setting, the themes of cowardice and desertion, battlefield experiences, the soldier's life in camp, and the issue of pacifism as it relates to The Red Badge of Courage as an antiwar novel. Many of these documents appear in print here for the first time. The documents include: memoirs of Civil War generals at Chancellorsville who were in marked disagreement with one another, remembrances of cavalry and foot soldiers, poems by those who experienced the war, short stories by Civil War veterans, a series of newspaper articles on World War II veterans who experienced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, "The War Prayer" by Mark Twain and "The Wound Dresser" by Walt Whitman, poems and a short story by Stephen Crane, and an interview with a conscientious objector in World War II. Each section of this casebook contains study questions, topics for research papers and class discussions, and lists of further reading. A selection of photos and a map complete the work. This is an ideal companion for teacher use and student research in interdisciplinary, English, and American history courses.
Amazon.com
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States, winning less than the majority of the popular vote but 59 percent of the Electoral College. In the North, the Republican candidate's victory was widely, though not unanimously, hailed, while in the South it was roundly condemned. Horace Greeley, in an editorial reproduced in this excellent collection of primary documents, called Lincoln's record "an invincible attestation of the superiority of Free Society," whereas an Atlanta newspaper promised a Pennsylvania Avenue "paved ten fathoms deep with mangled bodies."
Drawing on journalistic accounts, memoirs, battle dispatches, and letters from actors large and small in the harrowing conflict, Gettysburg College historian Matthew Gallman gathers an indispensable day-by-day record of the Civil War, enlisting seven fellow historians (two of whom teach at West Point) to provide commentary that gives the documents needed context. In his introduction to the volume, the noted Reconstruction scholar Eric Foner notes that the war made a nation-state of what had been a far-flung congeries of states. It ushered in the first national currency, the first federal income tax, and a national banking system, among other innovations. As it was unfolding, however, the war lent itself to being seen with smaller-scale immediacy--and that urgency, with all its attendant chaos, shines through on every page. A welcome and useful addition to the libraries of scholars, Civil War buffs, and students. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
In this moving day-by-day chronicle, we hear the real voices of the soldiers, nurses, farmers, laborers, slaves, and freed people who lived through America's most tragic conflict. This much-needed collection of the letters, diaries, speeches, telegrams, newspaper accounts, and official battlefield reports penned by those people presents an astonishing array of perspectives and conflicting accounts of this very personal war. Hundreds of period black and white images enhance the firstperson accounts and help recapture the texture of life at all levels and on both sides of the Civil War.
Customer Reviews:
Must Have For The Civil War Home Library!.......2006-01-21
I probably passed over this book a dozen times or more, tempted to buy it, and thinking that Gallman had only covered ground that I was already covered before by Henry Steele Commager in "The Blue and the Grey", and in books like Harwell's Union and Confederate Readers. I am pleased to say that I was wrong.
When I finally broke down and got this book, I was going through a particularly rough period in my life, a family move, and the downsizing of a large personal History Library. In fact, it was during one of my visits to my parents when I picked up the book, and have pretty much not put it down as there is always something new in it.
For me, what was particularly interesting was the accounts by both Union and Confederate officers about James Harrison Wilson's cavalry invasion of Alabama at the end of the war, and how his forces decisively defeated Nathan Bedford Forrest outside of Selma, just days before Appomattox. The account by Union General Eli Long has the flavor of a dispatch written just after the smoke of battle had cleared. Since Wilson's Raid was all but obscured by the great drama taking place at the same time up in Virginia, first-hand writings of the campaign are made even more valuable, and Gallman's got two fine ones here.
But there is something for everyone in Gallman's work; The New York Draft Riots, the carnage at Gettysburg, also seen from both sides, Sherman's March to the Sea and its effect on the Southern Civilian population; how Slaves found refugee on Union-held islands off the Carolina Coast; and a vignette about the appearance and the character of George Custer.
What not to expect is a thorough history of the war. There are countless other accounts available, including Commager's. But to get an idea what soldiers and civilians on both sides felt - and more importantly jotted down at the time, this book cannot be beat. I even liked Eric Foner's influence on locating passages on the Black Experience and Reconstruction, written from the standpoint of those who experienced it, though I could care less for Foner's Leftist politics.
Some of the other reviewers felt it was missing vital pieces of the Civil War puzzle, I don't, but also advise the reader that this is a good starting point for personal accounts. Other works such as James McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom", the " Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant" , "Recollections of Robert E. Lee", and Sandburg's biography of Lincoln, not to mention "Hardtack and Coffee" by Billings, Burke Davis' "Civil War: Strange and Fascinating Facts" and Philip Van Doren Stern's "Secret Missions of the Civil War".
Not a book, per se............2001-02-05
but a collection of letters, notations, reports and the like from Civil War participants. As a chronicle, it is set up day by day, from 1861-1865, and offers one written piece per day from each side. No doubt it is in places very interesting, but it is not something I wanted to sit down and read through, nor is it something that would give the reader a cohesive sense of what was transpiring in the war on any given day. It is for me, rather, something to read when time is short.
Next best thing to a civil war museum.......2001-01-07
I originally thought this book would be the Civil War equivalent to Stephen Ambrose's Citizen Soldier. The topic is the same (the "common person"'s experiences in the war) but it is a compleatly different format.
This book is a portable archive from the civil war. Instead of being a narrative description of the civil war as seen by "common folk" it allows these charaters to speak for themselves through letters, diaries, and a variety of correspondance. Lots of photos.
I live too far away to visit a Civil war museum - this is the next best thing. You can draw your own inferences and interpretations from the letters and orders. Some are eye openning and show how times have changed; others show how similar these folks were to the 21st century folk.
Book is well worth owning!
Day by day comtemporary flavor of the Civil War.......2000-12-01
I have a few problems with his book, which is a collection of old photographs and sketches and letters, reports and other original source material organized in a day-by-day format and with a short commentary for putting each of the original sources in context. The photographs sketches are very nice and contain some that I hadn't seen before (and some old favorites such as the landscape after Hood blew up his ammunition train when abandoning Atlanta). The source material is good when it deals with the politics and the home front, nicely including Baltimore riots, New York draft riots, currency legislation and Grant's Jew order, banning them from his theater of operations. The lacking part to the book is its treatment of military operations. Major battles are reduced to operations reports or letters home about 2/3 of a page long, there are no maps and the day-by-day format eliminates continuity. One is merely left with account after account of regiments being crushed and (in the commentary) casualty figures without any understanding of why operations occurred where and when they did. Worse, the commentary is full of errors. E.P. Alexander is identified as "Lee's chief of artillery". Lincoln made T.S.C. Lowe chief of army aeronautics after meeting him on June 11, 1963 after which he resigned in May 1963. The Union ironclad Carondelet is identified as wooden-hulled. The Confederate ram Albemarle is said to have "survived the mission, but it was so badly damaged that repairs could not be completed before war's end," on page 404, but then on page 467, we read of the Union raid that destroyed it.
Get this book if you want some contemporary flavor to add while you are reading a good general history of the civil war.
A fine new entry in the Civil War library.......2000-11-30
It's been called the first modern war. Mechanized infantry movements, electronic communication, rifled barrels, ironclad battleships, and submarine warfare were all introduced to the world in the American Civil War. But it was also the first war to be covered in detail by modern media. A rich photographic, journalistic, and personally documented legacy has been left behind by the participants and observers. With The Civil War Chronicle, a detailed historical effort has been made to offer these primary sources to the public in a chronological fashion.
The benefits of offering data this way, along with appropriate commentary, is immediately evident to the Civil War buff. But even those with a passing interest in the drama will find plenty to feast on. Within the book's pages lies a wealth of photos, newspaper stories, letters, and diary entries. The famous and the not so famous alike have gripping, first hand stories which speak across the years to future generations. Many were aware of the historical significance of their times, and took great pains to record events for posterity. Other sources, more partisan in nature, took biased pains in illustrating their case to the detriment of the opposing side.
What I particularly enjoyed was the ease of reading the book proffered. It is very well laid out, with a two column approach that allows neat separation of articles, ideas, and dates. The illustrations chosen are well placed, and everything is broken up into easy to read chunks. In the interest of space and reader attention, the editor chose to cut out certain portions of several articles. I can understand the need for this, but I was left wondering about the omitted parts at times. Such is inevitable for the casual reader; I suppose to get it all I would have to devote the years of research that went into this book.
The Chronicle stretches from November, 1860, when Lincoln won his first election despite the fact he did not win the popular vote (something which is ironically resonant today) to May, 1865 when the New York Times declared, "Peace at last." All told, this is a wonderful book, and J. Matthew Gallman will be greatly appreciated for offering this fine new entry in the line of Civil War literary efforts.
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The Civil War (Letters from the Home Front)
Virginia Schomp
Manufacturer: Benchmark Books (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
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| United States
| History & Historical Fiction
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General
| Ages 4-8
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ASIN: 0761410953 |
Book Description
The Twentieth-Century World and Beyond: An International History Since 1900, Fifth Edition, explores the history of modern relations between the U.S., Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The book's unique analytical framework--which focuses on the relationships between these countries rather than on their individual histories--helps readers to easily examine how the nations of the world have interacted since the beginning of the last century. Extensively revised in this fifth edition, The Twentieth-Century World and Beyond reflects the latest scholarship and also features photographs for the first time--more than fifty throughout the text. The new edition addresses such issues as refugees and stateless persons, human rights, the environment, and the events of September 11, 2001. Updated to include the war on terrorism, military action in Iraq, and the causes and consequences of globalization, this edition also explores the expanding role of nongovernmental organizations, the threat of AIDS to world order, narcotics trafficking, and environmental degradation. Examining a wide range of countries, The Twentieth-Century World and Beyond, Fifth Edition, is ideal for undergraduate and graduate courses in twentieth-century international history, twentieth-century world history, and international relations.
Customer Reviews:
The Twentieth Century World: An International History.......2006-01-12
The Twentieth Century World opens with a prologue that examines international relations at the outset of the twentieth century and sets the stage for the rest of the book. The book's three major sections then examine the period bracketed by the two world wars, which was characterized by German expansionist aspirations and attempts by the other major powers to contain them, the cold war era characterized by superpower rivalry, and the post-cold war era characterized by increasing disorder in international relations.
Author William Keylor is consistently strong in describing how geopolitical forces - geography, demographics, technology, and finance - affect national development and international relations. He shows that political arrangements need to be consistent with the operation of these forces to be successful. But he does not imagine that international relations are determined entirely by objective forces: he recognizes that ideas are important too. For example, because it holds itself out as a model of democracy, the United States is judged by the same ideals that it professes. The ideologies of democracy and national self-determination advanced by the United States have not eliminated its self-interested behavior but they have constrained it. Keylor also recognizes the role of leadership in international relations. For example, he describes how competent and farsighted leadership in many Asian countries has helped produce impressive economic growth over a period of many decades, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and exerting pressure on neighboring countries to adopt similar export-oriented policies.
In fact, I found his explanation of development processes in East Asia to be particularly illuminating. He describes how Japan pioneered a development path based on trade and government coordination of large, oligarchic export companies. Japan first specialized in textiles and other manufactures that relied on cheap labor. By postponing consumption and sustaining a high rate of savings and investment over an extended period of time, the Japanese achieved a comparative advantage in accumulating capital for investment in capital-intensive manufacturing industries. Finally, having developed a cadre of highly qualified scientists, technicians, and engineers, the Japanese became world leaders in high technology industry. This same developmental path was successfully replicated by the Asian Tigers (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong), and is being followed now by the ASEAN countries.
The Twentieth Century World, now in its fourth edition, is suitable for lower-division undergraduate courses and will also be of interest to the general reader. It includes many useful and attractive maps but no footnotes. The book also includes a 23-page critical bibliography, two glossaries, and a detailed, reliable index. Since I finished the book a couple months ago, it has served me as a reference several times.
Probably What You're Looking For.......2003-03-26
The Twentieth-Century World: An International History, by Dr. William R. Keylor, has been recognized as one of the foremost sources for a historical account of the twentieth century by several professors, students, and other applicable parties alike, and for good reason. There are several factors to take into account when determining the merit of such a text, including the tenability of the text, the efficiency of its organization, the cogency of its material, and its physical practicalities in terms of design and dimension, not to mention the price. This text is an assessment, in narrative form of twentieth-century world history which provides comprehensive coverage of affairs related to the United States, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, all of which is up to date as recently as the year two thousand. Dr. Keylor presents the political, diplomatic and military history of the twentieth century while putting an appropriate significance on the effects of economics as well as on the bearing that geopolitics has over a country, both of which are often overlooked. In doing so, this text sheds light on important yet presumably subtle factors that have played important roles in the development of twentieth-century international history. While this account of international relations in the twentieth century is not only concise and depicted with convincing sensibility, Dr. Keylor manages to accomplish this with coherency and clarity, which substantiates a prepossessing flow from page to page. Perhaps one of the most appealing factors of this text is the language, which is straightforward and understandable without diminishing the quality of the material or compromising its effectiveness. In fact, this method likely affords Dr. Keylor to reach a wider audience that ranges from the individual with only an intermediate comprehension, to the educated and experienced history buff. Furthermore, another important element of this text is its ability to cover the history of the twentieth century concisely and clearly, in an intense analytical framework without boring the reader. This fact is among many of the others which separate it from many of its rivals.
Informative.......2003-01-16
A great book for understanding what really shapes foreign policy and for also explaining todays foreign conflicts. Keylour covers everything from WW1 to the present reaching from the US, & Europe to Asia and the Middle East. If you want to know more than what CNN will tell you, check this book out.
"The Book of the Century".......1998-10-04
Dr. Keylor portrays the political, diplomatic and military history of the twentieth century in the most understandable and straightforward language. He shows how history is responsible for what is currently happening around us, and why we should know the causes of the conflicts he writes about. He pays special attention to World War One, the rise of facism, World War Two, the rise of the Cold War, Latin America and the US, Africa, the Cold War in Asia, Israel and the Middle East, the triumph of and expansion of capitalism throughout Latin America and East Asia, the end of the Cold War, arms control and many other topics. The book is a very valuable reference for any student of law, international relations, politics or anyone else who wants to know more about the world that we live in.
Insightful, Didactic and Enjoyable.......1998-05-16
This concrete account of international relations in the twentieth century stands out in its clarity and coherence. And unlike many history books, it's not BORING, perhaps because it offers more than merely a narrative account; it is also set within an analytical framework. My attention was thoroughly held as Professor Keylor imparted his insight into the struggle among the major nations in the world for power, prosperity and prestige. Everything seemed to click into place, and the chapters just flow into one another. As Paul Kennedy said of it: " ...The style is pleasing and extremely lucid, and the emphasis on economic and geopolitical trends is greatly to be welcomed... An excellent synthetic work, and one which can be recommended to students and to interested laymen alike."
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