Don't Hurry Me Down to Hades
The Civil War in the Words of Those Who Lived It
-
- $9.99
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
Acclaimed Civil War historian Susannah Ural brings a unique and fresh insight into the war, delving into the historical archives, in particular the untapped resources of the Gilder Lehrmann Institute. Her consummate narrative draws together these different personal recollections to create a textured, detailed portrait of a nation at war with itself. This unique examination of the Civil War looks at the desperate battles and the wider experiences wrought by the horrors of the conflict through excerpts from letters and diaries of soldiers on the frontlines, commanders on the eve of battle, anxious families at home, ordinary and famous men and women and slave and free. These first-hand accounts invite readers to set aside assumptions and learn about the divisions and range of opinions on both sides of the contest.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This well-researched venture reveals the human side of the Civil War through correspondence and documents from the period. Ural, associate professor of history at the University of Southern Mississippi, takes us chronologically through the war in its participants' own words; soldiers and civilians alike. Emancipation is dealt with early on with the fair assessment that nearly no one at the time would admit that this issue was the true cause. Elsewhere, amid the claims and counterclaims of heroism at the Battle of Shiloh, there are musings of soldiers about everything from shooting other men to dreams of pie and the difficulties of parents on the home front having to blame a poor Christmas on the fact that "Santaclause had gone to war." Ural does an admirable job of mixing items, such as Lincoln's struggle with balancing politics, his feelings on slavery to the strong human-interest story of the era: the search for the family of the nameless soldier who turned out to be Amos Humiston. Ural's fine combination of military history and personal saga uses original documents to excellent effect. Photos.