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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Lots of great info, but a slog to get through. It reads like a textbook.
challenging
informative
medium-paced
informative
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This book was really enlightening about the cultural shifts during the Civil War. And the book was very thorough. But that's also a drawback. The prose was dense, the subject was difficult, and I think it could have been condensed. But overall, the book was very worthwhile and I learned a lot.
informative
medium-paced
The title made me expect a broader social history, but this is a close look at social changes among people of the Confederate army and homefront during four years of war.
In this "second American revolution," as Levine calls it, the toll of warfare gradually drove white Southerners to adopt actions and policies that turned their old plantation social order upside down. Soldiers deserted, enslavers saw their plantation empires fall into ruin, and enslaved people defied stereotypes of the loyal but dim slave. Levine's detailed research debunks the "Black Confederates" myth - arming enslaved men, let alone offering them manumission for military service, was taboo in southern culture. Jefferson Davis' last ditch attempt to enlist Black men required their enslavers' cooperation and did not succeed.
Major military campaigns get some mentions, but just for context. This is not a battlefield book (which I appreciated). Firsthand accounts from soldiers, politicians, plantation owners, and formerly enslaved people paint a vivid picture of the uncertainty and controversy of the Civil War. The epilogue did leave me wanting to know more about Reconstruction, but there are plenty of other books on that topic.
In this "second American revolution," as Levine calls it, the toll of warfare gradually drove white Southerners to adopt actions and policies that turned their old plantation social order upside down. Soldiers deserted, enslavers saw their plantation empires fall into ruin, and enslaved people defied stereotypes of the loyal but dim slave. Levine's detailed research debunks the "Black Confederates" myth - arming enslaved men, let alone offering them manumission for military service, was taboo in southern culture. Jefferson Davis' last ditch attempt to enlist Black men required their enslavers' cooperation and did not succeed.
Major military campaigns get some mentions, but just for context. This is not a battlefield book (which I appreciated). Firsthand accounts from soldiers, politicians, plantation owners, and formerly enslaved people paint a vivid picture of the uncertainty and controversy of the Civil War. The epilogue did leave me wanting to know more about Reconstruction, but there are plenty of other books on that topic.
This was a good look at the way the Civil War impacted the South, with an emphasis on the people and slaves.
It's not really a battle-by-battle book (I was happy about that), but it is largely chronological. It starts with a dominant South keeping its slavery intact against the objections of the North, and then seceding because of fear of what the new Republican party was going to do to them.
Ironically, by seceding, the South gave up all its power. Despite quick battlefield gains, the longer the war went on, the less likely they were to win.
The story is told from letters, speeches and other contemporaneous writing. It's not sympathetic to the slave holder mindset, but it does explain it, and how the rich planters controlled everything, even the poor Whites. Eventually, the emphasis on states' rights kept the Confederacy from acting as a unified body and doomed it outright.
It's not really a battle-by-battle book (I was happy about that), but it is largely chronological. It starts with a dominant South keeping its slavery intact against the objections of the North, and then seceding because of fear of what the new Republican party was going to do to them.
Ironically, by seceding, the South gave up all its power. Despite quick battlefield gains, the longer the war went on, the less likely they were to win.
The story is told from letters, speeches and other contemporaneous writing. It's not sympathetic to the slave holder mindset, but it does explain it, and how the rich planters controlled everything, even the poor Whites. Eventually, the emphasis on states' rights kept the Confederacy from acting as a unified body and doomed it outright.
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced