The Civil War

VOYA - Voya Reviews

This book succeeds for the most part in giving voice to the towering personalities and events of the Civil War, attaching interactive reproductions of period ephemera to various pages in the book. Recruiting posters, letters home, Matthew Brady photographs, and even tickets to the play Lincoln attended the night he was shot bring to life the events and personalities of the war. These objects somehow make the events and personalities of the war seem "more real." Unfortunately the author makes some questionable statements about the war. Union General W. T. Sherman is described as "on the verge of nervous breakdown." Poor blunt-spoken Sherman was relieved from duty in 1861 mainly because his superiors questioned his sanity for publicly stating that it would take three hundred thousand Union soldiers to put down the rebellion. The author states that repeating rifles "never saw action" during the war. While it is true that the War Department never adopted repeating rifles for general use, individual Union regiments did purchase them for their own use. Henry Wirz, the commander of the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia, is said to be the "only Confederate soldier to be executed for his actions during the war." Numerous Confederate soldiers, in fact, were executed during the war for crimes such as desertion, espionage, murder, and rape. Wirz has the dubious honor of being the only Confederate soldier executed after the war, a technical but important distinction. Despite these flaws, however, this beautiful, smoothly written, and mostly even-handed introduction to the Civil War is recommended for middle through high school students. Circulating libraries, however, will have difficultykeeping this book intact; items that give this book its realism are tucked into reproductions of period envelopes or into slots in the doubled pages. Illus. Photos. Maps. Source Notes. VOYA CODES: 3Q 2P M J S (Readable without serious defects; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 1999, Crown, Ages 12 to 18, 32p. PLB $29.95. Reviewer: Tom Pearson

School Library Journal

YA-This volume has three strengths that make it a worthy candidate for many libraries. First and foremost, it offers cleverly presented examples of primary-source material, objects that professional historians work with to piece together the story of our past. Second, the layout is highly appealing. Third, the text is lively and well researched, with intelligently selected content. Budding historians or curious students should be enthralled with not only reading but physically examining such realia as a note penned by John Brown just prior to his execution, a Confederate spy wheel, and tickets to Ford's Theatre on that fateful night. To the author's credit, he does not gloss over the horror and extreme tragedy of the Civil War. This book cannot and does not pretend to stand alone as a history of that tragic episode in America's past. However, it does stand nicely as a supplement to that history, offering the "unstilled voices" of real people who lived during that time. Unfortunately, for some libraries the book's primary strength is also its chief weakness. Many of the historical objects are removable and therefore subject to loss, making this title most suitable for classrooms and teacher collections.-Robert Saunderson, Berkeley Public Library, CA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Kirkus Reviews

This "interactive" package seems a little too cute at first—with pop-up inserts such as an excerpt from the diary of Mary Chestnut or a sweet little tale of Abraham Lincoln warmly greeting his friend Confederate General George Pickett's baby. But in bringing out the voices or all the participants in the Civil War—from Harriet Beecher Stowe in Uncle Tom's Cabin to a note left by John Brown before his execution to soldiers' letters home—this illustrated volume doesn't shy away from the hard stuff: a gruesome photo of a skeletal soldier who had been imprisoned at the notorious Andersonville camp leaves no doubt as to the brutality of the war. Definitely a beginner's introduction to the Civil War, but attractively done.