Book Description
By the end of the Civil War, fatalities from that conflict had far exceeded previous American experience, devastating families and communities alike. As John Neff shows, commemorating the 620,000 lives lost proved to be a persistent obstacle to the hard work of reuniting the nation, as every memorial observation compelled painful recollections of the war.
Neff contends that the significance of the Civil War dead has been largely overlooked and that the literature on the war has so far failed to note how commemorations of the dead provide a means for both expressing lingering animosities and discouraging reconciliation. Commemoration-from private mourning to the often extravagant public remembrances exemplified in cemeteries, monuments, and Memorial Day observances-provided Americans the quintessential forum for engaging the war's meaning.
Additionally, Neff suggests a special significance for the ways in which the commemoration of the dead shaped Northern memory. In his estimation, Northerners were just as active in myth-making after the war. Crafting a "Cause Victorious" myth that was every bit as resonant and powerful as the much better-known "Lost Cause" myth cherished by Southerners, the North asserted through commemorations the existence of a loyal and reunified nation long before it was actually a fact. Neff reveals that as Northerners and Southerners honored their separate dead, they did so in ways that underscore the limits of reconciliation between Union and Confederate veterans, whose mutual animosities lingered for many decades after the end of the war.
Ultimately, Neff argues that the process of reunion and reconciliation that has been so much the focus of recent literature either neglects or dismisses the persistent reluctance of both Northerners and Southerners to "forgive and forget," especially where their war dead were concerned. Despite reunification, the continuing imperative of commemoration reflects a more complex resolution to the war than is even now apparent. His book provides a compelling account of this conflict that marks a major contribution to our understanding of the war and its many meanings.
This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Thomson Gale on August 1, 2006. The length of the article is 569 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Honoring the Civil War Dead: Commemoration and the Problem of Reconciliation.(Book review)
Author: Susan-Mary Grant
Publication:
Journal of Southern History (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 72
Issue: 3
Page: 685(2)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Historian, published by Thomson Gale on June 22, 2006. The length of the article is 448 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Honoring the Civil War Dead: Commemoration and the Problem of Reconciliation.(Book review)
Author: Edward F. Haas
Publication:
The Historian (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 68
Issue: 2
Page: 352(2)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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- Interesting biography of a career soldier
- Appealing to the scholar and the casual reader...
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Hero of Beecher Island: The Life and Military Career of George A. Forsyth
David Dixon
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The Battle of Beecher Island and the Indian War of 1867-1869
ASIN: 0803266057 |
Book Description
George A. Forsyth took a determined stand against Sioux and Cheyenne Indians at the Battle of Beech Island in 1868 and in the process transformed this minor frontier skirmish into a legendary symbol of the American West. This engagement helped mold popular conception of Indian warfare and provided Forsyth with the reputation of being an intrepid Indian fighter like George Custer and Buffalo Bill. Although this image of Forsyth is not necessarily incorrect, it is certainly incomplete.
Forsyth began his military career with the firing on Fort Sumter in 1861. Like many other officers who would subsequently gain distinction in the Indian campaign of the West, he learned the art of warfare in the great battles of the Civil War. His ascendancy through the ranks paralleled the rise of the Union cavalry as an effective combat arm during the war, and his education as a cavalryman came under the watchful eye of Phil Sheridan, one of America's most compelling soldiers. The Forsyth-Sheridan relationship began on the Virginia battlefields and continued until 1881.
During this long period George Forsyth was one of Sheridan's most trusted aides, serving as the general's eyes and ears in countless military missions that took him from the banks of the Yellowstone to the sacred Black Hills and from the bayous of Reconstruction Louisiana to the palaces of Europe and Asia. Forsyth's varied military career was truly reflective of the army's role in the second half of the nineteenth century.
In addition to serving as an instrument of government Indian policy, the army carried out other important missions designed to foster internal development in the United States. These activities included exploring and mapping the remnants of the uncharted West: escorting railroad survey and construction crews and building forts along the major lines of commerce. As a staff officer, George Forsyth played an important part in all of these activities and more. Therefore, while this biography chronicles the life and military career of a remarkable soldier, it also provides fresh insight into the role that the United States Army played during the post-Civil War period.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting biography of a career soldier.......2005-12-18
Although George A. Forsyth participated in 88 engagements as a soldier in the Civil War and later was in many fights with the Indians on the Plains, it was for one encounter with the Cheyenne and Sioux that he is remembered: the Battle of Beecher Island, where he and a small force held off 750 besieging Indians on a small island in the Arickaree Fork of the Republican River in present-day Colorado for six days before help arrived. David Dixon relates this famous battle in full detail, but he also tells us the rest of Forsyth's life, which is pretty full and interesting.
Forsyth was born in 1837 in Pennsylvania and entered the army in the spring of 1861. He rose in rank from private to brigadier general in various cavalry units in the Civil War before being made chief of staff for Gen. Philip Sheridan.
After the war Forsyth was put in charge of an operation against the Cheyenne. It was in September 1868 that he had his famous fight on Beecher Island (named after Lt. Frederick Beecher who was killed there by the Indians). Forsyth was wounded three times. One strategic outcome of the action on Beecher Island was that Sheridan from this time on would utilize only large-scale campaigns against the Indians (Forsyth had been in charge of a small ranger-like force).
Once again on Sheridan's staff, Forsyth was on the 1874 Custer expedition to the Black Hills, during which he kept a diary that was later published. In 1875-76 he was sent by Washington on an inspection tour of various armies in Europe and Asia. In the 1880s he was in the southwest campaigning against the Apaches and commanded Ft. Huachuca, AZ. It was here that Forsyth was court-martialed on money mismanagement charges, found guilty, and formally reprimanded. In 1890 he retired from the army. He authored two books which were published in 1900 and died in Rockport, MA, in 1915.
Dixon is an excellent writer, scholarly but not dry and overly academic. He is obviously impressed with Forsyth's accomplishments, but not to the point of hero-worship. He relates his subject's story in detail, but keeps it interesting. The chapter on the Beecher Island fight unfolds dramatically in Dixon's hands. Those who are interested in army life in the Old West will find much to like about his biography of the "hero of Beecher Island."
Appealing to the scholar and the casual reader... .......2005-01-11
The "hero" in the title of David Dixon's Hero of Beecher Island is George A. Forsyth, an Army officer and Renaissance man who, Zelig-like, seemed to be involved with every matter of import in turn of the century America. Friend of Custer and Bill Cody, enabler of railroad expansion, renowned Indian fighter, shaper of US Army Policy, explorer of Yellowstone, world traveler, enforcer of Reconstruction, and popular author, Dixon paints a picture of a Da Vinci with a Sharps rifle.
There is much information contained within the book about the changing face of the US Army in which Forsyth served and later commanded. Dixon carefully details Forsyth's military experience. We begin to get a sense of what changes were going on in the Army during Forsyth's life. The evolution of the calvary under Forsyth's mentor Phil Sheridan is documented in chapter three "You Have Got A Bully Fight on Hand" (52). Dixon continues delving into this military biographia in chapter four, "I'll Shoot Down Any Man" (61). Although this chapter is mostly about the tense struggle of Beecher Island, the centerpiece of the book, it's what leads Forsyth to Beecher Island that stands as most interesting. Dixon brings out the idea that the railroad and the military were hand in glove in the old West, providing a late twentieth century reader to reflect on similarities between this paradigm of the Old West and the military-industrial complex of the Cold War era. Dixon infers a similar parallel at the beginning of chapter six, "The Armies of Asia and Europe" with the quote that the U.S. Army was, ". . . comparatively unknown, least appreciated, persistently misunderstood, and, for political effect, frequently misrepresented and occasionally even recklessly maligned in our national legislative hall" (122). The parallels to today's military are unmistakable.
In "I'll Shoot Down Any Man," Dixon relates the battle of Beecher Island well, describing Forstyth as an incredibly brave, capable, and stoic commander; the glue that kept his Army irregulars together under withering Indian attack. It's a story as old as the Greeks, but Dixon handles its retelling with a light touch, drawing the reader into the tension filled atmosphere.
Related in chapter eight,"To the Scandal of the Service" (168), Forsyth's fall from grace, brought about by shady business deals, is jarring. Forsyth's character needed to be more fully rounded out before the introduction of his court martial. Up to this chapter, there had been no mention of possible improperties. Indeed, Forsyth had seemed squeaky clean, a devoted father, husband and officer. Worse, there's no discussion of how prevalent economic speculation was in the time period. Questions arise. Was it primarily a military crime? Was it a civilian problem as well? How was it seen in the "elite social classes"(169) that Army officers traveled in as second-class citizens? Dixon attempts to make the claim that Forsyth's head wound, sustained in the Beecher Island battle, had caused an insanity that made him mismanage his money. It seems odd, however, that the only way that this "madness" manifested itself was through bad business sense. Although Dixon writes, ". . . there is little doubt that Forsyth was. . . seriously afflicted with some mental disorder. . ." (186), from the evidence presented, the only mental disorder applicable seems to be greed and poor business sense.
Readers of Beecher Island are expected to have a good knowledge of turn of the century world history before picking up the book. Educated readers will be rewarded. Dixon tells a lucid story that is gripping at points and presented in a traditionally tragic style. Forsyth is portrayed as a great hero whose hubris eventually brings him low. However, a non-historian audience is bound to have problems. The book lacks contextualization of what was going on elsewhere in the world while Forsyth was shaping American culture. There's no sense of connectedness outside the biography, no asides that explain how Forsyth's opinion of the calvary compare to that of the calvary's place in the First World War. There's no sense of contradiction that a man helping to work for racial equality for Blacks in Reconstruction-era Louisiana could also help devise the Army's genocidal Indian policy. Dixon tosses around phrases like "The Burnt-Over District" (99) without defining them for the casual reader. He also has a tendency to not completely explain issues. In the chapter entitled, "The Armies of Asia and Europe," he mentions that Forsyth said that the Japanese army was 20 years ahead of anything in America but fails to explain why Forsyth thought so. (128) And finally, there's not enough convincing evidence to allow madness to explain the shoddy business speculation that brings Forsyth to end his life in shame. True, the book is a biography not a sociological study, but a man who was such a turn stone in such a far-reaching, influential part of American culture like the Old West, needs to be explored further for the non-professional historian.
Dixon accomplishes what he sets out to do in the title: explicating the life and military career of an important man. Perhaps with a different title, signifying a different focus, the book would have appealed to a wider audience. All of Forsyth's exploits are summed up in the words of an unidentified member of Forsyth's Yellowstone expedition. After Forsyth foolhardily attempted to ford a raging river and had to be pulled from it, someone said, "The colonel must have had a charmed life" (140). It is this charmed life, mated with Dixon's attention to detail and capable writing that could produce a Forsyth book that would appeal to both historian and casual reader alike.
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- The biography of one of our greatest Presidents.
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A Puritan in Babylon: The Story of Calvin Coolidge
William Allen White
Manufacturer: Simon Publications
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1931541523 |
Book Description
"Honest, shrewd, sentimental, resolute, American primitive," this is how the author characterizes President Coolidge. The storry of the Coolidge period, a stirring drama, hangs on the undramatis and slight figure of the man who dominated the era, and by his qualities rather than by his words or deeds gave it substance and direction.
Customer Reviews:
The biography of one of our greatest Presidents........2004-06-17
Ok, so Silent Cal was not one of our greatest Presidents. He was a very honest President, who had a very shy personality. White wrote this biography in the thirties, and knew Calvin. Even though White knew Coolidge, criticism is still present in this biography. The most damning was Coolidge not taking action to prevent the build up of credit and speculation in the stock market. All indications are there that he should have limited money at some point, but Coolidge let the market make its own correction. This was one of the reasons why the market went down so fast.
White does a good job of showing how someone like Coolidge (and Harding) rose to the top of the heap. Throughout this book, Coolidge is shown as an honest politician who lived off his salary. He even stayed in boarding houses when he was Governor and Vice President. He was very shy and limited his talking. He asked people to vote for him and they did. He only lost one election, so this shows people trusted him. He worked the political system for his constituents and his beliefs. Although conservative, he backed some very liberal ideas at the time including the vote for women and opposed anti immigration efforts against the Japanese. When he told people what he was going to do, people could trust he would do it. He even made fun of himself and his personality. His personal characteristics were very admirable.
White's biography is a bit dry at times, but the subject comes across in very human terms. The book is divided into four sections, so one can read bits and pieces of that history which may interest the reader. The first one hundred pages was slow going, but it gets better after that. For those interested in a President who governed for six years, this is a good read.
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The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford
William Allen White
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1419153323 |
Book Description
For some months I continued without much change in my monotonous existence. I did not see Mardon often, for I rather dreaded him. I could not resist him, and I shrank from what I saw to be inevitably true when I talked to him. I can hardly say it was cowardice. Those may call it cowardice to whom all associations are nothing, and to whom beliefs are no more than matters of indifferent research; but as for me, Mardon's talk darkened my days and nights. I never could understand the light manner in which people will discuss the gravest questions, such as God, and the immortality of the soul.
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For some months I continued without much change in my monotonous existence. I did not see Mardon often, for I rather dreaded him. I could not resist him, and I shrank from what I saw to be inevitably true when I talked to him. I can hardly say it was cowardice. Those may call it cowardice to whom all associations are nothing, and to whom beliefs are no more than matters of indifferent research; but as for me, Mardon's talk darkened my days and nights. I never could understand the light manner in which people will discuss the gravest questions, such as God, and the immortality of the soul.
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- Victorian Angst
- An amazingly honest and personal account of the Vicorian era
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The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford and Mark Rutherford's Deliverance
William Allen White
Manufacturer: Libris
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1870352009 |
Customer Reviews:
Victorian Angst.......2002-03-31
The 'Autobiography' and 'Deliverance' of 'Mark Rutherford' is a fictionalized autobiography (in two parts) by the Victorian civil servant and writer W. H. White. White wrote to help people with personalities like his own -- self-educated intellectuals, lonely, oversensitive, depressive, and with poor self-esteem. Fortunately, he never descends into self-pity or sermonizing. His writing has long been admired for its extraordinary precision, poignancy and economy. This makes him one of the best of the late Victorian novelists, and a writer who rewards repeated re-reading.
An amazingly honest and personal account of the Vicorian era.......1999-01-04
William H. White (Mark Rutherford) presents a completely honest account of his life in Victorian England. He reveals his struggle to find spiritual security in a world of doubt. At first glance, Rutherford may seem pessimistic, but only at first glance. He endeavors to take a spiritual journey comparable to John Bunyan (who, in fact, shared the same home town as Wm. H. White). Very apt for the modern reader who may find himself struggling with faith in a world of doubt.
Book Description
"Remarkable . . . irresistibly funny." The New Yorker
The true story of a modern Robinson Crusoe and Huckleberry Finn, a homeless man and his erstwhile companion, a dog named Lizbeth, and their unbelievable, funny and poignant adventures on the road and on the streets.
Customer Reviews:
Yes, one of the great memoirs and one of the great memoirists.......2006-02-05
Lars Eighner is a better writer and a better story-teller than most of the people filling books in bookstores and lying on Oprah these days. But those are not the only reasons you should read the book. The primary reason is because, unlike almost anyone else you will meet in public life -- authors, professors, officials, savants, celebrities -- Eighner is an intelligent, honest, humane, authentic and _original_ person. Reading _Travels with Lizbeth_ is like reading _Walden_: there's some kind of mind on the other side of the page, a mind which unlike the ciphers on television is awake and can see things. Including, as he says towards the end of the book, "all the way to the bottom", because he's been to visit more than once while most of the rest of us were pretending it wasn't there. (As the social fabric continues to decay we might want to get to know something about its geography.) I am reminded of Whitman's "Who touches this book touches a man." And a dog as well. Buy, beg, borrow or steal this book. It might wake you up a little. And if you're already awake it'll help you to know that there's someone else out there, across the night.
home is where the dog is.......2004-06-19
Engaging and largely unsentimental account of being one of the itenerant homeless, with the added complication of having a dog. The author does not anthropomorphize Lizbeth which is the best decision he could make. Rather than a heartwarming story straight out of "Touched by An Angel" we get a complex picture of his world: the various hitchhikers, Good Samaritans, petty bureacrats and lost souls who, through reasons besides simple irresponsiblity, happen to find themselves on the streets. Luckily, the chronicle has a happy ending, but it feels earned and not fake.
One of the great memoirs.......2004-03-28
This is one of my favorite memoirs. It reads less like an autobiography than a collection of related short stories, each one witty, poignant, and carefully drawn.
It also serves as bracing lesson, not so much about "homelessness", but about how even an uncommonly intelligent and capable, if somewhat non-standard, person can slip through what's left of our social safety net and end up on the street. As Eighner tells it here, if it weren't for a couple of strokes of random good fortune, he would not have been a position to put a roof over his head again, much less publish this book.
For those wondering what Eighner is up to now, he's still writing. Examples of his recent and not-so-recent work can be found on his website, which can be easily found by putting "Lars Eighner" in a search engine. As for the reviewer who felt cheated because the book did not offer sufficient details of Eighner's sex life, there's a link to Eighner's erotic writing on the site as well -- that ought to satisfy your cruelly frustrated needs.
Really Provides a Different Perspective.......2002-06-15
This book was very interesting. It totally deconstructs dominant ideas that most people have concerning the homeless. Very rich in detail and was a pleasure to read.
Not the Whole Truth.......2000-07-16
This is a mildly amusing but disappointing book about a gay, homeless person. He lives in Austin with his dog, Lizbeth, then hitchhikes to Los Angeles, then hitchhikes back to Austin. There he stays for a few years, living as a bum, and getting his food from dumpsters. He is a dumpster diver.
He's a smart guy, and many of his observations are sharp. He talks about how alcoholism and drug addiction are the scourge of many of his kind, how he manages to feed, bathe, and clothe himself, and where he stays and sleeps. He's fair in his observations; never bitter or resentful towards those who have things.
And he is a man of principle. He will not beg, or steal. He doesn't drink, or do any kind of drugs. He always tries to keep himself clean, and he makes great sacrifices for his dog, whom he loves. The problem is, he is not entirely forthcoming about his sexual life.
For example, during his first hitchhiking excursion to Los Angeles, he tells us of getting a ride just outside of Tuscon, during which he earned "five dollars." To earn this money he had to continue the ride a few miles beyond a truck stop, and he commented that from this he learned that it was always best to hitchhike from a truckstop, rather than several miles beyond it. But how did he earn this five dollars? He doesn't say until much later in the book, when he mentions that he "turned a trick." And this is it.
But what exactly does he mean by this? I guess it doesn't take to much imagination to figure it out, but why doesn't he come out and say so? On this first trip he also gets a ride from Darrell, who turns out to be a cigarette thief. After travelling with this fellow for a while, it becomes clear to him in an unspoken way that Darrell would be willing to accept him as a partner. The author declines, explaining that although he was "attracted to Darrell," the kind of life he was leading was too dangerous. But what does this "attractive" business mean? Was Darrell gay also? Did they have some kind of relationship?
Oh, he talks about his relationships occasionally, but only in an offhand, brief manner. Once he mentions being concerned about the police after enjoying a "noisy threesome" in the park. Another time he mentions missing the encounters he formerly had with men he met in a public restroom since closed.
Believe me, I'm not particularly interested in the lurid details, but here is a guy who is principled in many ways, yet it seems he will engage in sex with just about anybody at anytime; he had done so at least once for money, and he had done so at least once with more than one man. Is this typical? My limited information of the subject tells me that it is, but I really don't know, and the author clearly does not wish to spell this out. Why not?
Therefore, and despite many good qualities, the book is ultimately dishonest, and one leaves it feeling cheated.
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