Product Description
Finally, the true story of the War Between the States, in one captivating volume. With more than 530 illustrations, nearly 100 biographical sketches, and his attention-grabbing style, John J. Dwyer has radically transformed the tedious, uninspiring textbook rendering of the Civil War into what it should beAmericas greatest epic.
Respected historians George Grant, J. Steven Wilkins, Douglas Wilson, and Tom Spencer are contributing editors to the "The War Between the States: Americas Uncivil War," and over two dozen of renowned historical artist John Paul Strain's greatest works appear. The book offers 700 action-packed pages of war-time drama that will forever change the way Americans view the Civil War.
This riveting volume of adventure will not only be appreciated by students and history enthusiasts, but the casual reader as well. More than just a monotonous recounting of dates, battles, and names, "The War Between the States" recaptures the passion, the faith, and the courage behind America's most misunderstood era. It does so through the eyes not only of soldiers and politicians, but nurses, spies, inventors, poets, businessmen, mothers, and children. And it explores in depth both the many causes that led to war, and the amazing consequences that ensued following the war.
--B & B Media.
Comprehensive, learned, and beautifully presented. Every family in America--especially ones with school-aged children--should own it and study it."
--Thomas J. DiLorenzo, author of "The Real Lincoln," professor of economics at Loyola College in Maryland.
Judicious, clearly written, suffused with Christian knowledge and understanding.
--William Murchison, Radford Distinguished Professor of Journalism, Baylor University.
A magisterial account.
--Donald W. Livingston, professor of philosophy, Emory University.
A greatly useful work.
--Clyde Wilson, professor of history, the University of South Carolina.
Customer Reviews:
The "real" story.......2007-07-22
By far the best complete history of the civil war. There were so many interesting facts that were never taught in school. The artist also captivated me with such accurate drawings of the people and horses in the battles. Very highly recommended.
The War revisited.......2006-04-07
Finally, a general resource on the American Civil War that is not laden with politically correct, revisionist history. Amazing work!
Book Description
In contrast with most histories of this period, America's Uncivil Wars: The Sixties Era from Elvis to the Fall of Richard Nixon does not treat the 1960s as a single historical moment or as successive waves of activism. Rather, it employs a chronological narrative to identify three distinct phases during which events of the era unfolded. The first began with the cultural ferment of the 1950s and ended with the assassination of John F. Kennedy. During the second phase, from 1964-1968, the "uncivil" wars began in earnest: Americans disagreed about new social and cultural mores, protests against the Vietnam War increased in size and vehemence, and American cities erupted in racial violence. From 1967 through 1968, all of these forces combined to divide Americans more deeply than they had been since the Civil War. In the third phase, Richard Nixon promised to bring Americans together. However, a host of new value and identity movements--environmentalists, consumer advocates, feminists, gay, Latino, and Native American activists--frustrated his design. Only after the Watergate scandals forced this polarizing figure from office did a measure of civility return to the nation's public discourse. America's Uncivil Wars captures the broad sweep of this tumultuous era, analyzing both the cultural and political influences on the movements of the 1960s. Paying particular attention to Latinos, Native Americans, feminism, and gay liberation, it integrates the politics of gender and race into the central political narrative. The book also covers such topics as McCarthyism; the FBI; rock and roll; teen culture in the 1950s; the origins of SDS, SNCC, and YAF; and the environmental and consumer movements. With its engaging narrative style and broad cultural emphasis, America's Uncivil Wars brings a fresh approach to our understanding of not only the 1960s but also U.S. history since 1945.
Customer Reviews:
Why fact-checking matters.......2007-07-07
I cannot in good conscience recommend Mr. Lytle's "America's Uncivil Wars" due to several egregious errors which found their way past his fact-checkers (if any) and made it into print. To cite a few:
1. In citing the impact of the Beatles early in the book, he quotes the lyrics of "She Loves You" as "with a love like that, you know it can't be bad." The actual lyric, of course, is "you know you should be glad." This should be common knowledge among Lytle's (and later) generations; the misquote is puzzling at best.
2. He refers to George McGovern as the Senator from North Dakota. McGovern, of course, was from South Dakota.
3. Late in the book, he cites Lyndon Johnson's attempts to stymie Richard Nixon's "re-election" in 1968. Nixon, of course, was running for election, not re-election.
While taken individually, these mis-statements may appear innocuous. However, since Lytle purports to be writing a comprehensive overview of a contentious era in our history, a little more attention to the facts might have been in order.
The balance of the book, while a reasonably pleasant read, covers ground that has been covered in far greater detail and analysis by myriad writers such as Todd Gitlin, Stephen Ambrose, Tom Wicker, Woodward & Bernstein, and others. Readers interested in a more probing analysis of this period of our history are advised to seek out their works.
Most Balanced Account of the 60s Yet.......2006-10-21
This is the most balanced account of the 60s I've ever read. Too many authors are caught up in their own experience or continue to fight the battles of the era. America's Uncivil Wars recognizes that the 60s were more a generational experience than a discrete period of time. I fully agree with the division into three periods from 56-64, 64-68, and 68 through Watergate. A driving sense of narrative moves the book from event to event and brings to life the wide range of personalities who gave the 60s their flavor. The background material on the 50s and the growing attacks on consensus culture are rich and engagingly told. And no other book I've read gives such prominence to feminists, the Red and Brown Power movements, environmentalism, and Gay Rights. Conservative student and political movements get their due as well. My only regret is that the book, like the 60s, had to end because this is a good read.
Our Turbulent Years & Their Aftermath........2005-12-29
This was a most interesting book for me, as I must have slept through the Sixties; I remember the Fifties part and the happenings of the Seventies, when former President Richard Nixon was disgraced. He covers the times from 1954 (an important time in my history) to 1973 with the social, cultural and political upheavals. First came rock'n'roll which, he says, instigated teenage rebellion; I detested that 'junk,' as 'pop music' was a part of my young life -- the most important, I guess. Knoxville was not big on rock and roll, as it is primarily steeped in hillbilly and country. We've always been naturally musical here, but in a different way from the rest of the country.
This book gives us a journey back in memory to that unsettled era when parts of America were tearing itself apart. I'm glad I lived in a small town further South during the civil unrest which shook the country, and I honestly don't remember the atomic bomb protests of the late '50s. During the turbulent times of the '60s, Woodstock and the drug culture were not a part of my existence -- a vague memory of reading about it only. At our junior college, there were no protestors of the VietNam War; my neighbors (two old ladies) would tell me about the Vietnamese setting themselves on fire as a protest, which they saw on television. It was a time when "political activists mobilized vast numbers of dissidents against the war," as some are trying to do now with the lingering Iraq War.
At Kent State (only a photo in the news to me), there was campus unrest which resulted in an innocent person being shot and killed by the police. He gave bad descriptions of William Buckley (I admit, he is hard to take at times!) and Joseph McCarthy. McCarthyism was a part of life in 1950 and on past the death of its instigator. Extremist groups were around then, as they are now. The Watergate scandal was President Nixon's undoing, when he went on the defensive. "Only in the aftermath of Watergate, did the uncivil wars ... end." The late Jack White, a 'Time' magazine columnist, won the Pulitzer Prize for his exposure of Richard Nixom's underpayment of his income taxes. His 1973 story prompted the president (who paid more than four hundred thousand dollars in back taxes) to utter his famous remark, "I am not a crook." I remember vividly in 1973 when he was almost impeached, like another U.S. President Bill Clinton, and resigned under pressure.
Mark H. Lytle, history professor at Bard College, has also written AFTER THE FACT: THE ART OF HISTORICAL DETECTION and NATION OF NATIONS: A NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC.
Terrible.......2005-10-15
Lets say you were reading a book on the mafia, written by John Gotti, or perhaps some lesser-known mobster. And there was nothing but glowing accolades for the mob and it's activities. Furthermore, anyone who opposed the mafia and it's activities was labeled an "extremist" and in the text, their names were never more than about 4 or 5 words away from words like "Ku Klux Klan," "racist," "bigoted," or "paranoid," you'd begin to suspect that the book was a bit biased, wouldn't you?
"Americas Uncivil Wars" is a book written by Mark Lytle, a professor at Bard College. He documents events in American History, in this book, from the 1950's to about 1975. Practically every time a genuine conservative individual, or organization is mentioned in this book, it is associated to a racist organization, whenever Mr. Lytle doesn't add his own commentary. For example, on page 22, he says Joseph McCarthy revealed himself as a "mean-spirited slob." This is a far cry from the McCarthy I know, the McCarthy who wrote the brilliant "Americas Retreat from Victory" for example. And forget about anything good mentioned about the John Birch Society. Page 138: "Most Americans ignored the hooded Klansmen, the John Birchers, and other extremists..." never mind the fact that JBS is not and never was a racist or an extremist organization. But here is their name, sandwiched between the KKK and "extremist."
It is a typical tactic of the left to associate the opposition with the "stench of racism" as Stalin may have put it (I don't remember his exact quote). But you might ask, what about on page 89 where he refers glowingly to William F. Buckley as "the cornerstone of the anti-communist wing of conservatism...?" Keep in mind that this is the same Buckley who years later, in Lingua Franca magazine, confessed that he would be a "Mike Harrington Socialist" or a "Communist" if he were college brat today.
Now on the other hand, try to find anywhere in this book, the words "murderer," or even "extremist" in front of names like Mao Tse Tung, or Che Guevara or Tom Hayden, to name a few. There is a good reason for that, but I will leave it to your imagination, the reason why.
In summary, should you decide to read this book, take it with a grain of salt, or better yet some motion-sickness pills because unless you are prone to the same convictions as our professor Lytle is, you're going to need a barf-bag.
Book Description
The June 1999 enty of NATO troops was hailed as the "Liberation of Kosovo" by the Western media -- most of whom promptly packed up and headed home from the Balkans.
The declaration of victory was naive and premature given the Alliance's stated objectives of deposing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and creating a safe, multi-ethnic environment in Kosovo.
Rather than ending the civil strife, NATO's intervention set in motion a series of events which would have violent repercussions throughout Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia over the next two years. This book, consisting primarily of Scott Taylor's first-hand observations and interviews with the people and players, is a very personal account of war and its aftermath in Serbia and Macedonia.
Customer Reviews:
A vital and eye-opening view into the Macedonian war.......2004-03-05
Although Macedonia's 2001 mini-war attracted great attention from the international media, real independent reporting was rare. Most the Western journalists were informed by other Western officials, spent a disproportionate amount of time at Skopje's luxurious Alexandar Palace Hotel, or mysteriously turned up in various rebel-held villages. Before the war even began, in fact, British reporters were filing stories from border villages where uniformed Albanians were gathering- at a time when they allegedly had no uniforms or clear leadership.
And then there was Scott Taylor. Ever dropping in unannounced, deadpanning his way through security checkpoints, hotel lobbies, armed insurrectionists and officials who don't speak English, Taylor draws on his military background and fearlessness to get a good view of some of the most interesting places of the war- most of them otherwise unreported.
...Diary of an Uncivil War is thus not only a good read- brisk, straight-up and comic in places- but also a real contribution to the primary source material on the Macedonian War, and as such it will become only more valuable with the passage of time for historians interested in researching the events of 2001. For those interested in the subject of Islamic terrorism in the Balkans, Taylor also provides an extremely detailed epilogue of sorts, chronicling terrorist presences in Macedonia, Bosnia, Kosovo and Albania.
The remainder of this review, as well as interviews with the author, Scott Taylor can be found here: www.balkanalysis.com
what happened next ?.......2002-06-04
finally someone waited to see what would happen after the nato attacks on serbia, and that was scott taylor. from the ousting of mr. molosevic, to his arrest, to captured territory of southern serbia by albanian(uck) terrorist, to finally civil or uncivil war in the republic of macedonia. where is nato now when the people they supported in kosovo are now causing upheavel in this small european democracy. after taking in upto a quarter of a million refugees, nato decided that the thanks it would give mecedonia was to arm these same people and to help further the cause of the terrorist albanian army uck. the book is so current it even has questions of al quaida and the u.s on the same side in macedonia helping albanians just before 9/11. interesting!!!???
What price the truth.......2002-04-30
Scott Taylor is a respected Canadian journalist, and a former soldier. He is editor and publisher of "Esprit de Corps". He has a special interest in the Balkans, and has written several previous books detailing his involvement and the involvement of Canadian forces there.
Scott write objectively, and factually. His books are both interesting and very easy to read. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy and honesty of this author. He is clearly biased in his own personal opinions, being a strong supporter of Serbs, Macedonians, etc. and openly critical if not hostile towards the actions and objectives of the UCK (KLA).
Scott is somewhat uniquely placed to report on events from both sides, being trusted by the one side because of his earlier writings, and by the other because of his Canadian nationality, which automatically leads the UCK to presume that he supports their cause.
This book is largely concerned with the incursion of the UCK into Macedonia, and the conflict that ensued, and continues to this day. It documents in detail the complexity the Macedonian government faced in responding to acts of terrorism on their own soil, while seeking to avoid at all costs offending NATO for fear of suffering Serbia's fate. It documents the extensive support, weaponry, and military assistance given to the UCK by the US, and the degree to which this support and encouragement hampered the Macedonians government's ability to respond effectively to a terrorist insurrection/armed invasion from Kosovo.
For those interested in the Balkans, terrorism, politics, or the involvement of the US in the conflict in Macedonia, as well as for those merely wishing to get a more balanced overall picture of the complexity of the various conflicts in the Balkans this book is well worth reading.
Book Description
Uncivil War is a provocative study of the intellectuals who confronted the loss of France's most prized overseas possession: colonial Algeria. Tracing the intellectual history of one of the most violent and pivotal wars of European decolonization, James D. Le Sueur illustrates how key figures such as Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Germaine Tillion, Jacques Soustelle, Raymond Aron, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Albert Memmi, Frantz Fanon, Mouloud Feraoun, Jean Amrouche, and Pierre Bourdieu agonized over the "Algerian question." As Le Sueur argues, these individuals and others forged new notions of the nation and nationalism, giving rise to a politics of identity that continues to influence debate around the world. This edition features an important new chapter on the intellectual responses to the recent torture debates in France, the civil war in Algeria, and terrorism since September 11. James D. Le Sueur is an associate professor of history at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is the editor of Mouloud Feraoun's Journal, 1955-1962: Reflections on the French-Algerian War (available in a Bison Books edition) and The Decolonization Reader and The Decolonization Sourcebook. He contributed new material to Ben Abro's Assassination! July 14 and Henri Alleg's The Question, both available in Bison Books editions.
Customer Reviews:
GREAT INTELLECTUAL READ!.......2001-05-30
This book is based, in large part, on private and never before seen archives of key public intellectuals during the decolonization of Algeria. Scholars who focus on decoloniztion and post-colonial studies will find this work provocative and enlightening, with far-reaching implications for today's world. Some notable characteristics of the book include the following: this is the first book to really look at conversations between French and Algerian intellectuals during decolonization; also, Pierre Bourdieu wrote a very moving forward about his relationship with Mouloud Feraoun before Feraoun was assassinated by the OAS; the chapter on Camus is fascinating and relies largely on his private papers; Le Sueur's critical analysis of the concept of the "Other" and its use by various intellectuals provides a refreshing and critical perspective. This book makes a unique contribution to fields of study such as history, anthropology, sociology, post-colonial studies, education, cultural studies, decolonization studies, and African studies. It's definitely a great read!
Book Description
No other Reconstruction state government was as chaotic or violent as Louisiana's, located in New Orleans, the largest southern city at the time. James K. Hogue explains the unique confluence of demographics, geography, and wartime events that made New Orleans an epicenter in the upheaval of Reconstruction politics and a critical battleground in the struggle for the future of southern society. Hogue characterizes Reconstruction as a continuation of civil war, waged between well-organized and well-armed forces vying to control internal governments. He details five key New Orleans street battles, in which elite Confederate veterans played central roles, and gives an in-depth account of how the Republican state government raised militias and a state police force to defend against the violence. In response, a white supremacist movement arose in the mid-1870s and finally overthrew the Republicans. The occupation of Louisiana by federal troops from 1862 to 1877 was the longest of its kind in American history. Not coincidentally, Hogue argues, one of the longest unbroken periods of one-race, one-party dominance in American history followed, lasting until 1972.
Uncivil War reveals that the long-term military impact of the South's occupation included twenty-five years of crippled War Department budgets inflicted by southern congressmen who feared another Reconstruction. Within Louisiana, the biracial Republican militias were dismantled, leaving blacks largely unarmed against future atrocities; at the same time, the nucleus of the state's White Leagues became the Louisiana National Guard, which defended the Redeemer government's repressive labor policies. White supremacist victory cast its shadow over American race relations for almost a century. Moving between national, state, and local realms, Uncivil War demystifies the interplay of force and politics during a complex period of American history. AUTHOR BIO: James K. Hogue is an associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Book Description
A list of the most well-known scholars in the field to look at the peacekeeping efforts of the United Nations during the present decade.
Book Description
Uncivil Wars shows what happens when the new racial orthodoxy collides with tolerance and free speech and what the implications of this conflict are for American education and culture.
Customer Reviews:
self-promoting book misses the mark.......2007-03-21
Much of the book is about Horowitz's tour, and his ongoing war with "tenured radicals" -- left wing academics. But most leftists are not academics, relatively few academics are leftists and the expansion of part-timers in academy means many are not tenured. The book tends to engage in distortions of the views of some of the people who he attacks. The book is a bit repetitive as the argument doesn't seem to get beyond the 10 arguments that were published in Horowitz's advertisement used for his tour.
Horowitz never rally addresses the data that shows vast differences between white and black in things like wealth, homeownership, unemployment rate, income levels, or likelihood of prosecution and imprisonment for the same crime.
Horowitz points out that much of the south's economy was destroyed in the civil war, a fourth of the white male population of military age were killed, so, he says, the south paid the price for slavery. but the slaves were not directly compensated. it is a well-accepted legal principle that if some people make profits from a criminal enterprise, their profits should be confiscated to re-imburse the victims. Slavery was a criminal enterprise, so it should have followed that the land and other property derived by the planter class and southern corporations from profits from slavery should have been transferred to the freed slaves at the end of the civil war. This didn't happen. The freed slaves were able to be forced into virtual bondage again due to being destitute after the civil war. The 850,000 acres of abandoned or confiscated land held by the Freedmen's Bureau was supposed to be transferred to the freed slaves, but the administration of Andrew Johnson sold it off to capitalist investors. This was why the Radical Republicans in Congress tried to impeach Johnson. Lack of inherited assets such as land affected the fortunes of subsequent generations of slave descendants. This obligation to do what is right doesn't end just because of that failure at the end of the civil war. The current value of that land and capital would be in the hundreds of billons today.
Horowitz argues that the various welfare and affirmative action programs of the Great Society era transferred "trillions" to African-Americans but provides no supporting data for this. In reality the great majority of beneficiaries of all welfare programs have been, and continue to be, poor white folks.
Horowtiz tries to portray the issue as one of personal "guilt" but it is a question of the institutional obligations of the society, and of the American federal state, due to the damages of a huge criminal enterprise the country was founded on. Horowitz says that a majority of African-Americans today are "middle class." This is not true. According to polls, 71% of African-Americans describe themselves as "working class." As I said, Horowitz is unwilling to address the actual current circumstances of the African-American population.
Horowitz asserts, correctly, that slavery in Africa existed before the transport of slaves to the Western Hemisphere, and that some Africans profited from this trade. But this ignores the fact that the argument is about the profits created in the USA for economic elites during the period of slavery and the subsequent period of depressed black incomes in the south due to things like klan violence and lack of civil rights and debt peonage. It was the profiting off of slavery and its aftermath in the USA that bears upon the obligations of the government of the USA and American society. The role of some Africans in the slave trade is not relevant to that.
It's true that many people have immigrated to the USA since the abolition of slavery but it is an accepted principle that people who migrate here are not exempt from the country's obligations. A person who migrates here cannot get out of paying taxes to pay on the national debt by saying those debts were taken out before he or she arrived. It is true that many white people fought to liberate the slaves in the 19th century -- my own ancestors include white Christian abolitionists -- but that still doesn't address the economic issue of profiting off of slavery and off of forms of oppression that suppress the share of the product of their labor received by African-Americans. Of course, it is still a legitimate issue of how to own up to this obligation.
Honest engagement.......2006-02-09
IF you desire a way to look into the slave reparations issue, this is the only work, besides online scholarly and honest blogging, that will give anyone that is for or against it a hardline approach that cannot easily be ignored. It dispells the myths of what victimhnood is really defined as and calls all Americans of all colors and stripes to ignore the social engineerists that would control your life and tell you that you are a victim because of your current dna structure and skin color. There are only a small handful of times in history where slavery was even thought of as evil, and the American Unionist abolitionist movement was obviously the most successful, no matter what Joseph Ellis or Zinn say--it worked! There have been sins in America, but we all need to look to history and we will see that we have been the pinnacle of light that that has instituted feedoms that have bridged the gulf of history and have gone places with it that no ancient could ever have dreamed of. This book provides an honest, intellectual insight into the reasons why reparations only serve to hurt the African-American populus rather than lift them higher. It is a ploy to ensure their status as victims so that the coffers of liberal PACs may continue to be filled and the race card can be politically played as an offense of political war to preserve power. For further reading on past military leaders who've fought slavery, read The Soul of Battle, by Vitor Davis Hanson. Horowitz is known by his followers and share his path, but for those whose political power is threatened or those emotionally brainwashed under such demagogues, this book will invoke rage. A great work!!!
An engaging read.......2004-12-03
David Horowitz takes on a subject charged with emotion, as most race related subjects are, and does a very credible, factual job of arguing why we should not pay reparations.
I agree with many of the other reviewer here, however, in expresing my digust of our nations institutions of "higher learning." Should any minority receive the reception that Horowitz got at these schools, there would have been an immediate cry of racism. The fact that Horowitz is white and is arguing, factually, against a subject that the liberal elite have embraced, only ensures that his reception anywhere liberals hold sway would be uncivil, to say the least.
This book also illustrates another point I've read elsewhere...the point that, in general, conservatives argue logically, with facts that can be researched and supported, while liberals argue with emotion and name calling, especially of the "racist/sexist/fascist" variety.
Read this book, it's definately worth your time!
An Acheivement of Personal Courage under Rethoric Fire .......2004-09-09
Mr. Horowitz's commentary, " Uncivil Wars" is a very hard and open look at what may seem either wrong or right, depending on what sidelines of the political arena you may fall in. In it's own right, away from the emotional squabbles of the Race Issue, one that steps out of the box should ask the simple question as to who would be deemed as written to recieve these reperations and where would the money come from? If it came from the Tax-payers, then that would mean a good portion of America's money would go into a contraversial law suit with an origin that can be found so far in the past that most people who were directly related to the issue of Slavery are either dead or have been put to justice. < and their have been recent cold cases involving murders during the 60's that would attribute to this>
Now, having said that, although History recognizes the terrible crimes of slavery, it would be a stain upon the black community for putting a set price on the issue because then you are implying that your willing to walk away quiet at a price, a price which past civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King had died and fought so strongly for equal rights, without peddling for dollars and change --- because the fight cannot have a price placed upon it. It was a human tragety. It was a fight for man to be seen as equal in the eyes of the very nation he lived in -- as well as women. Are we as human beings, to measure inhumanity by a dollar ammount --- will it even fix the problem?
This is a very good book, very short yet to the point, and advise people who are intressted to read the other books that this author has written, and yes, it is true --- The facts in this book are presented on both sides, and it is up to you to decide. Its how a political book should be.
Thank God for David Horowiz!.......2004-07-29
Who else would tackle this subject? If you've ever found yourself under siege from people who advocate for reparations, you will be profoundly thankful that you have a copy of Uncivil Wars around. Horowitz got people talking about this subject and, I believe, he has helped render this terribly unfair proposal unviable today. The cogent point is that everybody, no matter who they are, should be grateful that they found their way to these shores. The majority of black Americans are now middle class and making it in this country. The last thing we need to do is practice reverse racism procedures like reparations. A great quote from John McWhorter summed it up for me, as he said, lowering the bar never helped anyone. Damn strait! Blacks can, and are, making it in this wonderful country.
Book Description
Amidst the tension and drama of a war that pits brother against brother and father against son, the dark side of men and women can reach a boiling point. Here are stories of betrayal, murder and malevolence in a world already marked by besieged honor, drenched in blood and death. These stories masterfully conjure up the sights, sounds and smells of a lost era and therein spin tales of terror and treachery such as "Blossoms and Blood," "The Cobblestones of Saratoga Street," and "A Woman's Touch." This chilling collection is perfect for those who like a little suspense with their history.
Customer Reviews:
The title of this anthology sets the pace for this ingenius.......2004-03-18
work of literary art. It is what caught my attention and it did not let me down. Each and every story brings the reader into the heart of the the civil war battlegrounds.In a sense it is about coping with the 'uncivility' of a situation that was indeed difficult for the people living through it. Then again some lived through it and some did not; but all those who died were not victims of battle.
It would be hard to pick a favorite from among the sixteen contributing authors; many of whom wrote specifically for this anthology. The theme that comes through is that through the hazy smoke of battle; through the enigma of brother against brother; through the blood that is spilled and the lives wasted...behind all this people continue to lead their lives in a most 'uncivil' manner in order to attain their immediate goals. The war is just a blur in the distance as they continue with their mundane lives; and do unto others what they would not want done to themselves.
If you want to lose yourself in a fantastic world; if you want to be shocked and amazed; entertained and enlightened; pick this one up by the editor of a thousand anthologies,
Martin H. Greenberg!
Customer Reviews:
Opens a New Aspect of the Civil War.......2005-03-25
At the end of the Civil War Grant was critized for having given Lee surrender terms that were far less harsh than the people of the Union felt should have been imposed.
Grant, however, was afraid that Lee would disperse his army to continue the war as a guerrilla army. It may be that he also wanted to save something of the union rather than creating unending hatred on the part of the south.
During the war the South had created several of what would now be called irregular forces. The varied from the Gray Ghost, John Mosby in Virginia to Fortest and Morgan in Kentucky/Tennessee, to a range of groups in Arkansas/Missouri that included William Quantrill, Frank and Jesse James, Cole Younger and others that were little more than bandits.
The Union was able to defeat these units, but only at great cost in people, money, and equipment. Building a blockhouse to defend every railroad bridge is a major effort. (The Union blockhouses looked a great deal like the blockhouses used by the British to defeat the Boors in South Africa forty years later.)
This book brings this new story to the accumulated literature of the Civil War in an organized and complete manner that hasn't been done before. This is an area of the war that can no longer be neglected in our histories.
Strong Recommendation, Interesting perspective on Irregular .......2005-02-17
The book is focused on irregular war in the upper South during the period 1862 to 1865 it is a scholarly work that is based on primary source documents from the official records of the National Archive and provides a clarity and understanding that dispels current myths.
The author begins his work by explaining the differences between partisan war, guerrilla war and raiding and he sets this stage by explaining the historical theory and practice of the time. Although it may appear that this definitional distinction is semantics, it is not and the 3 types of warfare are distinct. The author uses Jomini as the basis for defining these types of operations. This author takes his analysis another step by placing the definitions and doctrine within the context of the time and does not compare it with modern notions. This is an important aspect of methodology in which he rests both his thesis and the book. This author places both the success and failure of irregular war during the civil war into context within the period. Lastly, "Contrary to many historians he argues that the confederacy overtly organized and fought an irregular war and lost....that this unconventional war existed not as a separate conflict from the conventional conflict but formed and integral part of the overall war strategy" (from page 21 of the book)
In order to get a better understanding of this thesis and theory it would be extremely beneficial if one obtained the book "Compound Warfare That Fatal Knot". This is a product of the US Army War Command and General Staff College and you can download this from there web site in a pdf format or order this online from the US Government Printing Office.
This book is a valuable contribution to understanding the important lessons learned in counter-insurgency. At times the book is slow, but, all in all it is a good book and warrants serious consideration by any student of warfare. I strongly recommend this book
A war in the shadows ..........2004-12-26
The Upper South--Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Arkansas--was the scene of the most destructive war ever fought in the Western hemisphere. It included, among even more bloody encounters such as Gettysburg and Antietam, the battles of Manassas, Shiloh, Perryville, and Pea Ridge.
In The Uncivil War, Robert Mackey writes a dissertation about the unconventional warfare in the Upper South during the American Civil War. He points out that, alongside conventional warfare, where soldiers confronted one another in opposing lines of battle, there existed a "shadow war" employing irregular strategies--hit-and-run, behind-the-lines, create-havoc-and-confusion "guerrilla" attacks.
Examining the entire spectrum of irregular warfare during the Civil War: Mackey makes a distinction between three types of tactics: guerrilla (or people's war), partisan warfare, and raiding warfare. His thesis is that, whereas such maneuvers had limited success, they were ultimately unsuccessful, and often counterproductive, in their results.
Contrary to many historians, Mackey argues that the Confederacy overtly organized and fought an irregular conflict but lost. Also in contrast to previous scholars, he argues that this unconventional war existed not as a separate conflict from the conventional conflict but as an integral but subordinate part of the overall Confederate conduct of the war.
Mackey zeroes in on such leaders as Thomas C. Hindman in Arkansas, John Singleton Mosby in Virginia, John Hunt Morgan in Kentucky (and also in Tennessee, Indiana, and Ohio), and Nathan Bedford Forrest in Tennessee."
In his description of Mosby, "the Gray Ghost of the Confederacy," Mackey writes, "Mosby was larger than life, a monster that would spring out of the darkness to attack isolated outposts and sentries and steal horses, supplies, and weapons, before fading back into the countryside."
One should remember that such encounters were often bloody and fatal; all was not swashbuckling adventure, fun and games. "War loses a great deal of romance," said Mosby, "after a soldier has seen his first battle."
Nathan Bedford Forrest (who, by the way, was born in Chapel Hill, Tenn.) was so elusive and persistent in his attack-and-destroy tactics, that the Union Army referred to him as "that devil Forrest." When asked was the secret of military success, Forrest replied, "War means killing, and the way to kill is to get there first with the most men."
Whereas most of the books written about the Civil War deal with conventional warfare fought by "regular" forces, The Uncivil War brings a fascinating perspective on "the war fought in the shadows." Mackey shows why such irregular warfare, while often annoying and sometimes highly disruptive and destructive, was ultimately a failure.
Major Robert R. Mackey, Ph.D., is a career Army officer currently working as a Strategic Plans and Policy specialist at the Pentagon. A graduate of Arkansas State University and Texas A&M University, he is a decorated veteran of Panama, Desert Storm, and Iraqi Freedom, and he taught military history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He is a member of the Society for Military History, the Southern Historical Society, and is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and Staff College and the School of Advanced Military Studies. He devotes his free time to volunteer work at the Manassas National Battlefield and Civil War reenactments portraying a soldier of the 5th New York Infantry, "Duryee's Zouaves." His dissertation, from which The Uncivil War developed, was the top-selling dissertation in the U.S. for 2002.
Roy E. Perry may be reached at rperry1778@aol.com
Average customer rating:
- expect to become involved
- Antidote to anti-abortion rhetoric and acts
|
There is a bomb in Gilead: Tale from an uncivil war
William F Harrison
Manufacturer: M & M Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
 General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Classics
| Comic
| Contemporary
| Literary
ASIN: 0943099234 |
Customer Reviews:
expect to become involved.......2006-03-16
This book literally changed my perspective on the abortion issue. While there is never an easy choice for an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy, Harrison gives us a clear picture of what it would be like if there were no choice left to women who found themselves in one. This is no easy read, however, I believe every person in America, given our current political climate, should read this book. It is sometimes ugly, sometimes poingant, sometimes sad, sometimes beautiful, but always provacative. I can not recommend it highly enough.
Antidote to anti-abortion rhetoric and acts.......2005-05-20
This book is a good antidote to the anti-abortion violence in the U.S. It is the fictional tale of individuals and families in a small town, Gilead, during the height of the pro-life vs. pro-choice war in America.
The author, an obstetrician, wrote his book in response to the false and misleading book by Bernard Nathanson, The Hand of God. After viewing Nathanson's 30 minute pro-life video, the Silent Scream, at the request of a friend, Harrison wrote that it was an "astonishing mix of half truth, distortion, diabolically clever deception and outright lies."
This book should make one think twice about hateful rhetoric which has led to murder.
Pro-lifers have some good points--chief among them that doctors offer insufficient counseling on the emotional effects of abortion.
On the other hand, a woman's body is her own.
Furthermore, how could it be anything but immoral and criminal to take the lives of those performing, assisting or contemplating abortion.
This novel will makes readers think twice, whatever side they may stand on in this national debate.
--Alyssa A. Lappen
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