Customer Reviews

Charleston at War

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In Charleston, veteran professional tour guide Jack Thomson has long been known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the city during the gruesome chaos which was the Civil War. In this stunning new book of before-and-after pictures, he reveals his other area of expertise: that of the consummate photographic historian. His vast knowledge of the Civil War photographer's craft led me to seek out his expertise when trying to date the many photographs in my recent Civil war book, "MARY'S WORLD: Love, War, and Family Ties in Nineteenth-century Charleston." Because of the thousands of images Thomson has studied (not to mention his extensive knowledge of Confederate military uniforms), he was not only able to accurately date most of my photographs, but was even able to tell me in which photographer's studio several were taken. Beyond that, the advanced techniques he perfected to date old photographs by the size and angle of the sun's shadows was nothing less than amazing. "Charleston At War: The Photographic Record, 1860-1865," sets the high-water mark for photographic studies of Civil War Charleston. It will be a priceless addition to any photographic, Charleston, or Civil War reference collection.

I am a native Charlstonian and have known Jack Thomson for more years than I can remember and have always been amazed by his knowledge of Charleston and the Civil War. When he gives his Civil War walks thorough Charleston he takes along some of the many photos he has in his collection to show what the areas looked like during and after the Civil War. He has literally hundreds of photos in his collection from the National Archives, Library of Congress and other sources that he sorted through for use in this book. I actually helped in shooting and shot many of the "today" photos and it is amazing how little some areas have changed since the "before" photos were taken in the 1800's.This book is a gold mine of information for anyone wanting to learn more about Charleston's past, not only from the prospective of someone interested in the Civil War but also for the buldings and historical landmarks than still exist to day over 100 years after the photographers shot the "before" photos.