Amazon.com Review
Call it a
Griffin and Sabine for history buffs--
Chuck Lawliss's
Civil War: Unstilled Voices is an excellent introduction to the War Between the States. Interactive facsimiles of 19th-century documents--a note written by John Brown en route to his execution, a diagram of the
Monitor, a newspaper clipping of Lee's surrender, a pair of tickets to Ford's Theatre for the night of Lincoln's assassination--bring the Civil War to life. Pages from Mary Chesnut's diary, well known to many Civil War buffs, are somehow more impressive when viewed in her original script; while two letters from Isaac Overall, a Union soldier, to his wife, Jane, bring the human toll on the combatants into sharp focus--especially as they are accompanied by a letter from Isaac's cousin, informing Jane that Isaac had died.
Charming as this package is, Lawliss fortunately doesn't stray into cuteness. Indeed, some of the images--of an emaciated soldier held at Andersonville, a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp; of dead soldiers on battlefields--are difficult to view. Yet they, alongside letters, period photographs, and engravings--and even a cipher disk for reading code--are essential for a complete understanding of the conflict. An excellent gift for anyone interested in America's history. --Sunny Delaney
From 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 Reed Business Information, Inc.
