Classic Civil War Stories: Twenty Extraordinary Tales of the North and South [Paperback]

Lisa Purcell (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Classic | Publication Date: September 1, 2004

A moving collection of wartime stories from the battlefield and the home front.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Civil War has captured the American imagination like none other in history. Between the first shots fired at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, to Lee’s surrender at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, the nation was irrevocably changed, as were the lives of the soldiers and civilians who lived through the conflict. This collection of stories examines a few of those lives, focusing on personal experiences. How did it feel to be a soldier facing enemy fire while friends dropped beside you? How did one live with the decision to take up arms against a neighbor, a brother, a father? What was life like for the widow trying to protect her plantation while Northern troops marched across her land? Some of the stories are factual, others are fiction. Some were published before the war had ended and others more than half a century later, but all bring to life the experience of the common person coping with a devastating conflict.

With contributions from:

Ambrose Bierce • Louisa May Alcott • Stephen Crane
Thomas Nelson Page • Dolly Sumner Lunt • Randall Parrish
Phoebe Yates Pember • George Washington Cable
S. Emma E. Edmonds • Mark Twain • Mary Ann Loughborough
G. A. Henty • John McElroy • Joseph A. Altsheler
John Fox, Jr. • and others

About the Author

LISA PURCELL extensively studied Civil War literature as a doctoral candidate in American History at Princeton University. She is also the editor of Classic Love Stories. Now a freelance editor, she lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592284566
• ISBN-13: 978-1592284566
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,830,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars For the Civil War Buffs Only, October 3, 2005

By 

Sherman Kester (Boise, ID USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Classic Civil War Stories: Twenty Extraordinary Tales of the North and South (Paperback)

The book carries stories both fictional and non-fictional, and leaves it to you imagination as to which ones are real and wich aren't. Each story reads as if written from somebody in that time frame, so the reading wasn't always smooth as English was spoken a little differently in that time period. Some of the stories are interesting, but most are not as I'm not an avid Civil War reader.