Customer Reviews

Daily Life in Civil War America (The Greenwood Press Daily Life Through History Series)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an extremly well writen book, about the daily life of the american people during the civil war. As a civil war re-enactor I found this book very informative and a great help in my portrayal of a soldier\cook.

This book is excellent in its relative lack of bias and in its discussion of the causes of the war. It gives a lot of information on soldier life, which was of limited use to me since I've read Wiley, McPherson, etc. etc. etc. What disappointed me about the book was its limited attention to civilian life and mentalities. Most of the material seemed relevant only to rich people and city folks -- I can't imagine that average 19th century people really used cartes du visite and spoon-warmers. I've been looking for some information on attitudes toward married life and family, and this is one in a long series of books that hasn't contained very much -- there's a little on child-rearing but that's it. There is quite a bit of information on clothing, perhaps aimed toward a reenactor readership. Overall, I'd recommend this, but be aware that it has its limitations.

I found this book interesting and entertaining in that it shed light on a number of different aspects of what led up to the war and provided some insight as to the daily lives of soliders and civilians during the conflict. My interest for browsing the reviews in the first place is that in the slavery section the book seems to suggest that the firsthand accounts from former slaves and their abolitionist allies were exaggerated and that while the treatment was bad, it was not that bad. I wondered if anyone had wondered about the veracity of this in the book. The book does provide convincing justification for its position, but nevertheless, I was curious what others thought.