Customer Reviews

House Divided (Rediscovered Classics)

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4 star:		(4)
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I first read this book in College 20+ years ago and have re-read it several times since. Before the internet made it easier to find copies of the book, everytime I came across a copy in a used bookstore I would buy it and give it to a friend because I didn't want the book to languish on a bookshelf unappreciated. It is a fantastic novel the follows a complex southern family throughout the entire Civil War. Be sure to also read the continuation (sequel) to the novel - "Unconquered," which follows some of the family through the reconstruction period.

This is the best book I have ever read. It has so much history of the Civil War and the reader will learn so much about this important time in our history. The characters are the pivot points for the telling of the South's history. Mr. Williams is really a genius in his technique. He includes political commentaries of the South from the perspective of the poor on up to the slave owners but done out of the mouths of the characters. He very concisely states the "reasons" for the war in a single paragraph stated several times and in different perspectives. He very exactly depicts the scenes and you truly can believe you are there viewing from afar and experiencing in reality the way life must have been for all the characters.

House Divided by Ben Ames Williams is an excellent fictional account of the lives of ordinary people experiencing the ravages of the Civil War in America. This rivals Gone With the Wind in its scope and character development. Of special interest is references to actual locations in Richmond, Petersburg and Williamsburg, Virginia. I did not realize there had been an edition printed in the 1980's. I have read the 1930's edition twice and would love to have a copy of my own. I'd also love to see this story on the big screen!

This book which I picked up after reading "Come Spring" is riveting. His detail mirrors that of Kenneth Roberts whose stories of the American Revolution are also in the same category. Living in Southern Maine, K.R. is must reading. I now add B.A.W. to that category. His book has made me more interested than ever in the Civil War and the results of politicians follies which are being duplicated today with the same amount of stupidity as in the past. I highly recommend this book,

AFTER READING GONE WITH THE WIND MANY YEARS AGO, I WISHED FOR A BOOK AS GOOD. I FINALLY FOUND IT. OUR LIBRARY SYSTEM ONLY HAS ONE COPY AND IT IS HARD TO GET SOMETIMES. I JUST LOVE TO SPEND A FEW DAYS WITH THIS GREAT BOOK. MY YOUNG NIECE IS NOW IN THE PROCESS OF READING IT ALTHOUGH SHE ASSURES ME SHE WON'T LIKE IT AS WELL AS GWTW. I WILL WAIT UNTIL SHE FINSHES- I THINK SHE WILL BE PLEASANTLY SURPRISED.

I fell in love with this book and thought that I should read Goned With the Wind afterwards. GWTW was not nearly as good. The detail and story telling was amazing. I would love to own a copy of this book.

This book had been sitting on my bookshelf for a couple of years, passed along to me by my mother. I just learned Williams is the grandnephew of General James Longstreet, which makes the story even more interesting.
The title is apt since the story deals with the bitterness of my country split in two for four agonizing years.
Williams toggles back and forth between the Currain family matters in Virginia and North Carolina and the lead up and their involvement in the Civil War. Each chapter is given a time period so the reader can read outside sources of these time periods.
When the five Currain siblings learn their long-dead father is the grandfather of Abraham Lincoln, all are affected in different ways. Williams does a good job with the psychological aspect of each sibling's response and subsequent actions to this unfathomable news. Williams does an admirable job in his character profiles.
What is most interesting about this story are the elaborately detailed battle scenes. The author described these so well I was able to see the planning and execution of the "work" (battle)--north and south--in my mind's eye.
General James Longstreet plays prominently in the story and was a Currain family friend before the War. "Jeems" and his wife Louisa are a house undivided, as they give the reader a picture of what unity can accomplish.
The jubilation and angst Longstreet feels as he bears the responsiblility for the work he is given is palpable. His highs are quite high and his lows are very low. As he goes into the last work of the War and assists General Lee with preparations for surrender, we grieve with Longstreet. I wasn't expecting to cry when the surrender was made known to the barefoot and bone-weary southern soldiers.
A good long read. The author captures the easy elegance of the minority Southern wealthy and their journey to a new South four years later.
A postscript: Williams' sequel to this is "The Unconquered" which gives a greatly detailed picture of the Reconstruction, mainly in Louisiana and set in New Orleans. Another good read.

I was given this book when I was a kid, some 45 years ago. It took me a month to read it, at 50 pages a night - it's 1,500 pages in the original hardcover - and I became totally lost in the story. I didn't want it to end because I felt like I knew all the people. It is infinitely better than Gone With the Wind; it's real. I re-read in a few years later; I've just glanced at it once in awhile since then, but it has a place of honor on our crowded book shelves. The South's cause was one of the worst ever: to maintain a society based on slavery. (To those who say that the war wasn't over slavery, let me state the obvious fact that if the South had not had slavery, secession would never have been an issue.) Nevertheless, Ben Ames Williams depicts the best of the Old South aristocracy in extremely human terms.

AS A TEENAGER IN HIGH SCHOOL I COULDN'T READ GONE WITH THE WIND ENOUGH TIMES. WHEN I DISCOVERD HOUSE DIVIDED, I WAS LIKE THAT TEENAGER IN HIGH SCHOOL DISCOVERING THE ANTEBELLUM SOUTH AND THE CIVIL WAR. IN MY OPINION, NO FICTIONAL ACCOUNT OF THE CIVIL WAR CAN COMPARE TO HOUSE DIVIDED. EVERY USED BOOK STORE I GO TO I LOOK FOR A COPY - SOME DAY I WILL OWN MY OWN.

I believe the author is related to James Longstreet - and covers him in detail. Good account of Gettysburg - southern perspective on Lincoln is excellent - good plot twist -