Reconstructed Yankee [Hardcover]

Jack Maples (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2001

The year is 1862. Caleb Parker, a native of the western North Carolina highlands, is an unusual man. He is one of 257,000 Free Persons Of Color living in the Confederacy. Surprisingly, Caleb's best friend is Tom Parker, whose father once owned -- and then freed -- Caleb's father. The start of the Civil War presents Caleb and Tom with a dilemma -- which side will they serve?

To avoid forced enlistment in the Confederate Army, Caleb and Tom join the Union militia. After experiencing Yankee atrocities and tragedy at home, the two friends are driven to make a radical decision. The free black man and the Union sympathizer change sides, and they spend the bloodiest months of the war in the Confederate Army.

After gruesome fighting near Gettysburg, Tom is killed and Caleb accompanies the body of his fallen comrade home. At war's end, Caleb experiences the harsh realities of life as a black man in Reconstructed North Carolina. Fearing for his family's safety, he moves to upstate New York, hoping to find the freedoms promised by emancipation. There, Caleb discovers racism and segregation rather than the acceptance and freedom he expected. His life becomes a struggle with personal conflicts over what the Civil War really accomplished.

Reconstructed Yankee is a powerful, meticulously researched fictional biography tightly woven into actual historical events. Jack Maples has created a compelling story that examines the most forgotten and maligned soldiers of America's civil conflict, the Black Confederates. Caleb's story examines the mixed success of emancipation and the roots of America's civil conflict. In this powerful novel, Maples causes the reader to re-think why the common man fought.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Civil War expert Maples tells the fictionalized tale of two North Carolina friends, one white and one black, who fought together during that war. Set in 1862, the story follows Caleb Parker, a free person of color living in the Confederacy, and his best friend, Tom Parker, a white man, as they join the Union militia and set out on their civil war adventure. After serving for a time in the army and witnessing the atrocities perpetrated by the Union side, the two decide toswitch allegiances and join the Confederate Army, where things quickly go from bad to worse. After the war and Tom's death during a particularly harsh battle, Caleb returns to North Carolina and Reconstruction, a world that has been made unbearable for the newly freed black populace. Caleb then heads for upstate New York, where he is ultimately disappointed to find the same racism problems he thought he'd left behind. Maples has done scrupulous research, and it shows in this well-written and powerful novel, which will appeal to Civil War buffs and historical fiction readers. Kathleen Hughes
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"[Reconstructed Yankee and Cudjo's Cave] raise important questions about the nature of progress as it relates to Civil War literature." -- John Stauffer, Civil War Book Review, Spring 2002

Reconstructed Yankee will enlighten all readers and hopefully help some realize our common heritage. -- Charles Kelly Barrow, Historian-In-Chief, S.C.V., and Commissioner, Georgia Civil War Commission

This balanced and compelling novel...shines a spotlight on a censored historical subject: the conflicted lives and legacy of Afro-Confederates. -- Ervin L. Jordan, Jr., Professor, University of Virginia and author of Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia

Well researched and fascinating historical fiction. It raises concerns as relevant today as they were in the Civil War Era. -- Don Markle, author of Spies and Spymasters in the Civil War

What flag must I follow? Only an expert like Jack Maples could portray these characters so vividly and accurately. -- Richard N. Côté, author of Mary's World: Love, War, and Family Ties in Nineteenth-century Charleston

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 170 pages
• Publisher: Corinthian Books; 1st edition (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1929175299
• ISBN-13: 978-1929175291
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,389,071 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting and Emotional, September 16, 2001

By 

Bruce Pierpoint (Washington DC, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reconstructed Yankee (Hardcover)

Caleb and Tom, driven by derived Union Loyalist sympathies, are forced into emotional decision by the ambiguous face of war.

The author's writing allows one to experience, along with Caleb and Tom, their emotional leap into the Civil War. At Culps Hill, I was breathing spent cartridge smoke, immersed in a fight's confusion, and experienced the adrenalin rush necessary to remove a killed brother from the battlefield.

The story of a freed slave choosing to side with the South? Something not anticipated by me, but opened to me by 'Reconstructed Yankee'. Good reading!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars reconstructed yankee, December 7, 2001

By 

YONGDEOK KIM (Annandale, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reconstructed Yankee (Hardcover)

The book was great. It had parts that were graphic. I like the
drawing at the end of the book about Caleb Parker. It showed that
black and white people got along with each other.Even though there were many times of trouble,the two of them struggle and the
black man brought home his friend at the end. Education was important to Mr. Parker for his children and he received much more than expected of a mayor who helped him out.This black
confederate from North Carolina, as a blacksmith with his friend showed that their hard work together paid off. Read the book to
understand what the civil war was like and enjoy this new author's work.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the action never stops, August 29, 2001

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reconstructed Yankee (Hardcover)

I had to read it through in one sitting as I kept wanting to find out what happened next.

This is a well-written novel, set in the civil war era, intermixed with factual events to make the story more realistic. While the supporting circumstances and situations are true, many people may not have learned about all of them in school. This adds to the interest and enhances the story line.

Anyone with an interest in the civil war will find this book interesting - both for the story and for the depiction of events and circumstances during the war. If one is not a civil war buff they will still find the story riveting and may learn (or re-learn) some interesting facts about that era and its events. Mr Maples is not only an experienced writer but also has a knack for telling a story.

The writing is superb. There is enough color and slang to cue the reader to the time period of the story, but not so much as to distract the reader. The use of factual events surrounding the story line makes it even more realistic. The editing was of the highest quality. I found the cover design to be extremely interesting which makes it worth displaying.

There are also several maps to help those of us who are geographically challenged to better understand the location of troops during the various battles. The maps will be of more interest to a true civil war buff who feels a need to compare the description to the history books. This novel holds its own against best selling authors.

You can't fail to enjoy reading this book.