Customer Reviews

Reconstructed Yankee

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

This book may be, for some, a short read. However, I spent time with it, finding at the beginning that I would put it down for a day or two to let the material sink in. Later on I became more involved and was less able to put it down for very long.

The battle scenes were a bit difficult to visualize, but with the diagrams they are understandable. Understanding them in detail is not essential to understanding the book.

The story is plausible, it could have happened as written. The author has given much attention to details that indicate that a lot of research was done. The fact that both whites and blacks were technically skilled and that they could be friends with each other seems imminently reasonable. Common interests often foster friendships.

Some of the early material caused me to think about what may be going on in Afghanistan. The later material helps me to understand some of the problems in this country.

I am not a student of the Civil War but I thought I had a reasonable understanding of it. This book caused me to re-think what I understand about the Civil War and may cause me to do a bit more study.

Jack Maples has fogotten more about the Civil War than most Americans learned in school. Unlike many authors Jack writes about a subject he knows and that make it easy for the reader to enjoy the story he weaves through the real-life events of history. When you read about the Parkers you come to understand that they are driven by their loyalty to family and how the events of history impact their pursuit of freedom and happiness. Jack is a personal friend and I take this opportunity to congratulate him on a job well done. I look forward to the future books and with any luck his writings will be turned into movies that will be as entertaining and informative as the book.

Reading this book was one of the best things I've done for myself all year! The story is written in a style that is, at one time, heartwarming, and then the next, portrays vividly the acts of war. Mr. Maples' attention to historical detail is to be commended! I recommend this book to those who have any level of interest in the War Between the States. It is an "easy read" even for those who are not familiar with military battles and strategies. It is truly a beautiful story of two men and their families, one black, one white, and friends to the end.

What motivated our American forefathers to take up arms against each other? Jack Maples has given us a story where confronting this question doesn't boil down to a simple argument for one ideology over another. This book gave me a better appreciation of the role individual, personal motivations played in the minds of men who fought this war. I'm also convinced the richness of detail in historical accuracy lent a depth to the storytelling that made for very satisfying reading - even for someone with only passing interest in the Civil War. Towards the end of the story, as Caleb returns to Gettysburg for a reunion with his rebel unit, one can't help but be moved by the scene. A good read and a powerful story.

Reconstructed Yankee is a novel set during the civil war, and it follows one man's struggle to live and find his place in a hostile world. Caleb Parker is one of 257,000 free persons of color living in the Confederacy; when war breaks out, he and his best friend enlist in the Union militia, yet Yankee atrocities force them to change sides and fight for the Confederacy. After the war, Caleb encounters extreme discrimination in reconstructed North Carolina; he takes his family to New York, hoping to find more tolerance, yet racism and segregation persist, leading him to ponder whether the bloody Civil War accomplished anything good at all. A harrowing and thought provoking insight into individual and societal failings and legacies.

As a native Tennessean, I was captivated by the well-researched and well-written descriptions of people and places throughout the South. The characters and situations were very much like people that my grandparents had heard about from their relatives and talked about as I grew up. Descriptions of the battles were authentic-and a good reminder that war, even when fought at a distance, is still horrible and painful.

This was not a fast read-I savored every word and look forward to Jack Maples' next offering.

This edition has all the material in the hardcover version.

The only difference is the binding.

Five stars.

See details of review under the hardcover listing.