Customer Reviews

Reminiscences of My Life in Camp: An African American Woman's Civil War Memoir

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

 

 

I am very interested in the Civil War from a female perspective so I decided to get this book. I have to say I was very disappointed with it.

Ms. Catherine Clinton give an introduction which is good and informative.

When comparing this to other narratives I have read about the war this one falls flat. Ms. Taylor's narrative is lacking detail and emotion. I thought I would get a better understanding about life in camp, but that was not the case. For instance Ms. Taylor writes about fleas in her tent and how she barely slept. That's great, but how did that make her feel? Did she hate camp life? Did she question what she was doing there? And to be perfectly honest I'm not quite sure what her role was. On St. Simon's Island she was teaching children but when she got to Camp Saxton I have no idea what she did. It seemed like she was wandering around with the troops. Did she cook? Clean? ???

From page 52 on Ms. Taylor explains what her life was like after the Civil War. So the pages of her explaining what life was like in camp are rather slim. With Catherine Clinton's introduction the reader only gets 52 pages of camp life(minus the first two chapters on her ancestors and childhood). This book is not 136 pages of a woman's experience during the Civil War.

Overall this was a great disappointment. I was hoping to read an engaging account of a black woman's experience but instead Ms. Taylor's explanation of the war was dry and lacked emotion. One thing I enjoyed about this book was how she observed race relations. I thought that was interesting and was the books one saving grace.