A Ruined Land: The End of the Civil War [Hardcover]

Michael Golay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 21, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0471183679 | ISBN-13: 978-0471183679 | Edition: 1

"This fascinating social history, through Golay's expert use of sources, brings to life a time in America's past that promised so much but delivered so little, expecially to former slaves."-Publishers Weekly

"A tautly woven narrative history..Lively and readable."-Kirkus Reviews

In a fascinating approach that allows the voices of those touched by the Civil War to speak for themselves, gifted writer Michael Golay shows the impact of victory and defeat on the ordinary Americans who both influenced events and were caught up in them. Using illuminating new material, much of it previously unpublished, Golay takes a unique perspective by interweaving personal histories of soldiers and civilians with the larger events of the Civil War. Among the events of this bitter conflict, Golay illuminates the impact of Sherman's march through Georgia and the Carolinas, the despair caused by the assassination of Lincoln, the first bitter weeks of armistice, the immediate postwar life in a devastated, chaotic South, and the promise of freedom for African American slaves. Through the letters, diaries, and other literary remains of those who experienced the war, we gain a vivid, panoramic look at the effects of a bitter struggle and at the efforts of both sides to work toward a solution to problems where effective answers were elusive.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With considerable agility, Golay (To Gettysburg and Beyond) combines both manuscripts and printed sources to paint a picture of the last months of the Civil War and the first months of peace. Golay takes the reader along with General William T. Sherman's veterans as they capture Savannah and then head north through the Carolinas, brushing aside meager resistance and spreading terror among the civilians in their path. Other selective pictures emerge throughout the book, including the evacuation and destruction of Richmond, President Lincoln's assassination and the subsequent trial of the conspirators, Andersonville commandant Henry Wirz's trial and execution, the return home of veterans and operations on the Mexican border. Following the end of hostilities, Golay looks at the plight of former slaves and President Andrew Johnson's bickering with Radical Republicans trying to protect the newly freed slaves. He uses letters and other writings from a number of soldiers and civilians to provide graphic portraits of life in the shattered South. This fascinating social history, through Golay's expert use of sources, brings to life a time in America's past that promised so much but delivered so little, especially to former slaves. 26 photos and 4 maps. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In his latest, Golay (To Gettysburg & Beyond) chronicles the collapse of the Confederate army and the beginning of southern Reconstruction, once more revisiting this painful and tumultuous period by examining the lives of the newly emancipated and political, military, civilian, academic, and philanthropic figures both prominent and obscure. Through these cameos, he relates the old story of the defeated South's halting attempts to resurrect its bankrupt leadership and postwar agrarian economy, he also profiles its occupiers, a shaky coalition of rigid abolitionist missionaries, hardened Federal soldiers, disillusioned black troops, Yankee speculators, and other assorted opportunists. Golay's final chapter follows the post-Reconstruction lives and careers of his principal characters. Is this work a major contribution to Civil War/Reconstruction historiography? No. Is it an interesting read with an engaging approach? Yes. Golay's inclusion of a time line and a "cast of characters" section provides useful preliminary reference tools. Recommended for public and academic libraries.AJohn Carver Edwards, Univ. of Georgia Libs., Athens
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471183679
• ISBN-13: 978-0471183679
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,213,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant! Narrative history of the highest order., November 1, 1999

By 

John S. Bowman (Northampton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Ruined Land: The End of the Civil War (Hardcover)

It is said that there are more books written about the Civil War than almost any other subject, so it might seem diffficult, if not impossible, to come up with anything new to say about the Civil War. But I found this book not only to have some new things to reveal about the war and its aftermath but, equally notable, to say things in a way that few books on any topic of American history have achieved. On the one hand, it deals with a narrow timeframe and topic--the actions of a relatively small selection of individuals in the closing months of the war and then in the two years following the end of the war (although a "coda" tells us what these individuals did in the years that followed). By focusing on this relatively small group of people, the author is able to capture and convey with precise detail and feelings the impact of the war on Americans of all kinds--Black and white, Northerners and Southerners, military and civilian, female and male, young and old, rich and poor. And he does this by relying virtually 100% on the actual accounts of the individuals and those engaged in the same actions--their diaries and journals and letters and memoirs (in the case of those who did set down more seasoned accounts). As a result, the reader gets to experience these events with an immediacy that few books about the Civil War convey. You feel you are at the battles, you are at the plantations, you are at the schools and churches, you are advancing or retreating with the troops, you are in the camps with the soldiers and in the homes with the families. And all the time, with little or no "preaching" by the author, you are made to feel the horrors of the battlefields, the cruelties visited upon soldiers and slaves and former slaves, the sufferings experienced by the families at home. All of this is conveyed, as I say, by drawing upon firsthand accounts, woven together in an intricate, subtle, and fluid narrative. I might just say that one reviewer complains that we do not hear enough of the voices of African Americans but this gives a totally false impression: African Americans are present from the very first page on, both as named individuals and as nameless groupings; few books, in fact, except those that focus specifically on the role of African Americans in this period, manage to convey the totally and inextricably shared fates of whites and blacks in shaping America's history. Indeed, the work reads more like a novel than the usual "four-square" history book. I can think of no other relevant comparison, in fact, than Tolstoy's War and Peace, with its similar range of characters and scenes and activities. For this reason, I should say that it is not always easy going--at least at the outset, before we readers have all the "characters" under control and gradually realize that we are going to be constantly returning to them. (When in doubt, however, turn to the "cast of characters" the author has provided at the front.) But it repays your attention, and soon you are drawn into this world that the author has rescued and recreated. To conclude with a musical analogy: where most books about the Civil War, even the best of them, end up sounding like Sousa, this one is a work by Beethoven!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A great idea well executed, but . . ., February 10, 2000

By 

KySgt64 (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Ruined Land: The End of the Civil War (Hardcover)

With so many books on the Civil War, I thought this sounded like a novel idea: describe, from primary, first-person sources, what it was like at the very end. The author, Michael Golay, does an admirable job of "personalizing" the story. Knowing the scope of the topic, he chooses a few people in a few locations and tells us their stories. And he does it with a prose that is all-to-lacking with most books on the Civil War. (Nowhere will you read, for example, "Jackson brought his division up and smashed into Hancock's left." That's about as bad as it gets, and Golay includes little or nothing like that.) Consequently, we feel as if we're there: we soar with the New England abolitionists who dedicated their lives to making life better on the Sea Islands; our hopes sink with their betrayal by racism and the federal government; we suffer with the innocent as well as with the guilty; and we almost hear the snap of the ropes as the Lincoln-assassination "conspirators" drop.

But that is the problem: Golay cannot decide whether this is "big history" or "little history," and as a consequence, we get both. He leaves and returns to characters so often--and has the irritating habit of so often referring to them by first name--that I found myself constantly reviewing the index to inquire, "Now, who is this person?" Sherman's story has been told; Booth's story has been told; Lee's surrender to Grant has been told. This book would have been much more effective had Golay stayed exclusively with what really worked: the up-close-and-personal stories of ordinary people whose lives were turned upside down. He need not have told them all, or in all places, because the experiences were similar everywhere.

Still, I recommend this book as an antidote for what is wrong with so much writing about the Civil War. It's balanced; it's personal; it's compelling. It could have been so much better.

9 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars save your money, November 18, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Ruined Land: The End of the Civil War (Hardcover)

Very disappointing treatment of an interesting topic. Focus on a small number of characters, a few points in time and a small geographic region make the reader wonder how general is the author's account. Add to this that the prose is pretty uninteresting and you have the makings of one of the worst (of many) Civil War history books I've read in the last 2 years.