The Civil War Era: An Anthology of Sources.The Civil War Era: An Anthology of Sources. Edited by Lyde Cullen Sizer and Jim Cullen. (Malden, Mass., and other cities: Blackwell Publishing, 2005. Pp. xxviii, 434. Paper, $34.95, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 1-4051-0691-3; cloth, $73.95, ISBN 1-4051-0690-5.) Lyde Cullen Sizer and Jim Cullen have produced a perfectly appealing "textbook anthology of sources" to be used as a supplemental reader in undergraduate Civil War courses. The editors speak directly to the student reader in their carefully worded yet playful introduction as they explain the reasoning behind such a publication. Their objective is "to stimulate, provoke, and maybe even annoy you enough to articulate your own ideas" as students rediscover the Civil War (p. xxiii). The editors explain their organizational scheme "as a freezer full of easy-to-cook classes; just heat with intellectual energy and serve" (p. xxii). They take the students behind the curtain in concealment; in secret. See also: Curtain a number of times in examining just how a volume like this is imagined, developed, refined, and ultimately produced. For example, they describe well the inherent difficulties in their selection process of what topics to include and which to eliminate; the demands of expertise, timeliness, and the publisher's page restrictions were all introduced into the equation. As a result, foreign policy, technology, and the naval war all wind up on the cutting-room floor. What is included is a robust and comprehensive array of Civil War topics organized into fifteen sections. Issues like causation, the trauma of the battlefront, the war at home, economies, slavery, dissent, politics, gender, popular culture, reconstruction, and memory are a part of the lineup. Each section is divided into an edited essay or two by a noted historian followed by a selection of primary sources. Each part also features headnotes that introduce the topic and provide ample context and often a feature labeled "Questions to consider." The editors have done a commendable job in selecting their materials. The essays range widely, from a classic sample from Bruce Catton Bruce Catton (October 9, 1899 — August 28, 1978) was a journalist and a notable historian of the American Civil War. He won a Pulitzer Prize for history in 1954 for A Stillness at Appomattox, his study of the final campaign of the war in Virginia. to the most recent scholarship. The editors have clearly chosen materials that are accessible to undergraduates but provide the necessary invitation to continue the quest. The reader will encounter the writings of Civil War luminaries like James M. McPherson
James M. McPherson (born October 11, 1936) is an American Civil War historian, and is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. , Drew Gilpin Faust Catharine Drew Gilpin Faust (born September 18 1947[1]) is an American historian and the first female president of Harvard University. [2] Faust, the former Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, is also Harvard's first president since 1672 , Eric Foner Eric Foner (born February 7, 1943 in New York City) is an American historian. He has been a faculty member in the department of history at Columbia University since 1982 and writes extensively on political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, , and Emory M. Thomas Emory Thomas, retired Regents Professor of History at the University of Georgia, is a noted scholar of the American Civil War. Among his many celebrated works are: The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience (1970) , just to name a few. The primary source selection is equally well done and includes dozens of letters, diary entries, newspaper articles, government and military documents, literary offerings, and graphic materials as well. The student will find the voices of both the famous Civil War commentators and the equally obscure. All in all, the wife and husband team has done a first-rate job in arranging this volume for its supporting role supporting role n → second rôle m supporting role n → ruolo non protagonista in the classroom. The only drawback to course adoptions may come more from the value of the British pound than any shortcoming short·com·ing n. A deficiency; a flaw. shortcoming Noun a fault or weakness Noun 1. of this inspired anthology. MARK F. MILLER Roanoke College |
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