Book Description
My new friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life.
“Why did you leave Sierra Leone?”
“Because there is a war.”
“You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?”
“Yes, all the time.”
“Cool.”
I smile a little.
“You should tell us about it sometime.”
“Yes, sometime.”
This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.
What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.
In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts.
This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.
Customer Reviews:
Enlightening........2007-10-03
I think this is a wonderful book, so moving and beautifully written that you wonder how a person can manage to lead a "normal" life after experiencing what he has been through. The author tells the story matter-of-factly without whining or complaining about the hand he's been dealt. Because of this, it makes the story even more impressive.
Not just a good read, a book that enlightens is a must-read.
Fantastic book. Recommend for all ages!.......2007-10-02
This book is truly amazing. It is almost unbelievable to read about the lives of people like Ishmael, but it's true, and it's happening today. Yes, in some parts it is certainly hard to read, but it's worth it. It is better to be shocked and scarred by this book than ignorant to it. Ishmael is a wonderfully optimistic person, and I think we can all learn a lot from his courage. In his own words, Ishmael is not an expert on the history of Sierra Lione, but by putting a face and name to this story, you will still learn a lot from him! I recommend this book to anyone and everyone!
Easy to read, hard to digest.......2007-10-02
I read this book on my flight to D.C. a couple of months ago. It was probably the fastest I have ever read a book. It was very easy to understand and painted an incredibly vivid picture in my mind. The content is important and the way Beah wrote his story makes it accessible to all.
Painful but Poignant.......2007-09-27
This book is not for the fainthearted who wants a feel good story; this is tough book to read, however, it is an important book to read as well. So often us here in the west are isolated from the fact that there are tough places to live on this planet, places where people are forced to do unspeakable acts and are exposed to unimaginable acts of violence.
This book takes on the voyage of a young man named Ishmael, who lived in the war torn country of Sierra Leone. His life is completely turned upside down by the civil war in that country. Ishmaels story is first a story of losing his family, than of losing his innocence as he is forced to fight for the Countries Army that's fighting the "rebels". After that the story focuses on his rehabilitation in a place called Freetown and eventually his new life in the United States (although I would like to know more about how he is today).
The most amazing part of this story as an American who simply didn't understand the truth, is that this Ishmael was 12 years old and was killing people, not because he was an animal, but because he was drugged and forced to become one merely to survive. This is a concept that as westerners we look on and go oh that's too bad, but do we really take the time to understand that this happens all the time in the same world we live in? Do we take the time to understand that there is big world out there and for the most part it isn't that safe little havens we take for granted? I challenge anyone who reads this book to be able to look at the world the same again.
A must read.......2007-09-26
This book is very graphic in its detail of events. It will put you right there on the front line and in the eyes of danger. I felt as though I was there experiencing all that he had. Then again I could never imagine experiencing all that he did. Its a touching story that will bring back to reality on the issues that have been going on for ages.
Average customer rating:
- Emotionally flat; too many odd conincidences; arcane vocablulary
- Wonderful
- Coal Black Horse
- Unusual Civil War Saga
- Moving anti-war tale very well told.
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Coal Black Horse
Robert Olmstead
Manufacturer: Algonquin Books
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1565125215 |
Amazon.com
The Civil War has provided the backdrop for several authors in recent years: Michael Shaara, Robert Hicks, E.L. Doctorow, Howard Bahr, and Charles Frazier, to name a few. Robert Olmstead can take his place among the best of them with this stirring tale of a 14-year-old boy's loss of innocence as he follows the horrors of war.
The boy is Robey Childs, sent by his mother to bring his father home from the War. She has "the sight," and when she "sees" that General Thomas Jackson is dead, she tells Robey "Thomas Jackson has been killed... There's no sense in this continuing... This was a mistake a long time before we knew it, but a mistake nonetheless. Go and find your father and bring him back to his home." She sews a coat for him that is blue on one side and gray on the other, tells him to trust no one and sends him off.
He is ill-prepared for all that will happen to him. When his horse pulls up lame, he walks her to the blacksmith, but she is unfit for the task ahead. The blacksmith offers Robey a horse on loan until his task is completed. "It was coal black, stood sixteen hands, and it was clear to see the animal suffered no lack of self possession." Indeed, the horse is more fit to do his job than is Robey. Olmstead creates an iconic horse, but never anthrpomorphizes or romanticizes the relationship between boy and horse. When they are separated, Robey is truly at sea. When they are together, they move as one.
Robey encounters every kind of evil, venality, cruelty, squalor, and depravity imaginable. He is hardened beyond his years by what he sees. There is a battle scene as horrific as any ever written, graphic and frightening. "There were enough limbs and organs, heads and hands, ribs and feet to stitch together body after body and were only in need of thread and needle and a celestial seamstress." Robey is changed forever, but never dehumanized. Olmstead leaves the reader in no doubt about the unconscionable ravages of war; he also shows us the redemption that such suffering can bring. --Valerie Ryan
Book Description
When Robey Childs's mother has a premonition about her husband, a soldier fighting in the Civil War, she does the unthinkable: she instructs her only child to find his father on the battlefield and bring him home.
At fourteen, wearing the coat his mother sewed to ensure his safety—blue on one side, gray on the other—Robey thinks he is off on a great adventure. But not far from home, his horse falters and he realizes the enormity of his task. It takes the gift of a powerful and noble coal black horse to show him how to undertake the most important journey of his life: with boldnesss, bravery, and self-possession.
Yet even that horse is no match for the brutality and senselessness of war, no surrogate for the courage Robey needs to summon in its face. It's in the center of that landscape, as witness to the lawlessness and carnage around him, that he is forced to raise a gun for the first time in his life. When he returns to his mother, Robey Childs will be the best a man can be, and the worst, irrevocably scarred by all he has seen—and all he has done.
When Robert Olmstead published his debut,
River Dogs, he was compared to Richard Ford, Raymond Carver, Thomas McGuane. Since that time, Olmstead has received high praise for all of his work. But it's this book that is destined to become a classic.
Coal Black Horse joins the pantheon of great war novels—
All Quiet on the Western Front, The Red Badge of Courage, The Naked and the Dead.
Customer Reviews:
Emotionally flat; too many odd conincidences; arcane vocablulary.......2007-09-25
I had never read a novel by this author and came away disappointed. He seems to enjoy using arcane words ("cobby horse" for "stout horse" being a good example) that are not necessary to move the story along. I could understand this if it were in dialog, but the usage is typically not.
The writing struck me as emotionally flat, full of too hard to believe coincidences- finding his father on the Gettysburg battlefield (which is quite large), having two antagonists show up, separately no less, at his mothers wilderness farm- are three examples.
Finally, to be picky, he has a major plot flaw regarding the aftermath of the battle- as Robey arrived at Gettysburg after the battle he surely would have encountered the Confederate Army in full retreat on its way south to the Potomac River.
In summary, I felt I wasted my time reading this novel, and won't embark on any more by Olmstead.
Wonderful.......2007-09-03
Shoot, I wait 10 years for Olmstead to publish another book and it was over in a day. I will be reading it again and again though. His command of the language is so brilliant and his storytelling, enchanting. If you are not aquainted with this author, go back to the Amazon search and buy everything.
Coal Black Horse.......2007-07-14
I love this book. It's been a long time since I've read anything that's hard to put down.
Unusual Civil War Saga.......2007-06-27
I am halfway through "Coal Black Horse" and enjoying the excellent writing. The story is engrossing and reminds me somewhat of the style of Cormac McCarthy, who us my favorite author.
Definitely worth the read.
Moving anti-war tale very well told........2007-06-25
During the Civil War, 14-year-old Robey Childs is ordered by his mother to go and find his father and bring him home - she has had a foreboding and wants no more to do with this war. Robey's odyssey, on the back of the titular horse, is fascinating and beautifully told, ultimately heartbreaking. Robey's education on the road and on the battlefield of Gettysburg is painfully delineated, but so very revealing about human nature. The book can be graphic and unsentimental about violence, but it's the violence done to Robey's soul that most resonates. Quite good as a bildungsroman as well as an anti-war statement.
Amazon.com
For Whom the Bell Tolls begins and ends in a pine-scented forest, somewhere in Spain. The year is 1937 and the Spanish Civil War is in full swing. Robert Jordan, a demolitions expert attached to the International Brigades, lies "flat on the brown, pine-needled floor of the forest, his chin on his folded arms, and high overhead the wind blew in the tops of the pine trees." The sylvan setting, however, is at sharp odds with the reason Jordan is there: he has come to blow up a bridge on behalf of the antifascist guerrilla forces. He hopes he'll be able to rely on their local leader, Pablo, to help carry out the mission, but upon meeting him, Jordan has his doubts: "I don't like that sadness, he thought. That sadness is bad. That's the sadness they get before they quit or before they betray. That is the sadness that comes before the sell-out." For Pablo, it seems, has had enough of the war. He has amassed for himself a small herd of horses and wants only to stay quietly in the hills and attract as little attention as possible. Jordan's arrival--and his mission--have seriously alarmed him.
"I am tired of being hunted. Here we are all right. Now if you blow a bridge here, we will be hunted. If they know we are here and hunt for us with planes, they will find us. If they send Moors to hunt us out, they will find us and we must go. I am tired of all this. You hear?" He turned to Robert Jordan. "What right have you, a foreigner, to come to me and tell me what I must do?"
In one short chapter Hemingway lays out the blueprint for what is to come: Jordan's sense of duty versus Pablo's dangerous self-interest and weariness with the war. Complicating matters even more are two members of the guerrilla leader's small band: his "woman" Pilar, and Maria, a young woman whom Pablo rescued from a Republican prison train. Unlike her man, Pilar is still fiercely devoted to the cause and as Pablo's loyalty wanes, she becomes the moral center of the group. Soon Jordan finds himself caught between the two, even as his own resolve is tested by his growing feelings for Maria.
For Whom the Bell Tolls combines two of the author's recurring obsessions: war and personal honor. The pivotal battle scene involving El Sordo's last stand is a showcase for Hemingway's narrative powers, but the quieter, ongoing conflict within Robert Jordan as he struggles to fulfill his mission perhaps at the cost of his own life is a testament to his creator's psychological acuity. By turns brutal and compassionate, it is arguably Hemingway's most mature work and one of the best war novels of the 20th century. --Alix Wilber
Book Description
In 1937 Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from "the good fight," For Whom the Bell Tolls. The story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains of Spain, it tells of loyalty and courage, love and defeat, and the tragic death of an ideal. In his portrayal of Jordan's love for the beautiful Maria and his superb account of El Sordo's last stand, in his brilliant travesty of La Pasionaria and his unwillingness to believe in blind faith, Hemingway surpasses his achievement in The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms to create a work at once rare and beautiful, strong and brutal, compassionate, moving, and wise. "If the function of a writer is to reveal reality," Maxwell Perkins wrote Hemingway after reading the manuscript, "no one ever so completely performed it." Greater in power, broader in scope, and more intensely emotional than any of the author's previous works, it stands as one of the best war novels of all time.
Download Description
In 1937 Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from "the good fight," For Whom the Bell Tolls. The story of Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades attached to an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains of Spain, it tells of loyalty and courage, love and defeat, and the tragic death of an ideal. In his portrayal of Jordan's love for the beautiful Maria and his superb account of El Sordo's last stand, in his brilliant travesty of La Pasionaria and his unwillingness to believe in blind faith, Hemingway surpasses his achievement in The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms to create a work at once rare and beautiful, strong and brutal, compassionate, moving and wise. "If the function of a writer is to reveal reality," Maxwell Perkins wrote to Hemingway after reading the manuscript, "no one ever so completely performed it." Greater in power, broader in scope, and more intensely emotional than any of the author's previous works, it stands as one of the best war novels of all time.
Customer Reviews:
A classic - buy it........2007-09-25
I first read this about 40 years ago. I just re-purchased it. This is a classic novel.
Lazy and messy.......2007-09-06
The Spanish Civil War was surely the most brutal and tragic civil war of the twentieth century. It not only pitted Spaniard against Spaniard, but became a kind of bloody curtain-raiser for World War II, with Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy lining up on the side of Franco's insurgents and the USSR backing the embattled left-leaning Republic. (The Western democracies - who might have prevented Spain from going fascist - followed a pusillanimous "hands off" policy which only emboldened the insurgents and their supporters.) Into this vortex came many writers and intellectuals. They were to witness brutality, betrayals, great valour, the corruption of ideals, and the consequences of ruthless Realpolitik.
So with all that in mind, here's an interesting question. If you were an author trying to write the great Spanish Civil War novel, would you choose to (1) sequester your handful of characters up in the mountains away from the main action; (2) write 500 pages covering a mere three days during which time nobody has anything to do; and (3) make the central character non-Spanish?
500 pages about three days of waiting is the book's central problem. It turns the novel into the opposite of an epic. To have taken a canvas as sweeping as the three years of the Spanish Civil War and shrink it down to such a compass-point was an unfathomable decision on the author's part. From this self-inflicted literary ambush there is no escape for Hemingway: you either need excellent descriptive prose or superb psychological insight to carve a good story from such crooked timber, for, after all, what else is left to describe in such a situation save inner musings and the outer landscape?
The prose is the next problem. Much has been made of Hemingway's 'deceptively simple' writing style. However, I found it impossible to read "For Whom the Bells Tolls" without forming the impression that that his reputation for putatively well-masked complexity is itself the deception. Consider the following extracts [from the Vintage edition]:
A hole in a hillside is described as:
"both deep and profound"
[p. 444]
Characters exchange such dialogue as:
'Well, then. Oh, then. Oh, then. Oh.'
[p. 166]
'Maria.'
'Yes.'
'Maria.'
'Yes.'
'Maria.'
'Oh, yes. Please.'
[p. 272]
'But use thy head. Thou hast much head. Use it.'
[p. 444]
Which brings us to the Hemingway penchant for meaningless repetition:
"In an impossible situation you hang on until night to get away. You try to last out until night to get back in. You are all right, maybe, if you can stick it out until dark and then get back in."
[p. 174]
"So a woman like that Pilar practically pushed this girl into your sleeping bag and what happens? Yes, what happens? What happens? You tell me what happens, please. That is just what happens. That is exactly what happens."
[p. 175]
Followed by some impressive run-on rants as the author becomes completely carried away describing love scenes (How many women - even in the thirties - were seduced by being repeatedly called 'rabbit'?)
My favourite passage is when one of the characters reveals to Joaquín that la Pasionara has a son in Russia. Instead of naming the character, Hemingway chooses to write the following clanking line:
"'If we insult them a little?' the man who had spoken to Joaquín about la Pasionara's son in Russia asked."
[p. 324]
On and on it goes like this. For three days. In a cave. This book has now gone into the umpteenth printing and neither the spelling nor grammar have been corrected ("... the flakes was dropping diagonally ..." [p. 185]; "... and then brining it down ..." [p. 213]; "... the felling when the Inglés gave the order ..." [p. 380]; at one point André Marty is referred to as "Mary" [p. 437]).
So it needs to be said openly. Hemingway pundits who make excuses for this sort of thing have a lot of explaining to do: otherwise they are obliged to defend similarly poor writing when they find it outside the world of Nobel laureates.
Oh, Buttercup.......2007-08-30
I read this book a couple years ago and loved it. War, adventure, love, it's like The Princess Bride minus lighthearted fairytale-ness. I highly recommend it.
excelsior!.......2007-08-05
must be where Metallica got the song name from. Anyways this is one of but many authors that, like Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain decided to take the easy way out. In the meantime he penned this great literature that is a great book. I don't care what anybody says, the old man and the sea is boring and short and so with that I bid you good day and happy reading!
My first venture into Hemingway.......2007-08-03
This was my first time reading a book by Hemingway, and it was not all I had hoped for. The Spanish Civil War is one of my major interests (it was the subject of my undergraduate research thesis) and so I ordered this book with great anticipation. Unfortunately, I was not completely satisfied.
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" gives a great understanding of the personalities and characters of the Spanish people. It also is balanced in the sense that it shows that atrocities were committed by both sides.
However, my main complaint with the book is that it seems like nothing happens. It is not until probably the last 100 pages or so that action begins to take place. (Granted, there were many instances during the Spanish Civil War where the lines were at a standstill and nothing DID happen, so perhaps in that sense it is quite accurate). But despite how much Hemingway tries to build up to the destruction of the bridge, it's not exciting by the time you actually get to that point.
The other thing that irritated me (and this is just as a Spanish speaker) was that the dialogue is written as though it was literally translated word-for-word from Spanish conversation rather than translated for meaning. For example, the dialogue reads, "That he comes soon," ("que venga pronto") instead of, "I hope he comes soon," or "He better come soon." It just makes the dialogue awkward and unnatural.
Despite my complaints, I will not let this be my only reading of Hemingway and I will try out something else of his in the near future.
Amazon.com
When quiltmaker Ozella McDaniels told Jacqueline Tobin of the Underground Railroad Quilt Code, it sparked Tobin to place the tale within the history of the Underground Railroad. Hidden in Plain View documents Tobin and Raymond Dobard's journey of discovery, linking Ozella's stories to other forms of hidden communication from history books, codes, and songs. Each quilt, which could be laid out to air without arousing suspicion, gave slaves directions for their escape. Ozella tells Tobin how quilt patterns like the wagon wheel, log cabin, and shoofly signaled slaves how and when to prepare for their journey. Stitching and knots created maps, showing slaves the way to safety.
The authors construct history around Ozella's story, finding evidence in cultural artifacts like slave narratives, folk songs, spirituals, documented slave codes, and children's' stories. Tobin and Dobard write that "from the time of slavery until today, secrecy was one way the black community could protect itself. If the white man didn't know what was going on, he couldn't seek reprisals." Hidden in Plain View is a multilayered and unique piece of scholarship, oral history, and cultural exploration that reveals slaves as deliberate agents in their own quest for freedom even as it shows that history can sometimes be found where you least expect it. --Amy Wan
Book Description
The fascinating story of a friendship, a lost tradition, and an incredible discovery, revealing how enslaved men and women made encoded quilts and then used them to navigate their escape on the Underground Railroad.
"A groundbreaking work."--Emerge
In
Hidden in Plain View, historian Jacqueline Tobin and scholar Raymond Dobard offer the first proof that certain quilt patterns, including a prominent one called the Charleston Code, were, in fact, essential tools for escape along the Underground Railroad. In 1993, historian Jacqueline Tobin met African American quilter Ozella Williams amid piles of beautiful handmade quilts in the Old Market Building of Charleston, South Carolina. With the admonition to "write this down," Williams began to describe how slaves made coded quilts and used them to navigate their escape on the Underground Railroad. But just as quickly as she started, Williams stopped, informing Tobin that she would learn the rest when she was "ready." During the three years it took for Williams's narrative to unfold--and as the friendship and trust between the two women grew--Tobin enlisted Raymond Dobard, Ph.D., an art history professor and well-known African American quilter, to help unravel the mystery.
Part adventure and part history,
Hidden in Plain View traces the origin of the Charleston Code from Africa to the Carolinas, from the low-country island Gullah peoples to free blacks living in the cities of the North, and shows how three people from completely different backgrounds pieced together one amazing American story.
Customer Reviews:
Myth, legend or history?.......2007-05-27
I have read pros and cons on the authenticity of this book and remain convinced it is a novel lacking authentic historical documentation. Some of the quilt patterns mentioned did not exist prior to 1900 and the story tellers are unavailable or deceased. Although several respected quilt historians believe the author's tales, I choose to accept Barbara Brackman's statement in her book "Facts and Fabrications...Unraveling the History of Quilts and Slavery." Ms. Brackman wrote on page 7 of her book "We have no historical evidence that quilts were used as signal, codes or maps. The tale of quilts and the Underground Railroad makes a good story, but not good quilt history." The book is a slow read and repetitive.
Not a shred of evidence!.......2007-03-22
Having personally had the privilege to study with three of the Underground Railroad's top historians: David Blight, James Horton, and Lois Horton; All three said that there is not a shred of evidence supporting the idea that quilts served as maps. Quilts were however sewn and sold as fundraisers for abolitionist groups.
Fakelore - absolutely no evidence to back up this story.......2007-03-12
Just do a search on the internet for underground railroad quilts and you will find many web sites that debunk the myths set forth in this book. Although the concept is appealing, there is absolutely no evidence other than one woman's story to back it up. Almost all underground railroad historians and quilt historians label this book as FICTION, not fact! There is so much factual material to learn about the Underground Railroad - it is an insult to the history of black Americans to perpetuate a myth.
Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad.......2007-02-19
Very interesting book, not quite what I had expected. The book traces the story line of a particular person, along with the different perspectives of educators and their arguments of the authenticity of the patterns and their meanings.
I would recommend the book to anyone who enjoys quilting, along with an interest in American History and the importance of the Underground Railroad post Civil War.
Wonderful Reading ! Highly Recommended !.......2006-09-08
I learned about this book through the drama department at my church. We are putting on a play based on the story of the quilt code presented here. I was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. I have visited this booth many times. As an African American and a descendent of survivors of slavery, I understand the concept of an unwritten oral history. So much of my family history that has been handed done orally by the elders in my family would probably be unbelievable also. But that does not mean that it did not occur. The Timeline, Glossary, and Bibliography are excellent tools. This book has helped the cast to start discussions and learn more about this era in United States history.
Book Description
Abraham Lincoln's two great legacies to history –– his extraordinary power as a writer and his leadership during the Civil War –– come together in this close study of the President's use of the telegraph. Invented less than two decades before he entered office, the telegraph came into its own during the Civil War. First it was an instrument of military command and control; then Lincoln seized upon it as a means to take the reins of his generals and lead the war effort. In a jewel–box of historical writing, Wheeler captures Lincoln as he encountered this tool and adapted his floksy rhetorical style to the telegraph creating an intimate bond with his generals, especially Ulysses S. Grant.
MR. LINCOLN'S T–MAILS will follow a naturally gifted writer –– remember, he is the author of the Gettysburg Address –– with a plain style as he learns to use this intimate and far–reaching new–medium.
Customer Reviews:
The E-Mail of the Civil War.......2007-05-21
My interest crept up on me, as I read this book. The focus upon the t-mails alone, initially gave me the sense that the author's choice of direction could become too narrow. But, in Lincoln's own words, as he dealt with his general problem, it becomes clear what a great insight into Lincoln's thinking this approach reveals. Lincoln's management skills, his understanding of human nature, and his resolve to find men who were as focused as he, in destroying Lee's army...are all displayed directly and clearly through his t-mails...including the ones never sent.
His dissatisfaction with his generals leads him to question, to criticize, and finally, even to direct. Today he would have been accused of micro-management....something anathema to the current occupant of the White House. It's through his t-mails that he comes to deeply know and understand their many limitations....and through those same t-mails that he learns the type of men required to win the Civil War. Lincoln then acts decisively in removing the incompetents.....and then, and only then, finally gets the generals he deserves in Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan. His latter t-mails demonstrate his great respect, gratitude, and relief as he allows these generals a wider birth to act.
It's a fine book....to the point, insightful, and leading to a conclusion. Lincoln simply camped out every day at the telegraph office, and Tom Wheeler takes us into his mind....through his communications. T-mail was the e-mail of the Civil War.
A new means of communication.......2007-04-04
This is an easy to read, informative book. Lincoln was the first president to use telegraphy duing wartime to confer with and/or direct his armies. In this age of modern communication we tend to forget how difficult it use to be. The telegraph was invented at the right time and Lincoln was in the right place and of the right frame of mind, to take a giant step forward. This is an interesting history of how Lincoln learned to communicate during a war and how he inserted himself into the conflict.
Moving Washington Electronically to the Battlefield.......2007-03-22
The author, Tom Wheeler, tells the fascinating story of how Abraham Lincoln employed the telegraph to help win the Civil War, narrating Lincoln's use of the telegraph from Secession to Lee's surrender. The telegraph was less than twenty years old when the Civil War began; and while railroads, newspapers, and financial markets used the telegraph, the Federal Government made limited use of the telegraph's lightning speed to transmit messages to distant locations. Lincoln made minimal use of the telegraph during his first year. However, in 1862 Lincoln began his growth as an electronic leader; in January 1862, for the first time, he "used the telegraph to communicate a direct order." Lincoln found his electronic voice in 1862.
Most important, in 1862 the hub of the telegraph network was moved from Army headquarters to the civilian-run War Department next to the White House where Lincoln was in frequent contact with its unfiltered messages. By daily reading all messages received regardless of to whom they were addressed, Lincoln gained detailed information of events on the battlefields. By injecting himself by telegraph into those activities, "whether invited or not, Lincoln maintained his virtual presence in the headquarters of his generals." From this information he developed his leadership abilities to direct, chastise, praise and motivate his field commanders. The author notes "From May 24" (1862) "forward, through the remainder of his presidency, the telegraph was an integral part of Abraham Lincoln's leadership."
The text gives an interesting chronicle of Lincoln's developing use of the telegraph as the Civil War progressed and notes "Here is the amazing fact: Abraham Lincoln applied telegraph's technology to create advantages for the Northern war effort entirely on his own." There was no precedent for him to follow. "The telegraph began to knit together a geographically disparate nation." With the press using the telegraph, for the first time the government let alone a government at war, was confronted by a well-informed constituency. Censorship policies had to be developed while at the same time informing the public. Since military telegrams could be intercepted or false messages sent, complex codes were used for encrypting important transmissions while other messages moved without code or with a simple code. Lincoln's dealing with the wartime press was a political priority which he effectively used. The largest single topic of the telegrams President Lincoln's sent, dealt with the appeal of military court martial death sentences.
When General Grant became general-in-chief, he and Lincoln soon developed workable telegraphic communications. Their use of the telegraph during a military threat to Washington, after some misreading, was effective. By telegram Grant stated he could provide strategic command while an onsite field commander would provide tactical direction.
The telegraph was exploited by Lincoln for his re-election in 1864. He also exploited the telegraph to talk politics with his generals. Ultimately the telegraph's lightning speed allowed for rapid dialog between Grant and the president thus greatly assisting the surrender of Lee's army on April 4, 1865.
In the last chapter the author states "The story of Lincoln's experience with the telegraph is yet another example of his capacity for growth, including his ability to change as circumstances (including technology) warranted. . . . We are the beneficiaries of Lincoln's electronic revolution."
The Union commanders were not "out there" alone but were well observed and occasionally directed by the president. The reader will find this work both informative and interesting
Jarring Juxtapositions..........2007-03-16
This book gives some good insight into Lincoln's learning to lead from afar as he realized what the telegraph could do. He particularly used it to prod over-cautious generals, and backed off its use some when he got competent commanders in place.
If the book stopped there, it would have been fine and interesting. However, Wheeler has a need to surround Lincoln with present-day business book pablum language... "Management by Walking Around" "Electronic leadership." "Getting his management team in place." I found these jarringly out of place and truly trivializing perhaps the finest President we have known. If you want a true look at Lincoln as a developing leader, read Doris Kearn Goodwin's "Cabinet of Rivals" and find out how Lincoln took all his most serious rivals and detractors into his cabinet because he needed the best America had to offer. There are plenty of quotations and direct written material there without the biz school jargon.
Approximately right, precisely wrong.......2007-03-15
An interesting perspective on the earliest wartime usage of "electronic" communication. Today's commonly held notion is that "information is power". But information is, at best, but a child of communication. As all would have to agree, information that is not communicated is...nothing. Lincoln knew this only too well - and long before he knew of T-Mail. His mention of "connecting trains" at Cooper Union makes this quite clear.
Interesting as this work is, somewhat troubling is either the author's lack of understanding of Abe Lincoln, or - potentially more troubling still - his attempt to "casually" recast the substance of the man. The first clue that something is amiss comes at page 96. Regarding free press, Mr. Wheeler states that this right was "at the core of the Constitution that Lincoln was trying to preserve". Not quite true. As Gary Wills ("Lincoln at Gettysburg") so effectively illustrated, Lincoln believed that the Declaration of Independence was the country's true founding document. Lincoln's focus was on "the Union" and its preservation. While this "Union" certainly drafted and adopted the Constitution, for Lincoln the "Union" was the core concept - the reality which, if destroyed, would render any constitution, however magnificent, meaningless. Is this just a bit of technical nit-picking? I don't think so.
Adding to the "haze", a bit later in this work Mr. Wheeler attempts to coerce Lincoln into the "just another politician" mold, suggesting, among other things, that his requests that his generals use their "best judgement" was motivated by blame-aversion and political self-preservation. In short, the more I read the more I wondered just how Mr. Wheeler came to his presentation of the truly great man that Abe Lincoln was, and remains. In summary, while the concept of this work is interesting and well-developed with respect to Lincoln's use of the telegraph, its treatment of Abraham Lincoln himself is, at a minimum, suspect.
Amazon.com
A Timeline of Emancipation
In Forever Free, Eric Foner, the leading historian of America's Reconstruction era, reexamines one of the most misunderstood periods of American history: the struggle to overthrow slavery and establish freedom for African Americans in the years before, during, and after the Civil War. Forever Free is extensively illustrated, with visual essays by scholar Joshua Brown discussing the images of the period alongside Foner's text.
| 1787 |
|
The United States Constitution is ratified, containing several protections for slavery, including the Fugitive Slave Clause, three-fifths clause, and a cause prohibiting the abolition of the slave trade from Africa before 1808. |
| 1829-31 |
|
Publication of Appeal ... to the Coloured Citizens of the World by David Walker and The Liberator, a weekly newspaper edited by William Lloyd Garrison, marks the emergence of a new, militant abolitionist movement. | |
 |
|
Diagram of a slave ship from an 1808 report | |
| 1831 |
August 22 |
Nat Turner launches a slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, resulting in the deaths of 55 whites persons before the uprising is crushed. |
| 1846 |
August |
Congress adjourns after intense sectional debate over the Wilmot Proviso, a proposal to prohibit slavery in all territory acquired in the Mexican-American War. |
| 1860 |
November 6 |
Election of Abraham Lincoln as president, representing the anti-slavery Republican Party |
| 1861 |
February 4 |
Seven seceded southern states form the Confederate States of America |
|
April 12 |
The Confederate attack on South Carolina's Fort Sumter begins the Civil War. | |
 |
|
A woodcut published in an 1831 account of the Nat Turner uprising | |
|
May 24 |
Gen. Benjamin F. Butler declares fugitive slaves at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, "contraband of war," who will not be returned to their owners. |
|
August 6 |
First Confiscation Act provides for the emancipation of slaves employed as laborers by the Confederate army. |
| 1862 |
April 16 |
Congress abolishes slavery in the District of Columbia with compensation to loyal owners, and also appropriates funds for "colonization" of freed slaves outside the United States. |
|
July 17 |
Second Confiscation Act frees slaves of disloyal owners. |
|
September 22 |
Five days after the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln issues the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which warns the South that if the rebellion has not ended by January 1, he will emancipate the slaves. It also promises aid to states that adopt plans for gradual, compensated emancipation and refers to colonization of freed people outside the country. |
| 1863 |
January 1 |
Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in areas under Confederate control. It exempts Tennessee and parts of Louisiana and Virginia and does not apply to the border states, and also authorizes the enlistment of black soldiers. | |
 |
|
"Contrabands" in Cumberland Landing, Virginia, May 1862 | |
|
July 30 |
Lincoln insists black Union soldiers captured by the Confederate army be treated as prisoners of war, not escaped slaves as Confederate president Jefferson Davis has threatened. |
|
December 8 |
Lincoln issues the Proclamation of Amnesty of Reconstruction, offering a pardon and restoration of property (except slave property) to Confederates who take an oath of allegiance to the Union. |
| 1864 |
September 5 |
New constitution of Louisiana abolishes slavery; new constitutions in Maryland, Missouri, and Tennessee follow suit in the next six months. |
|
November 8 |
Lincoln reelected as president. |
|
January 16 |
Gen. William T. Sherman issues Special Field Order 15, setting aside land in coastal South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida for settlement by black families in 40-acre plots. |
|
March 3 |
Congress orders emancipation of wives and children of black soldiers. |
|
March 13 |
Confederate Congress authorizes enlistment of black soldiers. |
|
April 11 |
In the last speech before his death, two days after Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox, Lincoln favors limited black suffrage in the South. | |
 |
|
Company E, 4th U.S. Colored Infantry, at Fort Lincoln, Washington, DC | |
|
April 14 |
Assassination of Lincoln. |
|
December 18 |
Ratification of the 13th Amendment irrevocably abolishes slavery throughout the United States. |
| 1866 |
April 9 |
Over the veto of President Andrew Johnson, Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, establishing citizenship of black Americans and requiring that they be accorded equality before the law, principles later written into the Constitution in the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868. | |
 |
|
John Wilkes Booth assassinates Lincoln, April 1865 | |
| 1867 |
March 2 |
Congress passes the Reconstruction Act, again over President Johnson's veto, extending the right to vote to black men in the South and inaugurating the era of Radical Reconstruction, America's first experiment in interracial democracy. |
| 1877 |
February |
After intense bargaining to resolve the disputed presidential election of 1876, Democrats agree to recognize Republican Rutherford B. Hayes as president, and Hayes agrees to end federal support for remaining Reconstruction governments. | |
 |
|
A March 1867 cartoon, following the passage of the Reconstruction Act, shows President Johnson and his southern allies angrily watching African Americans vote. | |
Book Description
From one of our most distinguished historians comes a groundbreaking new examination of the myths and realities of the period after the Civil War.
Drawing on a wide range of long-neglected documents, Eric Foner places a new emphasis on black experiences and roles during the era. We see African Americans as active agents in overthrowing slavery, in shaping Reconstruction, and creating a legacy long obscured and misunderstood. He compellingly refutes long-standing misconceptions of Reconstruction, and shows how the failures of the time sowed the seeds of the Civil Rights struggles of the 1950s and 60s. Richly illustrated and movingly written, this is an illuminating and essential addition to our understanding of this momentous era.
Customer Reviews:
AN EYE OPENER!!!!.......2007-08-15
As a Civil War Buff, I never read very much about Reconstruction, unless it was an appendage to a book about the Civil War or the years following th Civil War.
However, this book opened my eyes to the true facts of the Reconstruction - in painstaking detail and with much informative narrative, Eric Foner, quoting specific individuals and presenting historical facts about Afro-American conventions and gatherings -- tells us about the part that proud Afro-Americans, newly and joyfully liberated from their former slave years, met, convened, conferred and became leaders in their community -- statesmen, lawmakers and governors of towns, and VOTERS.
However, this freedom, this growth, this liberty was short lived, as President Johnson and the Democratic party of that time effectively put an end to this, not only squashing the Afro-American right to be citizens, but to amend a Constitutional Amendment to further deprive them of their rights and liberty.
The North, as well as the South was to blame for this.
Illustrations, quotes, anecdotes and supporting documentation as well as related input from the early Women Suffrage leaders make for a fascinating historical document that should be in every library and on every reading list.
An Excellent Primer on Reconstruction.......2007-06-16
Author Eric Foner's Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction focuses on the period of United States history from before the Civil War through the period of Reconstruction, with an epilogue that speaks to Civil Rights in the modern era. Throughout the text are six essays written and illustrated by Joshua Brown, the executive director of the American Social History Project. Five distinctive areas are highlighted throughout the text which include the following: the period before the Civil War, mainly concentrating on slavery and the lives of slaves; the Civil War itself, including Abraham Lincoln's strategies and the Emancipation Proclamation; Presidential Reconstruction with President Andrew Johnson; Radical Reconstruction directed by Congress and President Ulysses S. Grant; and the aforementioned Civil Rights in the modern era. Essays written by Brown highlight artwork and photography of the era and attempt to show the mood of the print media with regards to racism and the struggle to integrate American society. Noteworthy is the fact that the book was written in the politically correct times of the early twenty-first century when blacks are described as African-Americans, though Caucasians are described as whites and other ethnic groups like Asian-Americans are described as Chinese.
The life of the average slave is correctly described as dismal throughout the opening chapters. "The Peculiar Institution," as it is called, focused on plantations where slave labor "...was far more demanding than in household slavery, and the death rate among slaves much higher." Descriptions of slavery permeate the text, even listing the hardships slaves endured while being transported to the United States from Africa. One such passage states that the decks on the ships were "`...only 18 inches, so that the unfortunate human beings could not turn around, or even on their sides...and here they are usually chained to the decks by their necks and legs.'"
Battles and atrocities of the war itself are not mentioned in much detail; rather the political battles are the point of focus. On the opening page of the text, General William T. Sherman's "March to the Sea" is described thusly: "Less than three weeks earlier, Sherman, at the head...had captured the city [Savannah] completing his March to the Sea, which cut a swath of destruction...." Not mentioned is the mayhem and criminal behavior exerted by his army which most historians regard as fact. Although many believe the Civil War was exclusively about slavery, Foner does point out that even Lincoln was slow to embrace emancipation and could not support a biracial living arrangement post-war with black leaders. He suggested emigration to Central America or the Caribbean and in December 1861 "...signed an agreement with a shady entrepreneur to settle former slaves on an island off the coast of Haiti." Moreover, the Emancipation Proclamation, "...perhaps the most misunderstood important document in American history," does not have a purpose. Due to Constitutional constraints, it only freed slaves who were held in areas controlled by the Confederacy. It did not free slaves in Border States that did not secede from the Union but still practiced slavery.
Following the surrender of Confederate forces in April 1865, the period termed "Presidential Reconstruction" began in 1865 and ran until 1868. This was President Andrew Johnson's, "...promise of a quick restoration of the Union... [and] a return to normality...." Since Johnson was a Southerner and a true federalist, not much changed under his leadership. Johnson's failures led to a period known as "Radical Reconstruction" and lasted until 1877. This tumultuous period was "...the only attempt by a national government in league with emancipated slaves to fashion an interracial democracy from a slave society." During Radical Reconstruction, three Constitutional amendments were passed; the President of the United States was impeached for the first time in the nation's history; and the radical group named the Ku Klux Klan was formed. Furthermore, the federal government gained the ability to override states' rights with regards to the principle of equal civil rights.
Forever Free concludes with an assessment of the failure of the Reconstruction era, saying that blacks briefly left the servitude of slavery, then quietly returned, being only slightly better off than before. Segregation and discrimination still remained throughout the country, but was especially strong in the south. This failure to properly develop the country in a biracial way has caused many of the issues that are still faced by the United States, including segregation that lasted until the 1960s and discrimination that still exists to this day. The author attempts to show that the failures of Reconstruction are the causes of racial tensions and the reasons for failures of blacks to attain equality. Unfortunately, he fails to hold the black community accountable for some of its own shortcomings, like the high out-of-wedlock birthrate, the greater occurrences of fatherless homes, and the increasing high school dropout rate. The "Second Reconstruction" of the mid-1960s was abandoned just as the first Reconstruction was due to economic and political necessity with still more work to be done.
Overall, one cannot help but feel that Reconstruction was an abysmal failure and that many whites in the South were outright racists. It is difficult to imagine how another civil war did not take place, albeit on a smaller scale, during the two years immediately following the cessation of hostilities based upon the climate that existed in the South. Although Forever Free details events during the almost twenty year period from the beginnings of the Civil War to the end of Reconstruction, very little is written about that is positive. Further, fuller explanations of certain events are not included. For example, as mentioned earlier, Sherman's "March to the Sea" is only referred to casually without descriptions of the pure horror his army unleashed on parts of the south that might have affected the behavior by some Southerners after the war. Foner also fails to fully expand upon Andrew Johnson's impeachment, a historically significant event which led to the loss of power by the president and for all practical purposes, the country being run by Congress. This resulted in the election of another corrupt president, Ulysses S. Grant, in 1868. Finally, one is struck by the negative portrayals of black Americans throughout the period. According to Brown, there was little, if any, artwork or photographic images of blacks that did not exploit them or show them as lazy or less than intelligent. The tone of the book was negative and will lead those who are unknowledgeable about Reconstruction to believe that very little good came of it.
Emancipation, Reconstruction, and Civil Rights.......2007-04-29
Forever Free, by Eric Foner, is a condensed telling of how African-Americans went from slaves to full citizens. While not as detailed as his book on Reconstruction, or even as detailed as his Short History of Reconstruction, Foner's Forever Free does a good job introducing the reader to the struggles the freed blacks faced after emancipation in the 1860s, and the hardships they faced through a hundred years of Jim Crow and intimidation, north and south, to the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th Century.
An Introduction to Reconstruction.......2006-05-25
As a result of Ken Burns's famous television series, "The Civil War" many Americans learned about this seminal event in our history. For all its virtues, Burns's series was properly criticized for deemphasizing the role of slavery in the conflict and for not focusing on the impact of the Civil War on African Americans.
Eric Foner's "Forever Free" is part of an ambitious project designed to carry forward the Civil War story with emphasis on Emancipation an on the attempt to reconstruct the South to produce a true multi-racial society. The book is part of an ongoing effort by the Forever Free Foundation to produce a film to make the story of Reconstruction accessible and understandable to a broad audience. Foner is Professor of History at Columbia University and the author of among other things, "Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863 -- 1877 a detailed scholarly study of this controversial period. He is assisted in this book by Joshua Brown, executive director of the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning at the City University of New York. In the book, Brown complements Foner's text with six chapters of photographs, drawings and other artifacts of popular American culture illustrating the changing perception of African Americans.
Until relatively recently, many historians treating Reconstruction saw it as a tragic mistake -- as an attempt by Radical Republicans to foist corrupt governments on the defeated South dominated by unscrupulous whites and uneducated African Americans and to take vengeance on the South for the Civil War. The African American historian W.E.B. DuBois was among the first to challenge this view with his book "Black Reconstruction" and Foner, and many contemporary historians, follow in his footsteps. While recognizing the failings of Reconstruction, Foner sees it as a noble effort to end slavery and to give all Americans, white and African Americans, political and economic rights and to create, for the first time, a society truly approximating ideals of equality. Reconstruction ultimately failed due to the war-weariness and indifference of the North and to resistance and frequently terrorism within the white South.
Foner tells a complex story simply and clearly. This is not a book that breaks new scholarly ground. The book is intended for a large public which, in general, lacks a detailed understanding of our Nation's history. Foner begins with a brief discussion of slavery in the pre-War South and follows this with a discussion of the Civil War focusing on President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863), its importance and its effect. But the heart of the story lies in the Reconstruction years, as Foner describes President Andrew Johnson's conciliatory policy of Presidential Reconstruction followed by the Constitutional Amendments of the Reconstruction years and Congressional Reconstruction's attempt to give meaning to ideals of freedom and equality. The story draws upon difficult events on the national arena and on complex events in each of the Southern states. Ultimately, Reconstruction was defeated, or rather postponed, following the disputed Presidential election of 1876 and the Compromise of 1877. Foner describes the reinstitution of Jim Crow in the South which aimed to keep African Americans in subjection. An all too brief concluding section discusses the Civil Rights movement and America's ongoing struggle to secure racial equality.
The photographic commentary, both in Foner's text and in Brown's essays, adds a great deal of immediacy to the book, not the least of which derives from showing the reader some of the popular culture of the day. Many will find this unfamiliar and fascinating.
The Reconstruction era remains a too-little known and highly controversial area of our history. It will encourage the reader to engage with the topic and to think about freedom and its significance and of the promise of America. The book includes a brief bibliography for those moved to further reading and study.
Robin Friedman
Recycled text; pictures excellent.......2006-04-30
This is a rehash of Foner's earlier books on Reconstruction. Nothing new there, except that his Marxism is finally out of the closet. (His main criticism of Reconstruction is that it was not seized as an opportunity for land redistribution and the introduction of socialism in the US). The alternating chapters on photos by Joshua Brown are, in pleasant contrast, fascinating, new and well-done. Foner chapters: 0 stars; Brown chapters: 5 stars; thus average rating.
Average customer rating:
- Looking forward to reading again
- Eh-
- Lyrical, small history
- It ain't easy
- Let's Switch Focus
|
Cold Mountain: A Novel
Charles Frazier
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0375700757
Release Date: 1998-08-12 |
Amazon.com
This unabridged audio version of Cold Mountain, read by author Charles Frazier, deserves at least as much acclaim as the bestselling print edition, which won the National Book Award. The tale chronicles a Confederate army deserter's search for home and love in the last days of the Civil War.
Much has been made of the story's homage to The Odyssey, the origins of which are found in an oral tradition. One can't help but hear echoes of Homer when listening to Frazier's soft, deliberate voice give life to his lyrical writing and to his understated, yet convincing rendering of the overwhelming events of war. Both Frazier's prose and reading are leisurely, recalling a slow foot pace. His delivery is uniquely suited to Innman's arduous, adventure-filled walk toward home and to the possibility of a reunion with Ada, the woman he loves. The author's reading does equal justice to Ada, who is being transformed by her struggle for survival on her father's farm. There is precious little dialogue, and Frazier makes no effort at acting out the characters.
One small irritation in the production is a beeping noise at the end of each side. Another minor complaint is that the tapes don't have individual boxes, which was perhaps an attempt to make the overall package appear more booklike. The recording does, however, make deft use of two brief musical interludes. In a subtle twist, the fiddle music that opens the first cassette, when repeated as an accompaniment to the epilogue, carries a bittersweet and unexpected resonance. By all means, forgive Random House Audio the tiny glitches, pass over that slender abridged version, and take home the real thing. This audiocassette is a journey that will leave few listeners unchanged by the experience. (Running time: 14.5 hours, 12 cassettes) --Naomi J. Cohn
Book Description
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE
One of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, Charles Frazier's
Cold Mountain is a masterpiece that is at once an enthralling adventure, a stirring love story, and a luminous evocation of a vanished American in all its savagery, solitude, and splendor.
Sorely wounded and fatally disillusioned in the fighting at Petersburg, Inman, a Confederate soldier, decides to walk back to his home in the Blue Ridge Mountains and to Ada, the woman he loved there years before. His trek across the disintegrating South brings him into intimate and sometimes lethal converse with slaves and marauders, bounty hunters and witches, both helpful and malign. At the same time, Ada is trying to revive her father's derelict farm and learn to survive in a world where the old certainties have been swept away. As it interweaves their stories,
Cold Mountain asserts itself as an authentic American
Odyssey--hugely powerful, majestically lovely, and keenly moving.
Customer Reviews:
Looking forward to reading again.......2007-09-12
This award winning story takes us back to the waning years of the Civil War in the lands east of Tennessee. The story uses two action fronts to relate the struggle of one ex-confederate soldier, Inman, to reach his beloved Ada. Both are struggling just to survive. He must cross hundreds of miles of rugged terrain on foot while simultaneously avoiding those who would kill him for desertion while Ada must learn how to survive on the farm she inherited from her recently deceased father. The vocabulary and descriptions in Cold Mountain are so very rich and full of colorful imagery that it is sometimes easy to mistake the prose for poetry. And though recently published, I'm sure that this passionate novel will constitute a welcome addition to the canon of American literature. Highest recommendations.
If you saw the movie, disregard it. Doesn't even compare to this work of literature.
Eh-.......2007-09-08
I just read a review from another reader that said that they threw this book in the trash when they were about 100 pages from the end. I am at that point, and while I won't throw it away, I am struggling to get through it. It's not that I feel it's written poorly or the characters lack depth, it's just boring. A whole page devoted to the task of yard work. I don't enjoy yard work so why would I want to read page after page about doing it? I know there there are other things going on but the detailed descriptions of corn cribs and bedspreads do not entice me to turn the page. It's not the worst book I've ever read, but I wouldn't recommend spending full price on it. Do go near it if you have ADD.
Lyrical, small history.......2007-09-05
I am realy coming to appreciate the modern trend to approach historical fiction from the standpoint of the small, personal history rather than the large, sweeping saga. Cold Mountain takes you down to the grassroots of the Civil War, a view you won't find in Gone with the Wind. (no offense intended - I enjoy those epic novels as well!) Frazier's language draws clear pictures that draw you into his protaganist's journey. I actually had no desire to see the movie, as the book had been so well brought to life in my mind by Frazier's words.
It ain't easy.......2007-08-26
Wow, just finished it. I had seen the movie, and knew that I liked it, but had forgotten the ending by the time I got to the book. My first impression was that it was not going to be something that I was just going to breeze through. The pictures that Frazier paints are so in depth, but rather than become cumbersome, it drew me in even more. The character development was unlike anything that I've ever read. It made me long for simpler times and the day when I can get out of the rat race and settle onto a farm myself. Highly recommended.
Let's Switch Focus .......2007-07-02
'Cold Mountian' was a book of great character development, but contained little else. When we first decided to read this book, both Kyle and I noticed that we could find many copies of it at the used bookstores that we frequented. This is usually a bad sign that we did not notice. Most of the story is occupied by the adventures of Inman on his odyssey home as he turns-tail from the fighting during the Civil War. He meets many interesting characters that always seem to cause problems for his journey following his overcome of the last troublesome situation. While the story of Inman hogs the book, the side account of Ada and her pursuit to revive the family farm gives us a glimpse of how 'Cold Mountain' might be a National Award Winner. The character development of Ada and her helping-hand, Ruby, is much more elaborate and enticing to the reader. I would feel better about seeing that gold sticker on the front cover of this book had I been able to focus my attention on Ada and Ruby instead of the overwhelming conflicts of Inman.
Book Description
"If you survive your first day, I'll promote you."
So promised George Wilson's World War II commanding officer in the hedgerows of Normandy -- and it was to be a promise dramatically fulfilled. From July, 1944, to the closing days of the war, from the first penetration of the Siegfried Line to the Nazis' last desperate charge in the Battle of the Bulge, Wilson fought in the thickest of the action, helping take the small towns of northern France and Belgium building by building.
Of all the men and officers who started out in Company F of the 4th Infantry Division with him, Wilson was the only one who finished. In the end, he felt not like a conqueror or a victor, but an exhausted survivor, left with nothing but his life -- and his emotions.
If You Survive
One of the great first-person accounts of the making of a combat veteran, in the last, most violent months of World War II.
Customer Reviews:
Belonging to the short list of must own WWII books.......2007-06-23
Just as Eugene Sledges, "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa", is the standard bearer for books written about the Marine island hopping campaign, "If You Survive" by George Wilson will be considered to be among the very best autobiographical accounts of being an Army infantry officer during the post D-Day European campaign in WWII. Wilson's account is poignant, rings true, and offers a rare perspective of a young lieutenant leading men into combat in the race to Germany in 1944. It should be standard reading for all NCOs and young officers regardless of their military occupational specialty. You'll find it hard to put down as Wilson's narration leads the reader from one harrowing combat battle to the next. All this was happening while the platoons and the companies commanded by the author were steadily reduced through the attrition of casualties and combat fatigue. A fascinating story.
If You Survive.......2007-04-10
Excellent read, this guy story could be mine, you will enjoy it, fast read
One excellent Book.......2007-04-01
I have read many, many books in my life. I have read dozens of books on WWII. This book is at the top of my list for reading. I've read it three times in the short time I've owned it. It is compelling in it's frankness. Rarely does an author bring you into the war with his narrative, as George Wilson does. The story allows one to forget his troubles, and be swept into the past. The men who fought in WWII have been called our Greatest Generation. George Wilson's book, 'If You Survive: From Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge to the End of World War II, One American Officer's Riveting True Story' helps you understand why.
An excellent book, and excellent read. Buy it and enjoy!
Interesting way to learn about WWII and being a soldier .......2007-03-09
My Dad (who was a tail gunner in a plane during the Battle of the Bulge) recommended this book to my son in middle school. My son, and in turn, many kids in his social studies class and his teacher also gave the book rave reviews. It is an easy read from a soldier's perspective that takes you through the big European ground battles of WWII. A much more interesting way to learn history and make it "come alive". My son and many of his friends have gone to other WWII books because of their interest in WWII and I think this book contributed greatly to that interest. George- thanks !
OOPS..........2007-01-17
I really enjoyed this book. One odd thing though, the last 40 or so pages were missing. You could see where the book cover area of the binder was too big for the shortened book and the wording ran onto the back cover. I really wanted to finish it, the library was closed for holiday, and it was cheap enough, so I just bought another one (complete) at Barnes & Noble.
Book Description
Classic Civil War novel set on a plantation in the Natchez country.
Customer Reviews:
Sorrow in the Deep South.......2004-05-13
A bestseller in 1934, Stark Young's "So Red the Rose" is an odd study of Mississippi plantation life before, during, and after the Civil War. Stark Young was one of America's leading drama critics of the 20th Century (he died in 1963), and his style seems to have been influenced by the dramatists Chekhov (whose plays were translated by Young) and Maeterlinck. There is a dramatis personae at the beginning of the book, which is helpful because there is no protagonist per se. The plot shifts from character to character and many a character is introduced and then never seen again (just as in real life). The narrative in the first half is quite lanquid, as Young describes the aura of dolce far niente at neighboring plantations near Natchez. When the War comes, there are the classic complaints about petty inconveniences and the assurances that the whole thing will be over in a couple of months. But then the antebellum dream is slowly surrounded by the nightmare of war. Mississippi is invaded and Natchez is bombarded. Two of the young men in the families who joined the Confederate Army do not come back: one is killed, the other presumed dead. A patriarch, returning ill from the front, dies of natural causes. A family is given 20 minutes to vacate their mansion before it is burned down. Then, after the War, when their economic system has been obliterated and their properties mortgaged, the families accept it with a bitter resignation. All this is related in a calm, academic manner, and there may be those readers who find the telling a little cold. But I think Young, a refined critic, was determined not to cater to a taste for 1890's melodrama. His style is straightforward but restrained, an appropriate tone for a tale of Southern aristocracy enduring a Civil Reign of Terror.
How True the Fiction.......2001-06-20
A most enjoyable, fictional, historical account of life in the South during and after the Civil War. Enough truth to make it very believable and the author's descriptive terminology places you in with the characters so that you become very involved with the story personally. A lot of history is learned about Civil War military blunders that certainly effected the outcome of the war. I can understand why they made a movie of this book. It would be a good one to bring back as TV miniseries.
Very engaging look into the culture of the antebellum South........1999-02-22
"So Red the Rose" is a very engaging tale that affords the reader an insight into the culture and attitudes of the antebellum South that became the Confederacy. However, my fellow McGehee descendants (the author was a cousin of actual McGehees in Mississippi) need to bear in mind as they read that this is a NOVEL, not a genealogical register or an entirely true family history.
Classic Civil War novel from the Southern point of view.......1998-08-24
So Red the Rose is a classic fictional account of the Civil War years from the Southern point of view by one of the leading writers of the so-called Southern Renaissance of the first half of the 20th Century. Stark Young grew up among the kind of people with whom he populates his novel, and his novel focuses on what he called "the life of the affections."
So Red the Rose was a best-seller in he 1930's and was made into a movie. Its popularity was eclipsed a few years after its publication by Gone With the Wind. Some critics consider So Red the Rose a better book.
The novel describes a Mississippi family and how they were affected by the war. I found the book deeply moving and engrossing; although I live in a different century, live in a different part of the country than the characters, and hold a different set of values in regard to race, I found myself understanding them, relating to them, and liking them.
Average customer rating:
- School Review
- The heroing tale of a young girl taking a stand
- Behind Rebel Lines
- The good Forcer
- A woman's extraordinary role in the civil war
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Behind Rebel Lines: The Incredible Story of Emma Edmonds, Civil War Spy
Seymour Reit
Manufacturer: Gulliver Books Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0152164278 |
Book Description
In 1861, when war erupted between the States, President Lincoln made an impassioned plea for volunteers. Determined not to remain on the sidelines, Emma Edmonds cropped her hair, donned men’s clothing, and enlisted in the Union Army. Posing in turn as a slave, peddler, washerwoman, and fop, Emma became a cunning master of disguise, risking discovery and death at every turn behind Confederate lines.
Customer Reviews:
School Review.......2006-12-15
Disguised as a union soldier, Emma would risk her life for her country. Emma Edmonds was born in Saint John, Canada in 1840. When she was sixteen years old she ran away to the United States. When she was twenty one, President Lincoln made a request for seventy five thousand men to volunteer for the Army. She decided that she wanted to be a field nurse for the Union Army but those jobs were so dangerous that they were only given to men. So she cut her hair short, dressed up like a man, and enlisted under the name Franklin Thompson. Emma was assigned to the Second Regiment of Michigan Volunteers. The next day she and all the others in her Regiment were off to training camp. Upset at hearing the news that one of her friends had died in the war, Emma went to go see a woman named Mrs. Butler who lived on the camp with the soldiers. Emma started talking and she ended up telling her secret identity. After that day, Mrs. Butler became Emma's closest friend and the only one who new here secret. One day news came to the camp that a Union spy had been killed at a rebel camp. Now they needed a new spy and Emma volunteered. So she disguised herself as a black slave named Cuff. She snuck onto a rebel camp to gather any valuable information. She found out how many weapons they had, where people were hiding, anything that would help the union defeat the rebels. Once she had gathered enough information, she snuck back to the Union camp. With this information, the union began to fight. Emma became very busy in the hospital as more and more got injured. As the union reached a river, they had to stop and make a bridge across it which would take weeks. The Union army didn't have enough information to make an attack. It was time for Emma to become a spy again. This time she dressed up as a middle aged peddler woman. In this disguise she had no trouble at all getting into the camp and she was allowed to walk around freely. She found out a lot of useful information including the fact that the rebels had an ambush waiting for the union troops. She then rode away on a one of the rebel's horses. They were so impressed with Emma's work that they made her a messenger during all the fighting. For many months Emma was sent off on spy missions and was successful on all of them. Emma returned to being a nurse as the war went on. She was then struck with malaria. She couldn't go to the hospital she worked at because then they would find out she was a girl. So she decided to leave, get the help she needed and then come back. So she left and checked herself into a hospital. Once she got her malaria under control, she saw a union poster in a window. It said that Franklin Thompson was absent without leave. He was known as a deserter. Emma was upset but she continued being a nurse under her rightful name. Later on, after she was married she petitioned the war department to review her case. She had her military rights restored and received and honorable discharge. Other troops were surprised to find out that their old friend Frank Thompson was actually Emma Edmonds. Emma lived in La Porte until her death in 1898. This is a good book full of adventure and suspense.
I thought it was cool how Emma was able to pull off so many disguises. Emma's biggest disguise was being a man. She was able to fool everyone, even her fellow soldiers who she became friends with, that she was a guy. She pulled it off without anyone ever asking questions. Also, there was her favorite disguise, the black slave named Cuff. She was again pretending to be a guy and she was able to come up with something to make her skin look dark. She was able to fool everyone in the rebel camp. Another disguise was as a peddler woman. Even though she was dressed up as a girl, no one ever thought that she actually looked like a real girl. She was even able to fool them then.
Emma was brave and took many risks during her life. One big risk was just signing up. She could have gotten into a lot of trouble if they found out that she was lying and was a girl. And being in the middle of a war is dangerous too. Another risk was when Emma disguised herself as Mr. Mayberry. She was supposed to lead a man, who was leaking union information to the rebels, into a union ambush. If anything went wrong she could've ended up dead and no one would have known. Also, when she was dressed up as a black slave woman, she could have gotten killed. She found secret rebel documents and was going to take them back to her camp. But if she was caught with them they probably would have killed her.
When ever Emma made a decision she stuck to it and didn't turn back. For example, when she decided to run away. She was only sixteen and was afraid of her dad. But she set her fears aside and made the decision to leave and she was happy about it. Another example is when she decided to volunteer for the Army. She was scared and worried that they wouldn't believe her disguise. But she made her decision and wasn't going to second guess herself. Also, when she wanted to become a spy. It was dangerous but she wanted to do it anyway. And even after Mrs. Butler tried and tried to convince her not to do it, Emma stuck to her decision.
This is a great book that will make you not want to put it down. I would recommend it to most people who like biographies and adventure story. This book may not interest everyone but overall it was good.
C. Chapman
The heroing tale of a young girl taking a stand.......2006-02-21
Emma Edmonds is a young girl from Canada, living in the North during the Civil War. She's always been outgoing and bold- never able to stay in one place at a time. So when she feels a calling to join the Union army, she does what any rebellious girl would do- cuts her hair, gets the uniform, and joins up. At first she's awkward and unsure- terrified that she'll be discovered. She sees the whole thing as a big adventure-that is, until an old love interest of hers is killed in the war. She decides to really take a stand and looks at the war in a whole different way. She fights with all her power-until she gets word that a Union spy was recently killed by the Confederates. She quickly lands the job of replacement. She goes across the rebel lines, a different disguise each time, and collects useful information which helped to save many battles.
Emma Edmonds, whom I had never heard of before reading the book, is a facinating character. How she summoned the courage to join the army I will never know. A very good book, but a little slow in places.
Behind Rebel Lines.......2005-05-03
I didn't really like this book. I didn't really like the author's writing style, it was a little hard to understand and follow. The subject wasn't very interesting to me. I think that it would have been hard to try to re-create a story about the civil war. I think that the author did good on that.
I wouldn't really recommend this book unless you are interested in things about the army. I think that it was cool though that a woman would take that kind of risk just to be in combat. Also it was cool that she was that passionate about serving her country.
The good Forcer.......2004-12-11
My grandma forced me to read "Behind Rebel Lines". But it turned out to be an awsome and interesting book!
A woman's extraordinary role in the civil war.......2003-12-28
Behind the Lines is an adaptation of the Emma Edmonds story for young adults. Emma Edmonds was a native of Saint John New Brunswick, Canada who left for the United States several years prior to the war. She eventually found her way to Michigan where, following the outbreak of war, she under the alias Franklin Thompson enlisted with the 2nd Michigan Infantry. She served with the unit as an orderly for about a year before she volunteered herself as a spy, and during the course of the next year went on eleven assignments. Not only were her spying activities dangerous, but she always had to remain vigilant among her comrades as well, lest her identity be discovered. This is a very interesting and entertaining bit of history, one that is sure to interest even some of those who insist that history is "bo-ring".
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