Author: Edward Caudill
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442201274
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 239
Book Description
General William Tecumseh Sherman's devastating "March to the Sea" in 1864 burned a swath through the cities and countryside of Georgia and into the history of the American Civil War. As they moved from Atlanta to Savannah—destroying homes, buildings, and crops; killing livestock; and consuming supplies—Sherman and the Union army ignited not only southern property, but also imaginations, in both the North and the South. By the time of the general's death in 1891, when one said "The March," no explanation was required. That remains true today. Legends and myths about Sherman began forming during the March itself, and took more definitive shape in the industrial age in the late-nineteenth century. Sherman's March in Myth and Memory examines the emergence of various myths surrounding one of the most enduring campaigns in the annals of military history. Edward Caudill and Paul Ashdown provide a brief overview of Sherman's life and his March, but their focus is on how these myths came about—such as one description of a "60-mile wide path of destruction"—and how legends about Sherman and his campaign have served a variety of interests. Caudill and Ashdown argue that these myths have been employed by groups as disparate as those endorsing the Old South aristocracy and its "Lost Cause," and by others who saw the March as evidence of the superiority of industrialism in modern America over a retreating agrarianism. Sherman's March in Myth and Memory looks at the general's treatment in the press, among historians, on stage and screen, and in literature, from the time of the March to the present day. The authors show us the many ways in which Sherman has been portrayed in the media and popular culture, and how his devastating March has been stamped into our collective memory.
Sherman's March in Myth and Memory
Author: Edward Caudill
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442201274
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 239
Book Description
General William Tecumseh Sherman's devastating "March to the Sea" in 1864 burned a swath through the cities and countryside of Georgia and into the history of the American Civil War. As they moved from Atlanta to Savannah—destroying homes, buildings, and crops; killing livestock; and consuming supplies—Sherman and the Union army ignited not only southern property, but also imaginations, in both the North and the South. By the time of the general's death in 1891, when one said "The March," no explanation was required. That remains true today. Legends and myths about Sherman began forming during the March itself, and took more definitive shape in the industrial age in the late-nineteenth century. Sherman's March in Myth and Memory examines the emergence of various myths surrounding one of the most enduring campaigns in the annals of military history. Edward Caudill and Paul Ashdown provide a brief overview of Sherman's life and his March, but their focus is on how these myths came about—such as one description of a "60-mile wide path of destruction"—and how legends about Sherman and his campaign have served a variety of interests. Caudill and Ashdown argue that these myths have been employed by groups as disparate as those endorsing the Old South aristocracy and its "Lost Cause," and by others who saw the March as evidence of the superiority of industrialism in modern America over a retreating agrarianism. Sherman's March in Myth and Memory looks at the general's treatment in the press, among historians, on stage and screen, and in literature, from the time of the March to the present day. The authors show us the many ways in which Sherman has been portrayed in the media and popular culture, and how his devastating March has been stamped into our collective memory.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442201274
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 239
Book Description
General William Tecumseh Sherman's devastating "March to the Sea" in 1864 burned a swath through the cities and countryside of Georgia and into the history of the American Civil War. As they moved from Atlanta to Savannah—destroying homes, buildings, and crops; killing livestock; and consuming supplies—Sherman and the Union army ignited not only southern property, but also imaginations, in both the North and the South. By the time of the general's death in 1891, when one said "The March," no explanation was required. That remains true today. Legends and myths about Sherman began forming during the March itself, and took more definitive shape in the industrial age in the late-nineteenth century. Sherman's March in Myth and Memory examines the emergence of various myths surrounding one of the most enduring campaigns in the annals of military history. Edward Caudill and Paul Ashdown provide a brief overview of Sherman's life and his March, but their focus is on how these myths came about—such as one description of a "60-mile wide path of destruction"—and how legends about Sherman and his campaign have served a variety of interests. Caudill and Ashdown argue that these myths have been employed by groups as disparate as those endorsing the Old South aristocracy and its "Lost Cause," and by others who saw the March as evidence of the superiority of industrialism in modern America over a retreating agrarianism. Sherman's March in Myth and Memory looks at the general's treatment in the press, among historians, on stage and screen, and in literature, from the time of the March to the present day. The authors show us the many ways in which Sherman has been portrayed in the media and popular culture, and how his devastating March has been stamped into our collective memory.
Saturday Review
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Books
Languages : en
Pages : 1486
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Books
Languages : en
Pages : 1486
Book Description
South
Author: James H. Street
Publisher: eNet Press
ISBN: 1618864874
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 301
Book Description
James Street was born and raised in the South and was one of its most passionate and eloquent voices. Through this collection of articles from Holiday and the Saturday Evening Post the people and the cities of the South come to life ― legends are explored, contradictions examined, historical milestones noted, personal anecdotes retold, and quips and quotes of a 1950's generation recorded. Flowing through his stories are the great rivers of the South, which although sometimes merry and sometimes gloomy, wind and roll and tumble through the collection like liquid poetry. To James Street the South was heaven and :contained everything good and big and wonderful in life" ― the things that made people human. The South was a love he cherished to himself and championed to the nations. For him, it was "the measure of life, the temper of men, and the crucible of artistic sensibility."
Publisher: eNet Press
ISBN: 1618864874
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 301
Book Description
James Street was born and raised in the South and was one of its most passionate and eloquent voices. Through this collection of articles from Holiday and the Saturday Evening Post the people and the cities of the South come to life ― legends are explored, contradictions examined, historical milestones noted, personal anecdotes retold, and quips and quotes of a 1950's generation recorded. Flowing through his stories are the great rivers of the South, which although sometimes merry and sometimes gloomy, wind and roll and tumble through the collection like liquid poetry. To James Street the South was heaven and :contained everything good and big and wonderful in life" ― the things that made people human. The South was a love he cherished to himself and championed to the nations. For him, it was "the measure of life, the temper of men, and the crucible of artistic sensibility."
Pride of Possession
Author: James Street
Publisher: eNet Press
ISBN: 1618864785
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 183
Book Description
A Young Adult Adventure set in the wilds of the Great Smokey Mountains. When Braith McCable is attacked by a wild boar, his son Kiah watches the father he idolizes gored to death -- a father so huge, so last forever, that it seems to Kiah that his Pa has simply stepped out of reach and has not really departed, in spite of what the preacher says. During the paralyzing moments of the boar's attack, Kiah stands by unable to act and later suffers from such great guilt and shame, that he vows to avenge his father's death. Together with two friends and couple of mutt pups, Kiah begins the seemingly hopeless task of organizing and executing a hunt -- a secret and dangerous undertaking that he must plan against the wishes of his mother. Published posthumously, this is a story that could very well surpass The Biscuit Eater -- James Street's most famous book also about boys and hunting dogs. Pride of Possession is a sensitive and insightful account that deals equally well with the adolescent struggles of Kiah and his friends as well as the adults with whom they are often in conflict. Together with Street's memorable portrait of the Smokey Mountains and a family at odds with the unthinkable, this is a book that will linger long after the last page is read.
Publisher: eNet Press
ISBN: 1618864785
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 183
Book Description
A Young Adult Adventure set in the wilds of the Great Smokey Mountains. When Braith McCable is attacked by a wild boar, his son Kiah watches the father he idolizes gored to death -- a father so huge, so last forever, that it seems to Kiah that his Pa has simply stepped out of reach and has not really departed, in spite of what the preacher says. During the paralyzing moments of the boar's attack, Kiah stands by unable to act and later suffers from such great guilt and shame, that he vows to avenge his father's death. Together with two friends and couple of mutt pups, Kiah begins the seemingly hopeless task of organizing and executing a hunt -- a secret and dangerous undertaking that he must plan against the wishes of his mother. Published posthumously, this is a story that could very well surpass The Biscuit Eater -- James Street's most famous book also about boys and hunting dogs. Pride of Possession is a sensitive and insightful account that deals equally well with the adolescent struggles of Kiah and his friends as well as the adults with whom they are often in conflict. Together with Street's memorable portrait of the Smokey Mountains and a family at odds with the unthinkable, this is a book that will linger long after the last page is read.
Southern Writers
Author: Joseph M. Flora
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807131237
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 498
Book Description
This new edition of Southern Writers assumes its distinguished predecessor's place as the essential reference on literary artists of the American South. Broadly expanded and thoroughly revised, it boasts 604 entries-nearly double the earlier edition's-written by 264 scholars. For every figure major and minor, from the venerable and canonical to the fresh and innovative, a biographical sketch and chronological list of published works provide comprehensive, concise, up-to-date information. Here in one convenient source are the South's novelists and short story writers, poets and dramatists, memoirists and essayists, journalists, scholars, and biographers from the colonial period to the twenty-first century. What constitutes a "southern writer" is always a matter for debate. Editors Joseph M. Flora and Amber Vogel have used a generous definition that turns on having a significant connection to the region, in either a personal or literary sense. New to this volume are younger writers who have emerged in the quarter century since the dictionary's original publication, as well as older talents previously unknown or unacknowledged. For almost every writer found in the previous edition, a new biography has been commissioned. Drawn from the very best minds on southern literature and covering the full spectrum of its practitioners, Southern Writers is an indispensable reference book for anyone intrigued by the subject.
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807131237
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 498
Book Description
This new edition of Southern Writers assumes its distinguished predecessor's place as the essential reference on literary artists of the American South. Broadly expanded and thoroughly revised, it boasts 604 entries-nearly double the earlier edition's-written by 264 scholars. For every figure major and minor, from the venerable and canonical to the fresh and innovative, a biographical sketch and chronological list of published works provide comprehensive, concise, up-to-date information. Here in one convenient source are the South's novelists and short story writers, poets and dramatists, memoirists and essayists, journalists, scholars, and biographers from the colonial period to the twenty-first century. What constitutes a "southern writer" is always a matter for debate. Editors Joseph M. Flora and Amber Vogel have used a generous definition that turns on having a significant connection to the region, in either a personal or literary sense. New to this volume are younger writers who have emerged in the quarter century since the dictionary's original publication, as well as older talents previously unknown or unacknowledged. For almost every writer found in the previous edition, a new biography has been commissioned. Drawn from the very best minds on southern literature and covering the full spectrum of its practitioners, Southern Writers is an indispensable reference book for anyone intrigued by the subject.
The High Calling
Author: James H. Street
Publisher: eNet Press
ISBN: 1618864939
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 337
Book Description
Baptist preacher, London Wingo, first introduced in The Gauntlet, returns to Linden, Missouri after a twenty year absence to face what is to be the greatest crisis in his ministerial and parental career. London and his wife, Kathie, had built a church in Linden, Missouri where they faced the trials and triumphs of a first ministry. When Kathie died, however, London accepted a position in Kansas City, and departed abruptly with his his baby daughter. London left Linden as a young widower ― stunned, helpless and alone ― but returns as man in his prime ― successful, passionate about his calling, and the loving father of a beloved, spirited daughter ― ready to leave the big leagues for the minors and address the sorrows he left behind. London looks forward to the challenge of organizing a new church and to writing a biography of Roger Williams, a project he has been planning for years. But, most of all, he believes in the mystic properties of farms and small towns and hopes that his daughter, a free soul who doesn't quite fit anywhere, will discover a way to find herself. London succeeds at first in quieting the dissident elements in his ministry by placing the critics in important positions in the church hierarchy. But Paige becomes interested in Vance Andrews who is engaged to the daughter of one of London's most powerful enemies and London fears trouble is ahead. As London faces this crisis, his faith is bulwarked by a woman who encourages and helps him with his parish problems ― Forrest Roberts, a woman of understanding and keen awareness; a woman who sparks the promise of new love. The High Calling is a warm, moving novel which, through its insights into the career of a Baptist preacher, succeeds in many ways to do for the Protestant minister what The Cardinal did for the Catholic priest. Yet perhaps this exciting, dramatic sequel to The Gauntlet is most distinguished for its portrayal of London Wingo, who comes through as a very human, sympathetic character, more mature and wiser than in his younger days.
Publisher: eNet Press
ISBN: 1618864939
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 337
Book Description
Baptist preacher, London Wingo, first introduced in The Gauntlet, returns to Linden, Missouri after a twenty year absence to face what is to be the greatest crisis in his ministerial and parental career. London and his wife, Kathie, had built a church in Linden, Missouri where they faced the trials and triumphs of a first ministry. When Kathie died, however, London accepted a position in Kansas City, and departed abruptly with his his baby daughter. London left Linden as a young widower ― stunned, helpless and alone ― but returns as man in his prime ― successful, passionate about his calling, and the loving father of a beloved, spirited daughter ― ready to leave the big leagues for the minors and address the sorrows he left behind. London looks forward to the challenge of organizing a new church and to writing a biography of Roger Williams, a project he has been planning for years. But, most of all, he believes in the mystic properties of farms and small towns and hopes that his daughter, a free soul who doesn't quite fit anywhere, will discover a way to find herself. London succeeds at first in quieting the dissident elements in his ministry by placing the critics in important positions in the church hierarchy. But Paige becomes interested in Vance Andrews who is engaged to the daughter of one of London's most powerful enemies and London fears trouble is ahead. As London faces this crisis, his faith is bulwarked by a woman who encourages and helps him with his parish problems ― Forrest Roberts, a woman of understanding and keen awareness; a woman who sparks the promise of new love. The High Calling is a warm, moving novel which, through its insights into the career of a Baptist preacher, succeeds in many ways to do for the Protestant minister what The Cardinal did for the Catholic priest. Yet perhaps this exciting, dramatic sequel to The Gauntlet is most distinguished for its portrayal of London Wingo, who comes through as a very human, sympathetic character, more mature and wiser than in his younger days.
The Golden Key and Other Short Stories
Author: James H Street
Publisher: eNet Press
ISBN: 1618864661
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 295
Book Description
With just the right flourish of his pen, author James Street takes his readers for a walk in the footsteps of the men and women who populated the small towns and piney woods of his beloved home state, Mississippi. Street turns his singular experiences into moving and thought provoking universal truths — seeing beyond tarnished exteriors to the treasures within, the enduring legacy of selflessness, the making of champions, and the capacity of all, no matter what age, no matter how humble, to find and lose love. Each story is introduced by a note from the author — gems of thought and background information that further enhance the timeless contents of this collection. These short stories were originally published in such magazines as Saturday Evening Post, Good Housekeeping, and The American Magazine. This collection includes the original short stories, The Biscuit Eater and Weep No More My Lady which were later expanded into two of Mr. Street's most famous and well-loved books. Included: • The Golden Key • In Full Glory Reflected • The Old Gordon Place • Weep No More, My Lady • Please Come Home, My Lady • Buck and Fo' Bits • The Crusaders • Pud'n and Tayme • They Know How • The Road To Gettysburg • All Out With Sherman • Set the Wild Echoes Flying • The Biscuit Eater • The House
Publisher: eNet Press
ISBN: 1618864661
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 295
Book Description
With just the right flourish of his pen, author James Street takes his readers for a walk in the footsteps of the men and women who populated the small towns and piney woods of his beloved home state, Mississippi. Street turns his singular experiences into moving and thought provoking universal truths — seeing beyond tarnished exteriors to the treasures within, the enduring legacy of selflessness, the making of champions, and the capacity of all, no matter what age, no matter how humble, to find and lose love. Each story is introduced by a note from the author — gems of thought and background information that further enhance the timeless contents of this collection. These short stories were originally published in such magazines as Saturday Evening Post, Good Housekeeping, and The American Magazine. This collection includes the original short stories, The Biscuit Eater and Weep No More My Lady which were later expanded into two of Mr. Street's most famous and well-loved books. Included: • The Golden Key • In Full Glory Reflected • The Old Gordon Place • Weep No More, My Lady • Please Come Home, My Lady • Buck and Fo' Bits • The Crusaders • Pud'n and Tayme • They Know How • The Road To Gettysburg • All Out With Sherman • Set the Wild Echoes Flying • The Biscuit Eater • The House
From Daniel Boone to Captain America
Author: Chad A. Barbour
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1496806859
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 326
Book Description
From nineteenth-century American art and literature to comic books of the twentieth century and afterwards, Chad A. Barbour examines in From Daniel Boone to Captain America the transmission of the ideals and myths of the frontier and playing Indian in American culture. In the nineteenth century, American art and literature developed images of the Indian and the frontiersman that exemplified ideals of heroism, bravery, and manhood, as well as embodying fears of betrayal, loss of civilization, and weakness. In the twentieth century, comic books, among other popular forms of media, would inherit these images. The Western genre of comic books participated fully in the common conventions, replicating and perpetuating the myths and ideals long associated with the frontier in the United States. A fascination with Native Americans also emerged in comic books devoted to depicting the Indian past of the US In such stories, the Indian remains a figure of the past, romanticized as a lost segment of US history, ignoring contemporary and actual Native peoples. Playing Indian occupies a definite subgenre of Western comics, especially during the postwar period when a host of comics featuring a "white Indian" as the hero were being published. Playing Indian migrates into superhero comics, a phenomenon that heightens and amplifies the notions of heroism, bravery, and manhood already attached to the white Indian trope. Instances of superheroes like Batman and Superman playing Indian correspond with depictions found in the strictly Western comics. The superhero as Indian returned in the twenty-first century via Captain America, attesting to the continuing power of this ideal and image.
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1496806859
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 326
Book Description
From nineteenth-century American art and literature to comic books of the twentieth century and afterwards, Chad A. Barbour examines in From Daniel Boone to Captain America the transmission of the ideals and myths of the frontier and playing Indian in American culture. In the nineteenth century, American art and literature developed images of the Indian and the frontiersman that exemplified ideals of heroism, bravery, and manhood, as well as embodying fears of betrayal, loss of civilization, and weakness. In the twentieth century, comic books, among other popular forms of media, would inherit these images. The Western genre of comic books participated fully in the common conventions, replicating and perpetuating the myths and ideals long associated with the frontier in the United States. A fascination with Native Americans also emerged in comic books devoted to depicting the Indian past of the US In such stories, the Indian remains a figure of the past, romanticized as a lost segment of US history, ignoring contemporary and actual Native peoples. Playing Indian occupies a definite subgenre of Western comics, especially during the postwar period when a host of comics featuring a "white Indian" as the hero were being published. Playing Indian migrates into superhero comics, a phenomenon that heightens and amplifies the notions of heroism, bravery, and manhood already attached to the white Indian trope. Instances of superheroes like Batman and Superman playing Indian correspond with depictions found in the strictly Western comics. The superhero as Indian returned in the twenty-first century via Captain America, attesting to the continuing power of this ideal and image.
In My Father's House
Author: James H. Street
Publisher: eNet Press
ISBN: 1618864726
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 219
Book Description
The Abernathy family lives in rural Mississippi where folks farm cotton and grow vegetables and kitchens are filled with smells of sweet potato pie, muscadine preserves, and pickled grapes. Cupboards bulge with Octagon soap wrappers collected to trade for dishes, and shelves are lined with homemade cures for everything ― sulphur, molasses, quinine, calomel, and mutton suet. Life is serene and harmonious if folks follow the rules and heed natures' signals. Everyone knows, for example, that a morning shower, like an old person's dance, never lasts long, or that high birds and high smoke mean good plowing weather. Some of the most important codes, however, are unspoken, and when these laws are violated, men are obliged to abide by the code even if it means doing the unthinkable. Hobson Abernathy, Big Hob, loves his family and leads his household with firmness and uncompromising example. His wife, Lavinia, was married at sixteen and still fulfills her duties with skill and selfless devotion. She obeys her husband (one of the rules), but she's a strong woman and when the occasion demands, she offers her wisdom to bring balance back to the family. Teenie, their teenage daughter spends her time bossin' her brother, Little Hob. Little Hob says he doesn't mind 'cause the same is true for chickens. One ol' rooster is always the boss and he can peck any chicken he wants to. When Teenie isn't bossin', she's dreaming about the young man she's sparkin', Woody. And, Woody? Well, he's anxious to marry Teenie and brags a lot to prove his eligibility. “Not bad loud-mouth bragging, just tongue-strutting,” as Hobson calls it. Little Hob is about growed up; still a boy in many ways, he is proud of his advancing maturity and is not shirking the arrival of a man's responsibilities. Hobson teaches his son everything he needs to know, and if there's a man Little Hob idolizes, it would be his papa, Big Hob.
Publisher: eNet Press
ISBN: 1618864726
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 219
Book Description
The Abernathy family lives in rural Mississippi where folks farm cotton and grow vegetables and kitchens are filled with smells of sweet potato pie, muscadine preserves, and pickled grapes. Cupboards bulge with Octagon soap wrappers collected to trade for dishes, and shelves are lined with homemade cures for everything ― sulphur, molasses, quinine, calomel, and mutton suet. Life is serene and harmonious if folks follow the rules and heed natures' signals. Everyone knows, for example, that a morning shower, like an old person's dance, never lasts long, or that high birds and high smoke mean good plowing weather. Some of the most important codes, however, are unspoken, and when these laws are violated, men are obliged to abide by the code even if it means doing the unthinkable. Hobson Abernathy, Big Hob, loves his family and leads his household with firmness and uncompromising example. His wife, Lavinia, was married at sixteen and still fulfills her duties with skill and selfless devotion. She obeys her husband (one of the rules), but she's a strong woman and when the occasion demands, she offers her wisdom to bring balance back to the family. Teenie, their teenage daughter spends her time bossin' her brother, Little Hob. Little Hob says he doesn't mind 'cause the same is true for chickens. One ol' rooster is always the boss and he can peck any chicken he wants to. When Teenie isn't bossin', she's dreaming about the young man she's sparkin', Woody. And, Woody? Well, he's anxious to marry Teenie and brags a lot to prove his eligibility. “Not bad loud-mouth bragging, just tongue-strutting,” as Hobson calls it. Little Hob is about growed up; still a boy in many ways, he is proud of his advancing maturity and is not shirking the arrival of a man's responsibilities. Hobson teaches his son everything he needs to know, and if there's a man Little Hob idolizes, it would be his papa, Big Hob.
By Valour and Arms
Author: James H. Street
Publisher: eNet Press
ISBN: 1618864904
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 614
Book Description
James Street has a gift for sifting the ashes of history, adding a portion of romance and adventure, a pinch of this and that, and compounding his own formula for historical novels. This is his best and he uses the battle for Vicksburg, the saga of the Confederate ironclad Arkansas and the Union ram Queen of the West for a story as big as the Mississippi. The epic of the Arkansas, built in the wilderness by men who hauled her iron and guns hundreds of miles by ox wagons, is one of the most amazing and little-known dramas of history. She struck terror from Illinois to New Orleans and became a ship that men whispered about; a ghost ship whose guns kept blazing although there were no men aboard her. Mr. Street gives us a galaxy of characters in this book. Most of the action revolves around three Confederate sailors; Wyeth Woodward, gunner's mate, who hates war; Simeon St. Leger Granville, a British soldier of fortune whose lust for battle is exceeded only by his lust for drink, and Vespasian Gillivray, the lovable Cajan, a descendant of the Creeks of Mr. Street's Oh, Promised Land. The fourth member of a quartet you never will forget is Dolly — fat, cold, deadly. She is a nine-inch Dahlgren gun on whose breech is engraved By Valour and Arms. There also is Gar Rivers, an inspiring Negro, an artist of sorts who fought for a slave-owning people. In these pages you will meet Laurel MacKenzie, betrothed to Wyeth, and Morna (Dabney) Alexander, who wants the young sailor just to prove to herself that marriage has not dulled her charms. Tap Roots' readers will remember her and her melancholiac husband, Keith Alexander, a Southerner who fights for the Union. Keith is here, too, contemptuous as ever of his own life and the lives of others. Then there is Sharon Weatherford, a rooming-house keeper in Natchez-Under-the-Hill. Her love for Simeon St. Leger Granville apparently is a hopeless thing, and yet she, a social and racial outcast, meets every challenge, and triumphs. The story begins with the building of the Arkansas and ends with the fall of Vicksburg, which was to the South what Hastings was to England during the Norman conquest. The Union was saved in the West, but that theater has been neglected. Few Americans realize that the Battle of Franklin was bloodier than Gettysburg, that the Arkansas created more havoc than the Merrimac, and that Vicksburg held out for more than a year. As in Tap Roots, Mr. Street warns his readers again that they will not find the Civil War of Lee and Jackson in this book. This is history as it happened, not the dry meager words of textbooks or the dulcet tones of the julep school. Scoundrels and mountebanks work and cheat in the red glare of Vicksburg's guns. But man is at his best while making war and even when human life is not as dear as rotten mule meat, there are those who prove again that there always will be honor, decency, and dignity for those willing to fight for them.
Publisher: eNet Press
ISBN: 1618864904
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 614
Book Description
James Street has a gift for sifting the ashes of history, adding a portion of romance and adventure, a pinch of this and that, and compounding his own formula for historical novels. This is his best and he uses the battle for Vicksburg, the saga of the Confederate ironclad Arkansas and the Union ram Queen of the West for a story as big as the Mississippi. The epic of the Arkansas, built in the wilderness by men who hauled her iron and guns hundreds of miles by ox wagons, is one of the most amazing and little-known dramas of history. She struck terror from Illinois to New Orleans and became a ship that men whispered about; a ghost ship whose guns kept blazing although there were no men aboard her. Mr. Street gives us a galaxy of characters in this book. Most of the action revolves around three Confederate sailors; Wyeth Woodward, gunner's mate, who hates war; Simeon St. Leger Granville, a British soldier of fortune whose lust for battle is exceeded only by his lust for drink, and Vespasian Gillivray, the lovable Cajan, a descendant of the Creeks of Mr. Street's Oh, Promised Land. The fourth member of a quartet you never will forget is Dolly — fat, cold, deadly. She is a nine-inch Dahlgren gun on whose breech is engraved By Valour and Arms. There also is Gar Rivers, an inspiring Negro, an artist of sorts who fought for a slave-owning people. In these pages you will meet Laurel MacKenzie, betrothed to Wyeth, and Morna (Dabney) Alexander, who wants the young sailor just to prove to herself that marriage has not dulled her charms. Tap Roots' readers will remember her and her melancholiac husband, Keith Alexander, a Southerner who fights for the Union. Keith is here, too, contemptuous as ever of his own life and the lives of others. Then there is Sharon Weatherford, a rooming-house keeper in Natchez-Under-the-Hill. Her love for Simeon St. Leger Granville apparently is a hopeless thing, and yet she, a social and racial outcast, meets every challenge, and triumphs. The story begins with the building of the Arkansas and ends with the fall of Vicksburg, which was to the South what Hastings was to England during the Norman conquest. The Union was saved in the West, but that theater has been neglected. Few Americans realize that the Battle of Franklin was bloodier than Gettysburg, that the Arkansas created more havoc than the Merrimac, and that Vicksburg held out for more than a year. As in Tap Roots, Mr. Street warns his readers again that they will not find the Civil War of Lee and Jackson in this book. This is history as it happened, not the dry meager words of textbooks or the dulcet tones of the julep school. Scoundrels and mountebanks work and cheat in the red glare of Vicksburg's guns. But man is at his best while making war and even when human life is not as dear as rotten mule meat, there are those who prove again that there always will be honor, decency, and dignity for those willing to fight for them.