THE AMALGAMATION POLKA by Steven Wright
The story concerns Liberty Fish, the son of two passionate abolitionists but whose grandparents were cruel slave-owners. The plot follows Liberty from his birth to young adulthood, his enlistment in the Union army, and his quest to find his grandparents whom he blames for the despair his mother feels. The tone has hints of dark humor, and at times can be heavily surreal.
The oddest book on this list.
ANDERSONVILLE by Mac Kinley Kantor
This may be the best and most realistic book about the War, and won the
Pulitzer Prize. It is told from many points of view, including that of Henry Wirz, the camp commandant, who was later executed. It also features William Collins, a Union soldier and one of the leaders of the "Raiders". The "Raiders" are a gang of thugs, mainly bounty jumpers who steal from their fellow prisoners and lead comfortable lives while other prisoners die of starvation and disease. Other characters include numerous ordinary prisoners of war, the camp physician/doctor, a nearby plantation owner, guards and Confederate civilians in the area near the prison. While based on prisoner memoirs, most notably Andersonville: A Story of Rebel Military Prisons by John McElroy, the novel is less biased against the Confederates. Henry Wirz, who received an injury earlier in the war and never recovered properly, is portrayed not as an inhuman fiend but as a sick man struggling with a job beyond his capacities. A tragic illustration of the Peter Principle.
GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
C'mon. You've got to list it. Granted, it's more romance than straight history, but it still casts a long shadow over that time period.
THE GUNS OF THE SOUTH by Harry Turtledove
It is March 1864, and the Confederacy is reeling after defeats at the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksbur
g. Andries Rhoodie, a man wearing mottled green clothing, speaking in a strange, guttural accent, and carrying a strange rifle, visits the headquarters of the Army of Northern Virginia and demands to demonstrate his rifle to Robert E. Lee. The rifle, to the Confederates' astonishment, can fire thirty rounds in only a few seconds, with considerable accuracy. Rhoodie and his comrades, who declare that they are members of an organization called "America Will Break" offer to supply the entire Confederate army with these rifles, which they refer to as AK-47s. Very fun.
THE KILLER ANGELS by Michael Shaara
THE Civil War novel according to most. Beginning with the famous section about Longstreet's spy Harrison gathering information about the movements and positions of the Federals, each day is told primarily from the perspectives of commanders of the two armies, including Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet for the Confederacy, and Joshuo Chamberlain and John Buford for the Union. Most chapters describe the emotion-laden decisions of these officers as they went into battle. Maps depicting the positioning of the troops as they went to battle, as they advanced, add to the sense of authenticity as decisions are made to advance and retreat with the armies. The author also uses the story of Gettysburg, one of the largest battles in the history of North America, to relate the causes of the War and the motivations that led old friends to face each other on the battlefield.
LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott
Most people don't think of this as a Civil War novel, but the War does play an understated part in the story.
LINCOLN by Gore Vidal
The novel's emphasis is on the President's political and personal struggles, and not the battles of the Civil War. Though Lincoln is the focus, the book is never narrated from his point of view. However, one gets an insight into his presidency and gets to see just how his mind works. Through thick and thin, Lincoln proves how exceptional he really is and how his death impacted many.
LONG REMEMBER by Mac Kinley Kantor
Kantor (1904–77) spoke with Civil War veterans, and translated what they told him into this startling and convincing portrait of war. Originally published in 1934 Long Remember traces the experience of Daniel Bale, a young man who has refused to fight and struggles to cling to his pacifist principles as his hometown of Gettysburg becomes the center of an immense three-day battle between Union and Confederate forces.
NORTH
AND SOUTH Trilogy by John Jakes
Say what you will about the soap opera of some of the plot, but this is historically well done, and told brilliantly. Jakes is a rare breed, a good historian who happens to be an excellent novelist.
ON SECRET SERVICE by John Jakes
This book explores from the shadowy sanctums of the world's first private detective agency, the Pinkertons, to the battlefields of Virginia and the private haunts of wartime Washington, where even the President's hand-picked men cannot stop a plot that may reach from Richmond to the highest offices of the Union government. Jakes is a master at blending his fictional characters in with historical figures like Lincoln, McClellan, Jefferson Davis, Allan Pinkerton and John Wilkes Boothe.
RAINTREE COUNTRY by Ross Lockridge, Jr.
The novel, se
t in fictional Raintree County, Indiana, is essentially in two parts; before the Civil War and after. It spans the 19th century history of the United States, from the pre-Civil War westward expansion, to the debate over slavery, to the Civil War, to the Industrial Revolution and the Labor Movement which followed. The book is often surreal, with dream sequences, flashbacks and departures from the linear narrative. It has been described as an effort to mythicalize the history of America, which to a great degree it succeeds in doing through the eyes and the commentary of John Shawnessy.
THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE by Stephen Crane
It is considered one of the most influential works in American literature. The novel, a depiction on the cruelty of war during an unnamed battle, features young recruit, Henry Fleming, who deserts his regiment, but returns to become a hero on the battlefield.
SHILOH by Shelby Foote
It employs the first-person perspectives of several protagonists, Union and Confederate, to give a moment-by-moment depiction of the battle.The story illustrates two of Foote's most strongly held convictions: that Nathan Bedford Forrest was the greatest combat commander in the War and that Confederate society held the seeds of its own doom.
TRAVELER by Richard Adams
The second oddest book on this list. A view of the war as seen through the eyes of Robert E. Lee's beloved horse, Traveler. And before you dismiss that as a silly idea, remember that Adams is the author of Watership Down, a simple story about rabbits told from the rabbits' point of view which just happens to be one of the best books of the last 50 years. Traveler is equally masterful and powerful in its simplicity.
The story concerns Liberty Fish, the son of two passionate abolitionists but whose grandparents were cruel slave-owners. The plot follows Liberty from his birth to young adulthood, his enlistment in the Union army, and his quest to find his grandparents whom he blames for the despair his mother feels. The tone has hints of dark humor, and at times can be heavily surreal.
The oddest book on this list.
ANDERSONVILLE by Mac Kinley Kantor
This may be the best and most realistic book about the War, and won the
Pulitzer Prize. It is told from many points of view, including that of Henry Wirz, the camp commandant, who was later executed. It also features William Collins, a Union soldier and one of the leaders of the "Raiders". The "Raiders" are a gang of thugs, mainly bounty jumpers who steal from their fellow prisoners and lead comfortable lives while other prisoners die of starvation and disease. Other characters include numerous ordinary prisoners of war, the camp physician/doctor, a nearby plantation owner, guards and Confederate civilians in the area near the prison. While based on prisoner memoirs, most notably Andersonville: A Story of Rebel Military Prisons by John McElroy, the novel is less biased against the Confederates. Henry Wirz, who received an injury earlier in the war and never recovered properly, is portrayed not as an inhuman fiend but as a sick man struggling with a job beyond his capacities. A tragic illustration of the Peter Principle.GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
C'mon. You've got to list it. Granted, it's more romance than straight history, but it still casts a long shadow over that time period.
THE GUNS OF THE SOUTH by Harry Turtledove
It is March 1864, and the Confederacy is reeling after defeats at the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksbur
g. Andries Rhoodie, a man wearing mottled green clothing, speaking in a strange, guttural accent, and carrying a strange rifle, visits the headquarters of the Army of Northern Virginia and demands to demonstrate his rifle to Robert E. Lee. The rifle, to the Confederates' astonishment, can fire thirty rounds in only a few seconds, with considerable accuracy. Rhoodie and his comrades, who declare that they are members of an organization called "America Will Break" offer to supply the entire Confederate army with these rifles, which they refer to as AK-47s. Very fun.THE KILLER ANGELS by Michael Shaara
THE Civil War novel according to most. Beginning with the famous section about Longstreet's spy Harrison gathering information about the movements and positions of the Federals, each day is told primarily from the perspectives of commanders of the two armies, including Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet for the Confederacy, and Joshuo Chamberlain and John Buford for the Union. Most chapters describe the emotion-laden decisions of these officers as they went into battle. Maps depicting the positioning of the troops as they went to battle, as they advanced, add to the sense of authenticity as decisions are made to advance and retreat with the armies. The author also uses the story of Gettysburg, one of the largest battles in the history of North America, to relate the causes of the War and the motivations that led old friends to face each other on the battlefield.
LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott
Most people don't think of this as a Civil War novel, but the War does play an understated part in the story.
LINCOLN by Gore Vidal
The novel's emphasis is on the President's political and personal struggles, and not the battles of the Civil War. Though Lincoln is the focus, the book is never narrated from his point of view. However, one gets an insight into his presidency and gets to see just how his mind works. Through thick and thin, Lincoln proves how exceptional he really is and how his death impacted many.
LONG REMEMBER by Mac Kinley Kantor
Kantor (1904–77) spoke with Civil War veterans, and translated what they told him into this startling and convincing portrait of war. Originally published in 1934 Long Remember traces the experience of Daniel Bale, a young man who has refused to fight and struggles to cling to his pacifist principles as his hometown of Gettysburg becomes the center of an immense three-day battle between Union and Confederate forces.
NORTH
AND SOUTH Trilogy by John JakesSay what you will about the soap opera of some of the plot, but this is historically well done, and told brilliantly. Jakes is a rare breed, a good historian who happens to be an excellent novelist.
ON SECRET SERVICE by John Jakes
This book explores from the shadowy sanctums of the world's first private detective agency, the Pinkertons, to the battlefields of Virginia and the private haunts of wartime Washington, where even the President's hand-picked men cannot stop a plot that may reach from Richmond to the highest offices of the Union government. Jakes is a master at blending his fictional characters in with historical figures like Lincoln, McClellan, Jefferson Davis, Allan Pinkerton and John Wilkes Boothe.
RAINTREE COUNTRY by Ross Lockridge, Jr.
The novel, se
t in fictional Raintree County, Indiana, is essentially in two parts; before the Civil War and after. It spans the 19th century history of the United States, from the pre-Civil War westward expansion, to the debate over slavery, to the Civil War, to the Industrial Revolution and the Labor Movement which followed. The book is often surreal, with dream sequences, flashbacks and departures from the linear narrative. It has been described as an effort to mythicalize the history of America, which to a great degree it succeeds in doing through the eyes and the commentary of John Shawnessy.THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE by Stephen Crane
It is considered one of the most influential works in American literature. The novel, a depiction on the cruelty of war during an unnamed battle, features young recruit, Henry Fleming, who deserts his regiment, but returns to become a hero on the battlefield.
SHILOH by Shelby Foote
It employs the first-person perspectives of several protagonists, Union and Confederate, to give a moment-by-moment depiction of the battle.The story illustrates two of Foote's most strongly held convictions: that Nathan Bedford Forrest was the greatest combat commander in the War and that Confederate society held the seeds of its own doom.
TRAVELER by Richard Adams
The second oddest book on this list. A view of the war as seen through the eyes of Robert E. Lee's beloved horse, Traveler. And before you dismiss that as a silly idea, remember that Adams is the author of Watership Down, a simple story about rabbits told from the rabbits' point of view which just happens to be one of the best books of the last 50 years. Traveler is equally masterful and powerful in its simplicity.
Like the list. Hope someday you add Shades of Gray by Jessica James :)
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that you have the book "Andersonville" on your list followed by "Gone with the Wind." I have a book that has some of the elements of each! It's called Bedlam South by Mark Grisham and the plot includes the romance and culture captured in "Gone with the Wind", but like "Andersonville" it focuses on injuries, but instead of only physical injuries, this focuses more on the mental injuries inflicted on those who were witness to the terrible battles in the war.
ReplyDelete