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Wanted to alert everyone here to a new book out from UNC
Reluctant Rebels by Ken Noe
My thoughts are first and foremost that its from a academic publisher so it cannot be rubbish and will actually contain footnotes, thank goodness. We as a forum often see information, "documentation" and books flung around which lack both a respected publishing house, lack footnotes or even a quality historiography or bibliography. Secondly I am very interested in reading this over the summer and maybe comparing notes with some of you guys. Im super excited to see how it compares with Pete Carmichael's "Eager Confederates" chapter in his book The Last Generation.
The official UNC statement:
"After the feverish mobilization of secession had faded, why did Southern men join the Confederate army? Kenneth Noe examines the motives and subsequent performance of "later enlisters." He offers a nuanced view of men who have often been cast as less patriotic and less committed to the cause, rekindling the debate over who these later enlistees were, why they joined, and why they stayed and fought.
Noe refutes the claim that later enlisters were more likely to desert or perform poorly in battle and reassesses the argument that they were less ideologically savvy than their counterparts who enlisted early in the conflict. He argues that kinship and neighborhood, not conscription, compelled these men to fight: they were determined to protect their families and property and were fueled by resentment over emancipation and pillaging and destruction by Union forces. But their age often combined with their duties to wear them down more quickly than younger men, making them less effective soldiers for a Confederate nation that desperately needed every able-bodied man it could muster.
Reluctant Rebels places the stories of individual soldiers in the larger context of the Confederate war effort and follows them from the initial optimism of enlistment through the weariness of battle and defeat.
About the Author
Kenneth W. Noe is Draughon Professor of History at Auburn University. He is author or editor of five books, including Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle.
Reviews
"In this first-rate book, Noe carves out new terrain in a crowded field by identifying a significant new cohort of men to analyze: those who enlisted after the first wave of volunteering. Creating a new landmark in the historiography of the motivations of soldiers, Reluctant Rebels is an impressive work that captures the complex nature of the human condition."
--William A. Blair, author of Cities of the Dead: Contesting the Memory of the Civil War in the South, 1865-1914
"This valuable study revises our opinion of those Confederate recruits who did not rush to the colors immediately but fought with determination when they ultimately joined the ranks. Noe employs their letters to give these men very human faces in a nuanced treatment of motivation and endurance. His work rewards not only readers fascinated by the Civil War, but also those who examine the interrelationships between culture and war in varied historical contexts."
--John A. Lynn II, author of Battle: A History of Combat and Culture
Reluctant Rebels by Ken Noe
My thoughts are first and foremost that its from a academic publisher so it cannot be rubbish and will actually contain footnotes, thank goodness. We as a forum often see information, "documentation" and books flung around which lack both a respected publishing house, lack footnotes or even a quality historiography or bibliography. Secondly I am very interested in reading this over the summer and maybe comparing notes with some of you guys. Im super excited to see how it compares with Pete Carmichael's "Eager Confederates" chapter in his book The Last Generation.
The official UNC statement:
"After the feverish mobilization of secession had faded, why did Southern men join the Confederate army? Kenneth Noe examines the motives and subsequent performance of "later enlisters." He offers a nuanced view of men who have often been cast as less patriotic and less committed to the cause, rekindling the debate over who these later enlistees were, why they joined, and why they stayed and fought.
Noe refutes the claim that later enlisters were more likely to desert or perform poorly in battle and reassesses the argument that they were less ideologically savvy than their counterparts who enlisted early in the conflict. He argues that kinship and neighborhood, not conscription, compelled these men to fight: they were determined to protect their families and property and were fueled by resentment over emancipation and pillaging and destruction by Union forces. But their age often combined with their duties to wear them down more quickly than younger men, making them less effective soldiers for a Confederate nation that desperately needed every able-bodied man it could muster.
Reluctant Rebels places the stories of individual soldiers in the larger context of the Confederate war effort and follows them from the initial optimism of enlistment through the weariness of battle and defeat.
About the Author
Kenneth W. Noe is Draughon Professor of History at Auburn University. He is author or editor of five books, including Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle.
Reviews
"In this first-rate book, Noe carves out new terrain in a crowded field by identifying a significant new cohort of men to analyze: those who enlisted after the first wave of volunteering. Creating a new landmark in the historiography of the motivations of soldiers, Reluctant Rebels is an impressive work that captures the complex nature of the human condition."
--William A. Blair, author of Cities of the Dead: Contesting the Memory of the Civil War in the South, 1865-1914
"This valuable study revises our opinion of those Confederate recruits who did not rush to the colors immediately but fought with determination when they ultimately joined the ranks. Noe employs their letters to give these men very human faces in a nuanced treatment of motivation and endurance. His work rewards not only readers fascinated by the Civil War, but also those who examine the interrelationships between culture and war in varied historical contexts."
--John A. Lynn II, author of Battle: A History of Combat and Culture
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