Complimenting Book(s)?

[Dispatch]

Just finished reading Bell Irvin Wiley's "The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy". In continuing to keep it from the Confederate perspective, what would be a good book(s) that would compliment this one? Any help is appreciated.

[LWhite64]

Re: Complimenting Book(s)?

Try Larry Daniels' Soldiering in the Army of Tennessee.

[FortyRounder]

Re: Complimenting Book(s)?

Lee's Miserables: Life in the Army of Northern Virginia from the Wilderness to Appomattox by J. Tracy Power.

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Complimenting Book(s)?

There is a host of recent scholarship on Confederate troops. Some of the following books are secondary sources published more recent than Bell Wiley's book:

General Lee's Army: From Victory to Collapse by Joseph Glatthaar (2008)
What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War by Chandra Manning (2008) [which includes Union perspectives]
The Last Generation: Young Virginians in Peace, War, and Reunion by Peter Carmichael (2009)
Reluctant Rebels: The Confederates Who Joined the Army after 1861 by Kenneth W. Noe (2010)
Soldiering in the Army of Northern Virginia: A Statistical Portrait of the Troops Who Served under Robert E. Lee by Joseph Glatthaar (June 2, 2011)

Happy reading!

[Busterbuttonboy]

Re: Complimenting Book(s)?

Cannot emphasis these enough:

What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War by Chandra Manning (2008) [which includes Union perspectives]
The Last Generation: Young Virginians in Peace, War, and Reunion by Peter Carmichael (2009)
Reluctant Rebels: The Confederates Who Joined the Army after 1861 by Kenneth W. Noe (2010)

[bAcK88]

Re: Complimenting Book(s)?

What Emmanuel and Drew said!!

We all need to have a firm understanding on the society these men came from and what pressures that same society placed on its soldiers.

[Horace]

Re: Complimenting Book(s)?

There's 'Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life' by Carlton McCarthy. He served in the Army of Northern Virginia and wrote an account of it in the 1880s. I'd say there's a dose of 'rose colored glasses' running through it, but still a worthwhile read by someone who was there.
You can check it out here for free: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25603
There's also an audio version here: http://www.archive.org/details/soldi..._0808_librivox

[Jimmayo]

Re: Complimenting Book(s)?

I would suggest you read all the first person accounts you can find. Keep notes on what you consider important and where you found it. While there are many fine books mentioned in this post I like to do as much of my own research as possible and not rely solely on other peoples perspective as to the why of things. Be forewarned that it may take years or decades before you become comfortable in your knowledge. When this happens you will probably read something just published that will change your mind but that is what makes the journey fun.

[LWhite64]

Re: Complimenting Book(s)?

Also add to the lot Jason Phillips' Diehard Rebels

[FloridaConscript]

Re: Complimenting Book(s)?

I'll second Lee on "Soldiering in the Army of Tennessee". It is an excellent book.

Also, regimental histories have good stuff in them. A Scyth of Fire on the 8th Georgia is a good one and should be available for cheap on amazon.com

[bAcK88]

Re: Complimenting Book(s)?

Just keep in mind that if you read any memoirs, such as Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life or Rebel Private Front and Rear, those books were written years after the war. Not only would faulty memory be an issue but also changing perspectives would color the accounts. Remember in the postbellum period white Southerners embraced the Lost Cause movement and also the Reconciliationist movement, both of which had tendencies to emphasis bravery and patriotism and play down stuff like slavery and desertion.

Also I'll be the first one to say this. While Wiley's works are a great read and important (especially if your studying the historiography) of the Civil War, his works are out-dated now. Wiley's works are some of the first New Social History on the American Civil War, but when they were published there was still a conscious effort to play down race relations in the subject that was being studied. I’m not saying discount everything that Wiley argues, just don’t let this be the be all and end all.

[guad42]

Re: Complimenting Book(s)?

Might I suggest one slightly off course book here..."This Republic of Suffering"...While not a volume on every day soldiering, it is nonetheless an excellent way to study the Civil War generations perceptions on life and especially death. I also back "Lee's Miserables".

Have you read "Company Aytch" yet?

-Sam Dolan

[Dispatch]

Re: Complimenting Book(s)?

Does anyone here have the above mentioned books in good condition, they might want to sell? PM me if so.