Booknotes II (Nov '13)

New Arrivals:

1. Washington Brotherhood: Politics, Social Life, and the Coming of the Civil War by Rachel A. Shelden (UNC Pr, 2013).

Shelden examines the political culture and social life of the legislators in D.C., showing how personal relationships helped guide the country through the political crises of the early and mid nineteenth century. Presumably, she traces the reasons behind the breakdown in this cooperative intersectional social atmosphere in the years prior to secession.

2. When the Wolf Came: The Civil War and the Indian Territory by Mary Jane Warde (Univ of Ark Pr, 2013).

I've never taken a close look at Warde's previous work, so I don't know what to expect from this one; however, it's been sometime since someone attempted a full length survey history of the war years in the Indian Territory. I can't say I would recommend much among what's come before, so I welcome Warde's new and up to date effort. If the title sounds familiar, you're probably thinking of White & White's Now the Wolf Has Come: The Creek Nation in the Civil War.