Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Booknotes: Civil War Places

New Arrival:
Civil War Places: Seeing the Conflict through the Eyes of Its Leading Historians edited by Gary W. Gallagher and J. Matthew Gallman w/ photographs by Will Gallagher (UNC Press, 2019).

Civil War Places: Seeing the Conflict through the Eyes of Its Leading Historians is a new essay collaboration between editors Gary Gallagher and Matt Gallman. From the description: "Much has been written about place and Civil War memory, but how do we personally remember and commemorate this part of our collective past? How do battlefields and other historic places help us understand our own history? What kinds of places are worth remembering and why? In this collection of essays, some of the most esteemed historians of the Civil War select a single meaningful place related to the war and narrate its significance. Included here are meditations on a wide assortment of places--Devil's Den at Gettysburg, Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, the statue of William T. Sherman in New York's Central Park, Burnside Bridge at Antietam, the McLean House in Appomattox, and more."

As they did in 2015's Lens of War, Gallagher and Gallman invite a host of colleagues (25 in all if you include the two editors) to ruminate upon a chosen theme. Selected "places" are divided into four major categories: battlefields, cemeteries, memorials, and buildings. "Paired with a contemporary photograph commissioned specifically for this book, each essay offers an unusual and accessible glimpse into how historians think about their subjects."

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