Booknotes: The War That Made America

New Arrival:

• The War That Made America: Essays Inspired by the Scholarship of Gary W. Gallagher edited by Caroline E. Janney, Peter S. Carmichael, and Aaron Sheehan-Dean (UNC Press, 2024).

From the description: "This collection of original essays reveals the richness and dynamism of contemporary scholarship on the Civil War era. Inspired by the lines of inquiry that animated the writings of the influential historian Gary W. Gallagher, this volume includes nine essays by leading scholars in the field who explore a broad range of themes and participants in the nation's greatest conflict, from Indigenous communities navigating the dangerous shoals of the secession winter to Confederate guerrillas caught in the legal snares of the Union's hard war to African Americans pursuing landownership in the postwar years. Essayists also explore how people contested and shaped the memory of the conflict, from outright silences and evasions to the use of formal historical writing. Other contributors use comparative and transnational history to rethink key aspects of the conflict. The result is a thorough examination of Gallagher's scholarly legacy and an assessment of the present and future of the Civil War history field."

If you follow the 'View Inside' link on the book's UNCP webpage you can find the full table of contents. The introduction yields a fine summary of the many themes explored in Gallagher's scholarship as well as many examples of his profound impact on the field, his students, academic publishing, and the general public's engagement with the war. Gallagher is celebrated for being at the forefront of a "new era" of Civil War historiography that "connected battlefront and home front and that integrated military, political, and social history." That impact was realized through his own work but also through his "teaching and mentorship of a new generation of scholars, through his consistent engagement with National Park Service historians and organizations like the Association for the Preservation of Civil War sites (now the American Battlefield Trust), and through his long-standing role as an editor of the leading book series in the field" (pg. 4). Indeed, it would be difficult to overstate the level of influence that Gallagher's Civil War America series has had on readers like me. History-minded television viewers and popular magazine subscribers have also been regularly exposed to Gallagher's prolific (and distinctive) voice and writings for decades.

Editors Janney, Carmichael, and Sheehan-Dean identify three predominant themes in Gallagher's work: "national sentiment" (especially aspects of both Union and Confederate nationalism), "the centrality of military events, and the intersection of history and memory." In their estimation, Gallagher's "close engagement with primary sources and a continued effort to understand historical actors on their own terms" are other clear bedrock elements of his legacy. The nine essays in this volume "reinforce the ongoing value and vitality of questions that Gallagher ensured would be central to the field" (pg. 10).