Choice Review
William T. Sherman had it right when he uttered that "war is hell." But understanding the exigencies of the Civil War and its effect upon the populace, now and then, has moved far beyond the battlefield, the glorification of it, and the honor of combat. Taylor (SUNY Albany) reinforces Sherman's truth in a refreshing context. Her perspective is an example of an emerging historiography that focuses upon family, gender, and kinship. She writes, "This book offers the first sustained historical study of the divided family ... instances of family division in the American Civil War." As she makes clear, ruptures in family occurred most frequently in the border states that Abraham Lincoln desperately sought to hold in the Union; indeed, it was in this region that "houses were most divided" over the issues of secession and war. Taylor skillfully charts a course that leads through seven chapters in which her meticulous research (including diaries, government documents, and 60 pages of endnotes) culminates in "Reconciliation and Emancipation." Consider reading James M. McPherson's For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War (CH, Sep'97, 35-0470) as a companion. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Collections in family, gender, social, cultural, and military history, upper-division undergraduate and above. P. D. Travis Texas Woman's University