The Civil War Years: A Day-By-Day Chronicle of the Life of a Nation

This interesting day-by-day account depicts the Civil War primarily from the perspectives of the ordinary people involved, quoting from contemporary diaries, letters and newspaper accounts to enrich the chronological narratives. The voices of soldiers, sailors and civilians, northerners and southerners, generals and privates, combine to create a distinctively American chorus. Denney, president of the Washington Civil War Round Table, pays particularly successful attention to the war's naval aspects and strikes an effective balance between accounts from the eastern and western theaters. A decorated combat veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars, Denney understands and highlights the nature of war as months of routine punctuated by moments of horror. He presents great events in their everyday context, showing that mosquitoes can loom larger than Minis balls in one veteran's memory. Snowball fights, mail call, hard marches and short rations dominate these narratives, which depict war without false glamour. Scholars may find the chronicle's contents familiar, but buffs and casual readers will enjoy it. Illustrations not seen by PW (Oct.)