REVIEW: FREEDOM'S CAP By Guy Gugliotta

FREEDOM'S CAP: THE UNITED STATES CAPITAL AND THE COMING OF THE CIVIL WAR

Guy Gugliotta
Hill and Wang
Hardcover, $35.00
February 28, 2012
978-0809046812






FREEDOM'S CAP is a remarkable historical narrative about the building of the nation’s capitol with a simultaneous counterpoint to the tearing down of the Union. Gugliotta outlines the political parties and their platforms with clear prose. As 1850 unfolds, the divisions that exist among the North and South are complex, yet Gugliotta crafts a unique package of history and intrigue that shows this writer’s artistry.
Personalities step out and breathe as he captures the political battles in Congress. The subterfuge among the three key men responsible for the magnificent building would make an ideal movie. Montgomery Meigs and Thomas Walter battled for credit and control. Until Jefferson Davis left Washington to lead the Confederacy, he was the most steadfast supporter of the project. It was an ongoing battle of wills and wit that encompassed many years. My one complaint is that readers may be misled by its title.  FREEDOM'S CAP is a page-turner, despite its lackluster title. Gugliotta has blown the dust off American Civil War history shelves to make room for his exceptional addition.


January 22, 2013
Wisteria Leigh



Disclosure:
The copy of this book was provided by HNR for review and publication. The review is submitted without bias. 



As it appeared in Historical Novels Review:August 2012 Issue 61 available at  
http://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/freedoms-cap-the-united-states-capital-and-the-coming-of-the-civil-war/


© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2013].

Blue Asylum by Kathy Hepinstall

Blue Asylum
Kathy Hepinstall
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2012),
$24.00, Kindle $15.50
Hardcover, 288 pages, 0547712073





Iris Dunleavy is the wife of a souther plantation owner. She is duped into the belief that her husband’s slave labor would be temporary, a “necessary evil”. However, she is a vociferous and recalcitrant partner in the marriage, an image contrary to proper behavior in Southern society. When she witnesses the brutal treatment of a young slave, she is unable to stand the torture. She throws herself in front of the bloodied youth to prevent further lashes of the whip. This does not bode well with her husband and he reprimands her. Later, when she helps a group of slaves to escape, her husband is infuriated and convinces a Virginia judge to declare her insane. She is sent to Sanibel Asylum, to be rehabilitated into a more compliant wife, cooperative and gentile.

While there, she meets many patients, some insane others questionable. Her friendship with her doctor’s son is sweet and helps her to manage the long days. Iris knows she does not belong at Sanibel and refuses to cooperate. and provides a constant challenge to her doctor and staff. Considered a modern, state of the art facility, Iris is not convinced. When she suffers an inhumane water therapy treatment given to uncontrollable patients she seethes with anger.While there she meets a Civil War soldier who suffers flashbacks and fits that are only soothed by the color blue. Iris falls in love with Ambrose and begins to think about a different future.

Kathy Hepinstall is brilliant with characterization and her novel offers a memorable cast. My favorite person is an older woman inmate who suffers from an unusual eating disorder. While this novel is intensely serious and provides a setting that is the dark reality common at institutions of this time period, Hepinstall manages to relieve the readers with short respites of humor. Without giving away too much, a much anticipated meal of lamb becomes a disappointment to all, except the doctor’s son. Hysterical moment with hysteria at Sanibel.

This was my first experience reading anything by Kathy Hepinstall, however after reading Blue Asylum I will have to catch up. She certainly captured my interest as Blue Asylum kept my Kindle in constant use. Anyone interested in the rights of women, and the social inequities that was prevalent during the late 19th century will embrace this with zeal. Kathy Hepinstall has a fluid style, a natural cadence to her writing with an intriguing plot.
Fabulous historical fiction that will satisfy anyone interested in the social reform movement of this time period and the freedom and rights of all. A novel deserving much praise.

Wisteria Leigh
Saturday, March 31, 2012

Disclosure: This kindle edition was made available at no charge to me via Net Galley at www.netgalley.com


© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2012].

Review-MARCH, by Geraldine Brooks

MARCH
Geraldine Brooks
Penguin Books
0143036661
January 31, 2006
304 pages, Paperback








I was introduced to Geraldine Brooks’ enchanting writing ability in her recent book CALEB'S CROSSING. (See Review). I have kept MARCH on my nightstand for several years with the intent to read it. My interest in the Civil War and Louisa May Alcott’s novel LITTLE WOMEN was what originally drew me to this book. My expectations as I began to read MARCH were high and as soon as I read the first few pages I knew this was another extraordinary novel by this author.

Alcott’s widely cherished classic, LITTLE WOMEN lends Geraldine Brooks the character of Mr. March, father and husband who was an absent father in Alcott’s story. Brooks styles an imaginative interpretation of his life as a young boy and later when he is marries  Marmee and they have a family of four girls.  Readers will recognize the scenes of Alcott’s story that are threaded in the plot as well as major historical events like Harpers’ Ferry and the clandestine efforts of the Underground Railroad. Brooks’ research and examination of diaries and other primary sources, provided a palette of the past that emerges in the scenes depicting chilling episodes surrounding the brutality of slave life, the primitive medical care and unsanitary conditions on and off the battlefield and how the Civil War altered all families lives forever.  

When the Civil War breaks out, Mr. March is a wealthy established citizen of New England who shares an idealistic passion and abolitionist views with his wife. As the frenzy of the crowds roar, he becomes energized with youthful enthusiasm. He believes he will make a difference and he impulsively signs up to serve as a chaplain. Marmee is surprised and concerned about his decision, but decides to hide her reluctance.  

The story begins in Virginia in October 1861 during the battle of Bull’s Bluff in Virginia.   It is written from March’s point of view as her writes home.  The reader is allowed to intimately insinuate into his thoughts and read his letters home to his wife.  He hides the the truth to shield his family from the war’s bloody grasp. Yet, the reader is privy to everything he experiences and believes. The images that unfold are raw, unedited and powerful. This book soars with sensitivity and resonating prose that lingers page after page. It is a beautifully written novel with multiple themes to reflect on. The language will lure you back again and again. Geraldine Brooks, is an originally inventive storyteller. It is easy to understand why MARCH received the Pulitzer Prize in 2006. 
Highly recommended. 


Geraldine Brooks Website
Interview about MARCH from Geraldine Brooks Website
Disclosure: I purchased the copy of this book.


© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2011].

Review: The Judas Field: A Novel of the Civil War, Howard Bahr

THE JUDAS FIELD
by Howard Bahr
Picador
July 2007
978-0--312-42693-4
$14.00, $16.25 CAN, pb
304 pp.

Review by Wisteria

The Judas Field is an astounding work of historical fiction that will rip deep into your heart and settle into your soul like a haunting bad dream.    Howard Bahr provides a sharply detailed journalistic view of The Battle of Franklin through the eyes of Cass Wakefield, a soldier who is unable to reconcile the past.  His life is empty and emotionless, haunted by memories he would rather forget. When a childhood friend asks him to recover her kin who died in the infamous battle, he reluctantly agrees to help.

The Judas Field, is based on the events surrounding the actual Battle of Franklin.  It has been called, “The Gettysburg of the West.” and lasted only about five hours. It took place in the yard of the Carter Family, while the family hid in the house during the fight. When silence settled over the area, the casualties combined were over 9,000.

As you travel north to Tennessee from Mississippi with Cass,  the reader will without a doubt empathize with Cass when his painful past insinuates itself into the safe cocoon of reflection he prefers. Uninvited images flash momentarily. War is loud. The repeated pounding and thunderous cacophony of canon fire and the constant ping and ring from ricochetted stray bullets whiz capriciously overhead. The ammunition is meant to kill and maim and bayonets are drawn.   Sometimes, when a prayer is answered a bedraggled soldier will be spared.  It doesn’t matter which side, the bullets and cannonballs originate, they are meant to kill, meant to deafen the sensitive ears and meant to produce the piles of bloody bodies that carpet the hellish landscape. All sense of beauty erased as the scavengers claim clothes, shoes, food and weapons from the dead.

War is quiet. The animals know to flee. The residents of the house disappear from view. as their property and yard become a battlefield. They huddle in a cellar, a barn, or escape to a cave or copse of trees, any shelter in hopes they will be spared. This is ground zero and a there is a still, eerie quiet , so quiet it is as both sides stopped breathing.  The stillness hovers over terrified soldiers as they wait for the engagement of another day. One of many that they have seen and one of the many they will face again.

Howard Bahr has a wondrously rich and picturesque style.  You can’t get much closer to being a true witness than you will with the acutely sensitive descriptions that make his story tangible.  Howard Bahr’s writing allows the reader to visualize, hear and feel the battle. You will witness a slaughter from the soldiers’ point of view. You will see the the nefarious images they encounter of the dead and grossly maimed. It is an unworldly place to be.  Likewise he is sensitive to the emotional pain and thoughts of his characters with phrases that will wrap around you like a warm hug. His prose is poetry.

It is the memories of those who survived, yet are slowly dying of the past that this story is about. The journey, whether the past will win is what makes this story so unique. If you have not read The Judas Field, it comes with my recommended high praise.  I will treasure my copy.

Special note to bloggers who are participating in the 2011 Civil War Challenge at War Through the Generations will want to read this one.

 I purchased my copy of this book while traveling in Gettysburg.

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2011].

Review-The Colors of Courage, Gettysburg's Forgotten History, by Mararet S. Creighton

THE COLORS OF COURAGE
Gettysburg’s Forgotten History
Immigrants, Women, and African Americans in the Civil War’s Defining Battle
by Margaret S. Creighton
Basic Books
July 4, 2006
$17.50, 360 pp.
978-0465014576

Synopsis from Basic Books (The Perseus Books Group)

Description

In the summer of 1863, as Union and Confederate armies converged on southern Pennsylvania, the town of Gettysburg found itself thrust onto the center stage of war. The three days of fighting that ensued decisively turned the tide of the Civil War. In The Colors of Courage, Margaret Creighton narrates the tale of this crucial battle from the viewpoint of three unsung groups--women, immigrants, and African Americans--and reveals how wide the conflict's dimensions were. A historian with a superb flair for storytelling, Creighton draws on memoirs, letters, diaries, and newspapers to bring to life the individuals at the heart of her narrative. The Colors of Courage is a stunningly fluid work of original history-one that redefines the Civil War's most remarkable battle.~Basic Books, Perseus Book Group


Link to Book TV, C-Span2

Speech by Margaret Creighton, from Gettysburg College,First Aired January 29, 2006

My Review

The visit to Gettysburg a couple of summers ago as part of a graduate work in American History was an astonishing tour and recap of the course I was enrolled. This was my second visit to Gettysburg, although the content and experience was quite different from my trip there as an eight year old. At that time it appeared to me that we were visiting a lot of open fields, quite boring in fact. However, I was delighted when my siblings and I climbed climbing on top of a cannon.  I think I still have that picture. How different my second visit was. My professor, was passionate about the The Civil War, we were required to read Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson prior to the trip.  After the visit I took back a much different opinion of Gettysburg, my perspective and focus was no longer a child’s point of view, but an older, perhaps wiser, student and avid historian walking the hallowed grounds.  I couldn’t get enough of the history surrounding this small hamlet that was the epicenter of such violence and death.

While visiting the bookstore on site, I purchased Margaret Creighton’s book, The Colors of Courage.  I couldn’t pass this up. It was the title that immediately got my attention. I knew so little about her claim of “the forgotten history,” the invisible people she wrote about, the immigrant soldiers, African Americans and women. 

The Battle of Gettysburg took place over three days and considered by most to be the turning point of the war.  Creighton’s remarkably engaging narrative taken from letters, diaries, military records, primary and secondary sources creates a picture walk of history that took place during the days leading up to the battle, during and the weeks and months that followed.  I am thrilled to be able to take advantage of her extensive bibliography and notes included at the end.

We know the Battle of Gettysburg was a horrific bloody barbarous battle between the North and South. These two sides, two distinct armies met during the first days of July 1863 in the midst of a small rural town, that until then had no military significance. This book reveals what went on while the battles were being waged. Where were the residents?  What happened to the residents? What happened to their homes, fields and farms, that became the center of massive devastation and misery?  All African Americans, some who lived on the land of engagement known as Pickett’s Charge had to flee or hide so that they would not be taken as contraband by the Southern Soldiers. Their status of freeborn was irrelevant to Lee’s army.  African women and men often hid rather than run as monetary and other options impaired their ability to escape.  However, they remained very much an integral part of the scene, as they assisted with cooking and helped the white women of Gettysburg cook for soldiers on all sides.  Homes still occupied were in direct line of bullets pinging and canon discharges, the deafening explosions a constant accompaniment. 

I could go on, but would rather you experience the lives of those everyday people who lived in Gettysburg. Colors of Courage should be read by all Americans and anyone interested in a better understanding the impact of this war had on all people.  It is a powerful book that begs reflection as we face the xenophobia, racial & gender prejudice of the past that endured through this major battle yet still lingers today. With new material, Margaret Creighton has uncovered and added clarity to the stories of ordinary citizens and soldiers who were very much a part of the Battle of Gettysburg.  This is a phenomenal book that brings their clouded and overlooked past to life. My copy of the book is teeming with sticky tabs to note important passages. This is one intriguing history book that I call irresistible.

Margaret S. Creighton is a professor of history at Bates College in Maine.  She has written Rites and Passages: The Experience of American Whaling and is contributed and co-editor of  Iron Men, Wooden Women: Gender and Seafaring in the Atlantic World, 1700-1920.

Disclosure: I purchased this book in Gettysburg.

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2011].

Young Adult Review-Iron Thunder, by AVI

IRON THUNDER

The Battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac
by AVI
Hyperion Books, 2007
Hardcover Follett Bound, 207pp
978-1423104469

Description from the Author’s Page

When his father is killed fighting for the Union in the War Between the States, thirteen-year-old Tom Carroll must take a job to help support his family. He manages to find work at a bustling ironworks in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York, where dozens of men are frantically pounding together the strangest ship Tom has ever seen. A ship made of iron. Tom soon learns that the Union army has very important plans for this iron ship called the Monitor. It is supposed to fight the Confederate “sea monster”—another ironclad, the Merimac. But almost no one believes the Monitor will float!
Meanwhile, Tom’s job at the ironworks has made him a target of Confederate spies who offer him money for information about the ship. Tom finds himself caught between two certain dangers: an encounter with murderous spies and a battle at sea in an iron coffin. . . .

http://www.avi-writer.com/books/books/iron.html

My Review

The battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac was a distance vague memory from my childhood.  An exciting story, Iron Thunder shows off the skillful storytelling of AVI who always makes history is fun to read.  It is through his character’s lives that his nimble novel writing excels. 

Tom Carroll was an actual sailor on the Monitor who is fictionalized by Avi.  Through Tom’s point of view his vivid and clever imagination for what could have been comes alive. Backed up and supported by primary and secondary sources,  Avi’s story conveys the importance of these unproven, experimental iron ships and the significance of the battles that took place at sea.

In his author notes he shares how he researched background for the novel by examining newspaper articles, letters, memoirs, and eyewitness reports of those who served on the ships or witnessed the engagement.

Teachers should consider this an excellent choice for middle school readers, as a read aloud or literature circle study. Many themes can be explored as well as the controversy that remains as to who actually won the battle. Tom’s story becomes complicated when he is faced with tough decisions that weigh on his conscience.

Avi’s books are numerous in my school library collection.  From fantasy to historical fiction, he knows how to entertain kids. Many books about the Civil War are inappropriate for upper elementary and middle school due to the brutal reality of battle. Without depicting the harsh and horrific images of the battlefield he is able to tell an inspiring story that is age appropriate.  Iron Thunder is an important addition to the Civil War collection of historical fiction.

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2011].

Wisteria Leigh
Library/Media Specialist
January 2011

Disclosure:  Library book in my school collection. 

Mary Mackey's-The Notorious Mrs. Winston, a review

THE NOTORIOUS MRS. WINSTON
Mary Mackey
Berkley Books
May 2007
$14.00U.S./17.50 CAN, Paperback
340 pp
978-0425215128.

Book Description from the Back Cover

"Married to an older man who sees her as little more than a possession, Claire Winston feels trapped and unhappy, but she knows her personal suffering pales in comparison to the hardships of the nation, which is teetering on the precipice of civil war. And she has a secret that helps ease her despair: her family's devotion to the cause of assisting runaway slaves to freedom, a purpose she embraces, and of which her husband is unaware. Still, the empty pretense of her marriage makes her vulnerable to temptation, and soon she finds herself captivated by John Taylor, her husband's nephew. In his arms she finds the passion and tenderness her marriage lacks, but as much as John loves her, he is devoted first and foremost to the Confederacy, and to the band of rebel guerillas known as Morgan's Raiders. Separated from John for more than two years by the forces of history, and by her husband's machinations, Claire will travel boldly across the war-torn country in search of her lover. Until, disguised as a male soldier, she finds herself drafted by none other than General Morgan himself, swept up in the greatest guerilla raid in American history, and caught between her loyalty to the Union and her love for John."

http://www.marymackey.com/Pages/books.html

My Review

Claire thought she was in love with her new husband Henry, but soon after they were married his obsession with photographing her became a source of discomfort and revulsion. He wouldn’t touch her, in fact the marriage was never consummated. Claire is not even allowed to touch him when they lay in bed at night. The mysterious green album sends shudders through Claire’s veins as it contains indiscreet photos of her, oddly provocative and perverse, a secret fetish of her husband’s. He worships her beauty in an artistic way, but for Claire, the camera lens becomes a dreaded focal point to her marriage.

When she meets John Taylor, Henry’s nephew, their mutual attraction is explosive. This event will alter her destiny as The Notorious Mrs. Winston takes on the persona of Zeke, a young boy eager to join the infamous Morgan Raiders so that she can be with her beloved.

Historiographically, General Morgan and his company of about seventeen hundred men did exist and their presence in the Ohio River area of southern Indiana was intended to cause havoc for the Union men. The fictional Claire, although she claimed allegiance to the Union cause, fought with Morgan’s men to be with John. She is clever, and devoted to him with an unstoppable tenacious willful spirit of adventure.

While it is hard to accept that Claire was able to pull of the disguise of a rebel soldier, when her beauty was evidently striking, I enjoyed her character. Her loyalty and dedication to the Underground Railroad is evident early on, yet she must somehow work with the enemy in order to save herself and a future with the man she loves. Somewhat dramatic in a soap opera way, this still is an enjoyable read. Mackey has since written The Widow’s War, set in the Civil War period which in my opinion is superb. Those looking for an adventurous book for the Civil War Challenge should consider this one.




Wisteria Leigh
January 2011

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2011].

Disclosure: Self-purchase at National Military Park Bookstore, Gettysburg, PA.

War Through the Generations-I'm Signed Up!

I have decided to join the War Through the Generations Challenge again this year. This year the subject is The American Civil War. Ever since I attended a grad course several years ago and visited Gettysburg for the second time, I have had a fascination with this period of history. I already have a prodigious library of Civil War books both non-fiction and historical fiction. This challenge will give me a big nudge to tackle this highly anticipated TBR pile of mine. I also plan on including some YA books that are on my library shelves in school. Buying books for the library is always fun, but I don't always take the time to read the entire book, just skimming through the reviews and a few chapters.

I don't plan on participating in any other challenges at this point, although I am reserving my right to change that later. LOL

Thanks again to Anna and Serena for hosting this valuable and thought provoking challenge.


© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2011].

Teaser Tuesday-#1 2011

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme,
hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
Anyone can play along!

This week my teaser comes from:

The Notorious Mrs. Winston

by Mary Makey
Published by Berkley
©2007

"She has come to think of the lens as the barrel of a gun. Even now, when it is pointed in another direction, she feels as if she is standing in the crosshairs." (page 11)





Disclosure: I purchased this book in Gettysburg.

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2011].

The Widow's War-by Mary Mackey

THE WIDOW’S WAR, Mary Mackey, Berkley Trade Paperback,9/1/09,$15.00US/$18.50CAN, pb, 368pp.


Carolyn Vinton and Dr. William Saylor, both abolitionists were to get married, when he suddenly disappears. As the family assumes he is dead, Carrie is left grieving, pregnant and alone. When Deacon Presgrove, William’s stepbrother offers to give the baby a name, Carrie accepts his offer to wed.

It is 1853 in the years heating up to the Civil War. The Kansas Territory is a battle ground between pro-slavery and the abolitionist factions. Carrie soon learns that her father in law, the famous senator is pro slavery. Feeling betrayed by Deacon, then learning that William is not dead, but alive, Carrie decides to break free to find William.

This is a novel to read again and again. Mackey creates fairy tale magic when she brings together the star-crossed pair of Carolyn Vinton and Dr. William Saylor. This is one of those, “non-stop, can’t put down” books. Carrie’s character is dynamic and strong, a woman of presence and grace. The sparks fly between Carrie and William with a magnetic field of attraction surrounding them. There are few lovers in literature with this connectivity and Mackey’s pair are sensational.

The story is peppered with intricate deception and edgy climactic tension that builds with increasing curiosity till the conclusion. Mackey has created a well researched romantic historical fiction. John Brown, Kansas Nebraska Act, Bloody Kansas and other events are credible, real and memorable. This would be an excellent companion novel when studying the American Civil War in high school or beyond. No doubt The Widow’s War will be one of the “Best of 2009”.