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A review by shanehawk
What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War by Chandra Manning
3.0
Decent.
Would've liked more content from primary documents and less editorializing the minimal quotes included. Academic writing plagued by black-or-white fallacious thinking when it came to intentions of Union whites, Confederate whites, and blacks in the war. She covered herself, as many historians do, by continuously copping out with phrases like "this was not unanimous" or "not all Union troops thought this way" while presenting primary sources only supporting one overarching viewpoint. Of course people aren't unanimous in anything.
I still recommend those curious about the Civil War to read this, but with caution. It's worth a lot more to read the actual letters exchanged between soldiers and their families for full context.
Would've liked more content from primary documents and less editorializing the minimal quotes included. Academic writing plagued by black-or-white fallacious thinking when it came to intentions of Union whites, Confederate whites, and blacks in the war. She covered herself, as many historians do, by continuously copping out with phrases like "this was not unanimous" or "not all Union troops thought this way" while presenting primary sources only supporting one overarching viewpoint. Of course people aren't unanimous in anything.
I still recommend those curious about the Civil War to read this, but with caution. It's worth a lot more to read the actual letters exchanged between soldiers and their families for full context.