Entertaining History: The Civil War in Literature, Film, and Song (Engaging the Civil War) - Softcover

 
Of the five books assigned for my undergraduate Civil War class, I read—I am now ashamed to admit—only two. Of the three I did not read, one never even made it out of the plastic wrapper it came in, and I sold it back new at semester’s end. The other two somehow remained with me all these years and occupy places in my Civil War library, and I’ve since, out of guilt, gone back to read them. Better late than never. 
 
The two I read at the time were Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels and Bruce Catton’s A Stillness at Appomattox. It probably comes as no surprise to Civil War buffs that those two books in particular caught my eye—but at the time, I was no Civil War buff. As a college junior, I had enrolled in Rick Frederick’s Civil War class because he was an amazing storyteller and “funnier ’n hell,” as we said. His seventy-five-minute lectures doubled as stand-up comedy routines, and by the end of each one, our hands cramped from note-taking and our sides stitched from laughing. And lo and behold, after that laughter died down, we discovered in the midst of all that shtick we’d learned a lot, too. (I’m fortunate to have Rick among the contributors to this volume.) 
 
Beyond Rick’s wonderful talent as a professor, though, I had no particular interest in the Civil War. Glory had come out the year before, but Ferris Bueller as Colonel Robert Shaw had been hard to get past.
 
Shaara and Catton had both grabbed my attention, though. Both wrote in easily accessible styles—Shaara’s more literary and Catton’s more journalistic. I knew little about Appomattox beyond what I’d see in the TV miniseries The Blue and the Gray, but Catton took me there and helped me appreciate the poignancy and gravity of the event. Gettysburg I knew much more about, having grown up not too far from the battlefield, but Shaara helped me appreciate events in an entirely new way.
 
These storytellers—Shaara, Catton, and Frederick—made a profound impact on me without my even realizing it. Only two decades later, when I began writing Civil War history myself, did I come to understand that impact. Even then, it didn’t click until I heard David McCullough’s 2003 Jefferson Lecture for the National Endowment for the Humanities. “No harm’s done to historyby making it something someone would want to read,” McCullough said.1 I figured that as a two-time Pulitzer winner and New York Times best seller, he
knew what he was talking about.
 
I came to history writing sideways, through my professional work as a journalist, my avocational work as a creative writer, and my academic work in English. I’ve long understood the value of—and been inspired by—a good story. And in my Civil War adventures, I’ve heard from so many other people hooked by Shaara or Catton or Gone with the Wind or Glory. This book, then, in a way, is a celebration of the great books, movies, TV shows, and songs that have hooked so many of us and brought us to the Civil War. Our hope is that in reading this collection, you will feel as if you’re sitting down with a bunch of folks who like a lot of the same books and movies you do and having an enjoyable conversation about them. I hope, too, that you discover a gem that you might otherwise not have encountered before, or that you’ll discover something new in a work you thought you knew. I hope this collection leads to new appreciations for you.
 
This collection is not intended as a comprehensive survey, although we’ve tried to hit most of the most influential works. We’ve divided them into three sections: print, film, and music. Each section offers an example or two of a Civil War–era work that still enjoys modern popularity and then moves in roughly chronological order toward the present. We’ve organized the collection this way for easier apples-to-apples discussions so that, for instance, essays about movies are in conversation with other essays about movies. After all, that is the way movie fans tend to discuss movies (unless they’re comparing a movie to the book it was adapted from). An alternative approach would have been to forgo the subdivisions and just offer a single chronological approach as a way to show an evolution in the way we remember the war. An online
appendix provides a chronological listing.
 
The print section begins with a pair of authors most of us have read in middle school or high school, offering us our first taste of Civil War literature—and, for many of us, our first taste of the war itself. Then we look at some of the other heavy hitters of Civil War writing: Ulysses S. Grant, Bruce Catton, MacKinlay Kantor, Shelby Foote, Michael and Jeff Shaara, and more. We’ve arranged them in order of first publication, intermingling works of fiction and nonfiction. The section wraps up by looking at Civil War magazines.
 
The film section begins with photography—done on glass plates rather than actual film, if we’re getting technical—because images from the battlefield had a powerful visual impact unrivaled by anything else the media could offer. We then look at cycloramas—which are giant works of art on canvas, not film—but as visual spectacles, they were all the rage in their day as the equivalent of today’s 3-D IMAX movies. Then we get into movies and TV shows, putting some essays and movies into conversation with each other in ways that we hope will help you see them a little differently.
 
The music section starts with what’s probably the most recognizable Civil War–era song, followed by a piece that looks at other pop music of the day along with some modern musicians who help keep that music alive. We’ll touch on some modern favorites, including what’s probably the most recognizable modern Civil War song, and we’ll finish under the lights of Broadway with a story that might well be the exception that proves our larger rule: sometimes Civil War–themed popular entertainment does not necessarily translate into wider interest.
 
You’ll find a wide variety of voices and styles in this book, which is true of any group conversation but something that’s a particular hallmark of Emerging Civil War. Our writers have diverse backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and approaches, which helps keep the conversation fresh—an approach that’s served our readers well at www.emergingcivilwar.com and an approach we’ve tried to replicate here.
 
Aside from a great collection of contributors—whose bios are all in the back—we’re also excited about the lineup of “guest stars” we have in this book. William C. “Jack” Davis, the legendary former editor of Civil War Times, took time to talk with us. So did Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Tony Horwitz, best-selling author Jeff Shaara, noted historians John Hennessy and Timothy B. Smith, and beloved Civil War musician Bobby Horton. A half dozen other experts also lent their voices to our conversation, for which we’re grateful. Beyond the book, you’ll find additional web-exclusive content at www.emergingcivilwar.com, including essays about other movies, books, TV shows, songs, poems, and writers. You can access that material using the QR codes at the beginning of each section. And next year, a companion volume will look at some of the connections between history and popular culture in broader contexts, touching on such things as reenacting, commemoration, politics, genealogy, memoir, and more.
 
We’ve tried to keep this collection as engaging as the examples we discuss. The resulting conversation—with its varied voices, perspectives, and styles—will, we hope, prove lively, entertaining, eclectic, and thoughtful. After all, we love these books and movies and shows and songs. They’re fun and cool. They’re beloved. They capture our imagination. While giving you plenty to think about, we hope we also honor that spirit.