The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War (Politically Incorrect Guides)
by H. W. Crocker III
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Book Summary Information
Author: H. W. Crocker IIIEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-10-21
ISBN: 1596985496
Number of pages: 370
Publisher: Regnery Publishing
Book Reviews of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War (Politically Incorrect Guides)
Book Review: Reasonable General Introduction
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this book because of an interest in the American Civil War. I have to say I expected the book to be a little silly - short on facts and long on polemic but that's not the case. In fact it's a reasonable short introduction to the war. Obviously it's written from the perspective of trying to understand the Southern cause.
The book is in several sections.
The second is a general history of the war, covering the significant battles. I have to say that the lack of maps is a major deficiency.
The third and fourth concern 9 major and 4 minor military leaders. Normally in general works only Lee and Grant get the biography treatment, so the introduction to others like Stonewall Jackson and George H Thomas is a welcome departure. The author makes a point of highlighting the virtues and vices of both Confederates and Unionists.
The first section establishes the case for southern succession. The questions being: "Did the southern states have the right to leave the union?". "Was slavery the principle issue?". It's difficult to approach this rationally because of the obvious wickedness of slavery. A modern parallel might be to consider the break up of Yugoslavia. This section could do with being a bit longer. If you're going to write a "defence" of the Confederacy then this must be the core of the book.
The rest of the section covers events leading up to the war. Interesting to read about the impact of the Haitian and Nat Turner uprisings on abolitionist sentiment. That's the only area where I detected a verdict contrary to the PC version: ie. slavery's end was supposedly hastened by such revolts.
The final section presents a few What-Ifs.
The book doesn't cover the economics sufficiently. Clearly the end of slavery was connected to the growth of capitalism. Free labour making it inefficient. The book could also benefit from a potted history of slavery in the US. For example the invention of the cotton gin dramatically increased numbers before the Atlantic slave trade ended. The numbers of slaves in the South compared to the North must have had an impact on attitudes to abolition. The book does have some useful correctives such as the fact that slaveowners were a minority. The book surprisingly makes little effort to correct the image of big plantations with vast slave gangs. As Torqueville noted many slaves were owned by small-holders.
It's quite clear that Lincoln wished to preserve the Union over abolishing slavery. And equally it's clear that the southern cause was state's rights. However since the schism was caused by slavery this inevitably became the defining issue of the war. The book makes a valuable corrective in noting that many Southerners assumed slavery would end but desired a slow transition - it's simplistic to assume they all fought for slavery.
I've read other books on this subject before, notably works by Shelby Foote. I discover that he is an author "Yankees don't want (me) to read". Shelby Foote has long been regarded as the pre-eminant author on the civil war. Perhaps things have changed dramatically since my youth. If Shelby Foote is Politically Incorrect, then this book is too. However, that's not how I view him.
The book suffers from being written in the modern style pioneered by Idiot's/Dummy's Guide with a core text "enhanced" by inlayed hightlighted sections.
So in conclusion a reasonable introduction. The main shortcomings being a lack of maps and an imbalance between the justification for succession and the rest of the book.
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