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Title: Guerrillas, Unionists, and Violence on the Confederate Home Front by Daniel E. Sutherland ISBN: 1-55728-550-0 Publisher: University of Arkansas Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (3 reviews)

Rating: 3
Summary: Guerrillas, Unionists...
Comment: This anthology of thematic studies is a mixed bag. The scholarship represents one of the latest and most interesting trends in Civil War scholarship, local area studies. As such, some of the work here will be of interest only to scholars focusing on those regions.

Some of the articles are interesting and of value, but a few lack scholarly objectivity. I noticed that in several cases sources had been chosen strangely, with presumably honest and reliable Unionist primary sources contrasted to the silliest possible early 20th century Lost Cause historians; why not compare Unionist primary documents to Confederate ones? In general, as is common with articles of this sort, there's a lot of stating the theme and sometimes a dearth of actual conclusions. Particularly annoying was the study of the Unionist rhetoric of violence in West Virginia -- a fascinating topic if the author had thought to actually analyze the writings and speeches to which he refers, but he scarcely even quotes them.

Two studies of the East Tennessee region stood out as useful, and Fellman's article was intriguing although I'm not sure I understand his theory of subjective analysis.

Like most works of this type, this is useful if treated with a due amount of caution.

Rating: 4
Summary: Not the Usual Home-Front Tales
Comment: The essays in "Guerrillas, Unionists, and Violence on the Confederate Home Front" run the gamut from the stodgy and academic to enlightening and exciting. For the most part, the various authors do a good job of uncovering dissent and pockets of Unionist sentiment throughout the South and examining the role such discontent played in the downfall of the Confederacy. They also note how home-front sentiment shifted over the course of the war.

Among the stronger essays are Noel C. Fisher's look at Unionism in East Tennessee before, during and after the Civil War and Victoria E. Bynum's look at the "Free State of Jones," a South Mississippi county that was a hotbed of Union sympathizers. Other essays cover dissent in Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.

Rating: 5
Summary: An impressive contribution to Civil War studies.
Comment: What is not generally realized is that a great deal of Civil War violence occurred well behind the conventional battlefields and pitted some of the most intense and atrocious violence on the Confederate home front as families and neighbors engaged in bloody struggles with each other for control. In Guerrillas, Unionists, And Violence On The Confederate Home Front, Daniel Sutherland has gathered eleven essays by noted Civil War scholars and historians in exploration of the complexities of fratricidal conflict and how it impacted on communities, homes, and families. This is a seminal, ground breaking contribution that is a much needed, long overdue, impressive contribution to the growing body of Civil War studies and literature.