Choice 评论
Bell I. Wiley's The Life of Billy Yank (1952), the first study of the Union soldier by a professional historian, has been followed in the past decade by a flood of similar books generated by new interest in social history. Hess (Lincoln Memorial Univ.), author of a study of the ideology of Union troops (Liberty, Virtue, and Progress, CH, Feb'89), now examines their reactions to combat and the factors sustaining their bravery. Young men, impelled to enlist by patriotism, ideology, and thirst for adventure, generally stood their ground when confronting overwhelming battlefield horrors. Hess catalogues explanations including ideals of courage, manliness and self-control, camaraderie encouraged by close ranks and shouting under fire, and even the work ethic. In contrast to attitudes of later American troops, evidence from contemporary diaries and letters leads Hess to conclude that the Union soldier came from a "premodern culture." Hess covers ground also surveyed in James M. McPherson's For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War (1997). Scholars will discover interesting differences in interpretation. Both books will enrich academic libraries. J. Y. Simon; Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
The fall of Fort Sumter caught the Union Army unaware. It was a small army whose officers, even the West Pointers, were ill prepared to mold a huge fighting force from a volunteer civilian population. Often, the soldiers didn't even see the rebel force they were fighting, firing into a bank of black smoke in the direction of the firing against them. Hess (history, Lincoln Memorial Univ.) paints a vivid picture here of a Union soldier's life before, during, and after the Civil War, detailing how soldiers coped with war, dealt with the losses of friends and family, and remembered the war in their memoirs. Though blessed with modern weapons such as the rifled musket, they were cursed with tactics and strategies better suited to the American Revolution. Also enduring medieval notions of medicine, Union soldiers suffered huge casualties. A riveting, well-documented history; recommended for academic libraries and most public libraries with Civil War collections.Grant A. Fredericksen, Illinois Prairie Dist. P.L., Metamora (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
