Member Review MARCHING HOME: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War by Brian Matthew Jordan

David Wilson

Private
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
I wanted to share my initial impressions. This book is well written and researched, its first rate scholarship that impresses upon the reader the sheer historical force of Union Veterans upon American society. I shouldn't be surprised since Mr. Jordan is a lecturer at Gettysburg College, but his command of fact and thoughtful insights should be readily appreciated.

The book brings alive the post Civil War world as experienced by union veterans who survived a war and endured a peace. The triumphs in solidarity and the tragedy of disability are made plan and poignant on ever page. The well selected sampling of first hand accounts compiled into fair and measured conclusions reveal something about how civilizations shape and are shaped by their warriors who have come home from war. For one thing I am reminded of how civilians are generally less interested in the gritty and sordid details of the personal experience of war, and tend to be drawn to Chessmaster Generals and martyrs dying sanitized and theatrical deaths. The never ending comradery of veterans is always apparent in the breadth and depth of the authors knowledge of Civil War writers and publications that were determined to remember, honor, and protect one another throughout their lives.

I'm still reading this book, I'll more to say later.

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I wanted to share my initial impressions. This book is well written and researched, its first rate scholarship that impresses upon the reader the sheer historical force of Union Veterans upon American society. I shouldn't be surprised since Mr. Jordan is a lecturer at Gettysburg College, but his command of fact and thoughtful insights should be readily appreciated.

The book brings alive the post Civil War world as experienced by union veterans who survived a war and endured a peace. The triumphs in solidarity and the tragedy of disability are made plan and poignant on ever page. The well selected sampling of first hand accounts compiled into fair and measured conclusions reveal something about how civilizations shape and are shaped by their warriors who have come home from war. For one thing I am reminded of how civilians are generally less interested in the gritty and sordid details of the personal experience of war, and tend to be drawn to Chessmaster Generals and martyrs dying sanitized and theatrical deaths. The never ending comradery of veterans is always apparent in the breadth and depth of the authors knowledge of Civil War writers and publications that were determined to remember, honor, and protect one another throughout their lives.

I'm still reading this book, I'll more to say later.

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I enjoyed this book a great deal.
 
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