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The War for the Common Soldier: How Men Thought, Fought, and Survived in Civil War Armies (Littlefield History of the Civil War Era) by Peter S. Carmichael published by The University of North Carolina Press (2018) 408 pages $34.95 Hardcover, $15.39 Kindle
Carmichael ends his book with a discussion of the pragmatism of Oliver Wendell Holmes. He might just as well have begun with Holmes as well, since Carmichael emphasizes the pragmatic approach of many soldiers throughout the book. In many ways, this book is a response to books by people like Gary Gallagher, who stress the ideological element of Civil War soldier motivation. Gallagher emphasized the devotion to the Union as a primary motivator for common soldiers in the Federal armies. Other reviewers have also seen in this book a turning away from the so-called "dark turn" of recent Civil War scholarship which constructs the soldiers on both sides as pawns in a game of someone else's making.
Note: This review will be posted in multiple installments.