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Title: The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy by Bell Irvin Wiley ISBN: 0-8071-0475-2 Publisher: Louisiana State University Press Pub. Date: February, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.88 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent Research Work
Comment: This is an excellent book if you're looking to read about "The Life of Johnny Reb." For once, the title of the book reflects what it really is about ; )
Clearly Wiley has done his homework. You will walk away having learned pretty much everything there is to know about fighting for the CSA.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I started reading as far as style went. I wasn't sure if it would read like a memoir or rather collection of memoirs. The style was actually more along the lines of a research paper. It's a very nuts and bolts portrayal of every day camp life with each chapter focusing on a certain element (Why, Who, How, etc.). You don't get the pit in your stomach or wind in your hair sort of sensation, but you do get a very accurate read of the life and times of those soldiers.
If you're looking for more of a "romantic" or spirited read, I think you'll be disappointed. You're probably better off going with a true memoir. "The Life of Johnny Reb" does not read like a story or memoir. What's great about it is that each chapter stands on its own, so it would be easy to pick up and read from time to time.
In any case, as I mentioned the research is impecable and clearly after reading I can say that I understand the common soldier of the CSA.
Rating: 5
Summary: An Excellent Source
Comment: Like the companion to this book (LIFE OF BILLY YANK) Bell Wiley has done an outstanding job recording the life of the common soldier of the Civil War. And, like BILLY YANK, Wiley was able to interview scores of aging Confederate veterans. With topics ranging from food to even (GASP) SEX, Wiley manages to paint a portrait that few will ever excell. As with BILLY YANK, reenactors will find a wealth of information for their impressions. Wiley does not judge these men by 20th Century values and standards, but lets them speak their own words. The documentation alone is worth browsing!
Rating: 5
Summary: Classic - you can hear the bugle calling
Comment: Bell Wiley was blessed with unusually good eyesight, which he used to read the faded letters written home by thousands of otherwise anonymous Southern foot soldiers and cavalrymen. Keep in mind that after 1862, the C.S.A. had very little good-quality paper or ink. A typical Rebel missive was written with homemade vegetable ink on the margins of a used business letter. It was under these discouraging circumstances that the men who wore the gray told their families, wives, and loves ones of the reality of Civil War (War Between the States) combat.
"The Life of Johnny Reb" is drawn from these thousands of letters, as well as contemporary newspaper articles, court-martial records, medical accounts, and regimental histories. Wiley was in all phases of his research a severe realist who was not interested in romanticising his subjects. When he admires the common soldier of the Confederacy, it is admiration that is due on the basis of the facts and nothing but the facts.
Wiley, himself a Southerner, uses some of the euphemisms required of writers of his day. Slaves are routinely called "servants", for example, and if one of his men writes a few lines of obscene poetry, Wiley will sometimes refuse to quote them in print.
Many of us believe that the C.S.A. was not a worthy cause for which to fight. All the more honor, then, to those common soldiers of the Confederacy who fought, bled, and died for it in increasing awareness of the fact that they were likely to lose. Whatever the ultimate justice of their cause, they did their best.
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Title: Life of Billy Yank: The Common Soldier of the Union by Bell Irvin Wiley ISBN: 0807104760 Publisher: Louisiana State University Press Pub. Date: June, 1979 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Hardtack and Coffee or the Unwritten Story of Army Life by John D. Billings, Charles W. Reed, Charles E. Reed, William L. Shea ISBN: 080326111X Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr Pub. Date: August, 1993 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Rebel Private: Front and Rear: Memoirs of a Confederate Soldier by William A. Fletcher, Richard Wheeler ISBN: 0452011574 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: March, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: All for the Union : The Civil War Diary & Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes by Elisha Hunt Rhodes ISBN: 0679738282 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 28 July, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Co. Aytch: A Confederate's Memoir of the Civil War by Sam R. Watkins, Samuel R. Watkins ISBN: 0684833247 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: August, 1997 List Price(USD): $8.00 |
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