The Imagined Civil War - (Civil War America) by Alice Fahs (Paperback)

About the Book

Imagined Civil War: Popular Literature of the North and South, 1861-1865

Book Synopsis

In this groundbreaking work of cultural history, Alice Fahs explores a little-known and fascinating side of the Civil War -- the outpouring of popular literature inspired by the conflict. From 1861 to 1865, authors and publishers in both the North and the South produced a remarkable variety of war-related compositions, including poems, songs, children's stories, romances, novels, histories, and even humorous pieces. Fahs mines these rich but long-neglected resources to recover the diversity of the war's political and social meanings.

Instead of narrowly portraying the Civil War as a clash between two great, white armies, popular literature offered a wide range of representations of the conflict and helped shape new modes of imagining the relationships of diverse individuals to the nation. Works that explored the war's devastating impact on white women's lives, for example, proclaimed the importance of their experiences on the home front, while popular writings that celebrated black manhood and heroism in the wake of emancipation helped readers begin to envision new roles for blacks in American life.

Recovering a lost world of popular literature, The Imagined Civil War adds immeasurably to our understanding of American life and letters at a pivotal point in our history.

Review Quotes

"[A] sparkling study. . . . The most intriguing aspect . . . is its discussion of magazine stories and books written for children which not only shaped their perceptions of the earthshaking events of their youth but also influenced their worldview as adults during the postwar era."
-- James McPherson, "The Wall Street Journal", 'Five Best Books on the Civil War away from the battlefield'

"Informative, original and engaging."
- "Southern Literary Journal"

"Informative, original and engaging."
-- "Southern Literary Journal"

"[Fahs has] managed to give us new and valuable insights into the wartime South, and her treatment of Northern popular literature is a signal contribution to our understanding of Civil War America.
("New York Times Book Review")"

""The Imagined Civil War" provides a much-needed perspective into the mental lives of northerners and southerners who tried to understand a world that was engulfed in violence and death, and changing in ways that few could have imagined.
("North and South")"

"ÝFahs has¨ managed to give us new and valuable insights into the wartime South, and her treatment of Northern popular literature is a signal contribution to our understanding of Civil War America.
("New York Times Book Review")"

"By illuminating a critical aspect of American popular thought during the period of sectional conflict, Alice Fahs adds considerably to our historical knowledge of the Civil War era.
("Civil War History")"

Fahs has illuminated a fresh aspect of America's greatest drama.
("The Washington Times")

Immensely valuable. An important contribution even to overburdened Civil War bookshelves.
("Journal of American History")

"Fahs has illuminated a fresh aspect of America's greatest drama."