Freedom Rising : Washington in the Civil War

Rating:
Summary: Pure Pleasure
Review: Contrary to the peevish Publishers Weekly review posted by Amazon, Kirkus Reviews says this book is "Pure pleasure for Civil War buffs."
The Library Journal says, "This readable and well-documented volume can be recommended for all libraries."
According to the Washington Post Book World, "Freedom Rising is the ideal portrait of Civil War Washington for our times, an account of the political cat fights behind the dogs of war....Furgurson captures the bite and bile but also the wondrous glory of the Civil War era. Freedom Rising serves as a refreshing tonic at the end of this sorry year, reminding us not only that things might be worse, but that they once were far more dangerous and troubling."


Rating:
Summary: It's OK to disagree with critics...
Review: I was very surprised to read the negative review of this book. I agree the "journalistic parentage" of this book is apparent, but I disagree with the "ricochet" comment. The book IS about Washington during the Civil War. The problem with any book about Washington D.C. is that, because of its status as the nation's capital, it's impossible to focus only on the city itself. Any book that did so would be seriously flawed and incomplete. A history of Washington must take into account, at least periodically, the effects that actions in Washington have on other parts of the country, and what events in other parts of the country do to change the situation in Washington. This is doubly true of the Civil War era.

I found the mix of local and national issues and events not at all confusing and in fact, quite palatable. Furgurson seamlessly weaves in events such as John Fremont's action in Missouri and Ben Butler's actions on the Virginia Peninsula, for example, with local events in Washington. The importance of the interaction between these events is self-evident. Indeed, such masterful weaving is half the book's charm.

_Freedom Rising_ is not meant to be a source for report writing (although it works as background reading); it's meant to be an enjoyable read, and at this task Furgurson succeeds masterfully. I would recommend this book, and I will be more likely to read Furgurson's other books in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Street-wise, street-level history
Review: This is a masterful book - a street-level, street wise view of the Civil War from Pennsylvania Avenue and its tributaries. Furgurson writes of all the high and low lifes, generals, prostitutes, slave pens, piles of amputated limbs, mud, malaria, con men and spies that invaded Washington during the 1860s. The City was part morgue, part hospital, completely political and closely allied to the Southern cause.

Furgurson writes this book like a forensic detective with the flair of a novelist. Here is a sample:

"On a given evening in the early summer of 1861, toward midnight, no one stirred at William Seward's house on the east side of the square, where Lincoln often came to talk strategy and swap stories....The windows were dark at Gideon Welles's home, looking south from H Street toward the White House. The entrance to St. John's Church, Benjamin Latrobe's little 1816 gem, where every President since Madison had worshiped, was shut against the night. But across Sixteenth Street, so close to all this quiescent power and anxiety, a portly senator range the bell of a brick townhouse, and a hall lamp briefly lit his eager face as he was admitted to the presence of Rose O'Neal Greenow."

That paragraph could have been a dry recitation of events. But in Furgurson's hands, the tale is a 'little gem,' like St. John's Church, of a Senator unknowingly sleeping with, and spilling secrets to, a Southern spy. This is "you are there" journalism at its best.

If you live or work or visit Washington DC in search of the Civil War's legacies, you will take Furgurson's visions with you when you walk its streets. All the people and many of the buildings are long gone, but Furgurson's book has stemmed history's tide for a long time to come.