Bitter Fruits Of Bondage: The Demise Of Slavery And The Collapse Of The Confederacy, 1861-1865 (Carter G Woodson Institute Series in Black Studies)

Rating:
Summary: Bitterly disappointing work
Review: Mr. Robinson's long awaited Bitter Fruits of Bondage, proves to be a bitter pill to swallow. I expected far more than suppositions , guesswork, and mere personal opinion. It truly was a major disapointment. Fortunately the book was loaned to me and I am not out any hard earned money. I give it one star.


Rating:
Summary: Opinions rather than research
Review: Robinson contends that the superiority of Northern military manpower and industrial resources were not decisive in the defeat of the South, but that discord between slaves, poor whites, and the planter class was instrumental in its downfall. Pure rubbish, since Southerners of every color went eagerly off to War and fought to the bitter end while the slaves supported the troops in the field by working back home. Even though slave revolts could have brought the South to its knees, none occurred, much to the chagrin of Lincoln who hoped for such when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Don't waste your money.


Rating:
Summary: Extremely disappointing Civil War work
Review: This long-awaited work proves disappointing to Civil War historians and buffs alike. Robinson contends that the Confederacy lost the war as much through demoralization at home due to the pending demise of slavery rather than the defeat on the battlefield, a supposition which easily collapses under the weight of historical fact. Less than ten percent of the men who fought for the South ever owned a slave, and neither did the vast majority of white southerners. Slavery was not the sole cause of the war and hardly a reason for people who did not own them, and thus were unaffected by either its existence or its demise, to fight in its defense. Taken against the fact that the Confederate government in its last year was willing to free slaves in return for fighting - which would have dismantled slavery, this allegation simply has no basis in reality.

Virginia was the first state to ban the African slave trade and in 1859 the Virginia Legislature very narrowly defeated an amendment that would have ended the "peculiar institution" in that state. When added to the fact that thousands of non-white, including free and slave blacks also fought for the Confederacy, Robinson's allegations are unfounded in real history. This book adds nothing to the student's understanding of the war and is based on supposition rather than historical fact.