Beyond the Battlefield : The Ordinary Life and Extraordinary Times of the Civil War Soldier

Rating:
Summary: Tendentious, emotional pseudohistory; covers no new ground
Review: David Madden has assembled a fine collection of primary source material from which he has created thematic chapters on all aspects of the lives of the common soldier of the American Civil War. While, this book does not really cover any new material, and does reinforce a few myths about the war (Battle of Gettysburg resulted from Confederate quest for shoes), it should serve as an excellent introduction for new students of the war.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Introduction
Review: David Madden has assembled a fine collection of primary source material from which he has created thematic chapters on all aspects of the lives of the common soldier of the American Civil War. While, this book does not really cover any new material, and does reinforce a few myths about the war (Battle of Gettysburg resulted from Confederate quest for shoes), it should serve as an excellent introduction for new students of the war.

Rating:
Summary: Tendentious, emotional pseudohistory; covers no new ground
Review: Upon picking up this book, one wonders why the world needs another book on Civil War soldier life. Upon putting it down, one concludes that this book was, at best, an unnecessary addition.

Madden covers similar material to the similarly formatted, but much better written, Time-Life volume Tenting Tonight. Very little of his information is new. He does offer some interesting rarely-seen quotes, such as part of the transcript of a Union prison guard acquitted of murder after having shot a Confederate prisoner who insulted him.

I found this book to be full of half-truths and inaccuracies. Quotes, particularly quotes from the wonderful memoir Co. Aytch, are used in a tendentious out-of-context manner. On several occasions the author pointlessly intrudes his beliefs about 21st century politics, which completely destroys any pretense of academic impartiality. The general tone is emotional, presenting the war as tragic and brutal yet "necessary" in that positivist destiny-of-America sense.

Despite the overall politically correct tone of the writing, Madden eschews meaningful discussion of colored troops, Native American troops, class and ethnic differences between soldiers, soldiers' beliefs about race and slavery, etc. Nor, despite the title, does daily life and mentality get much discussion.

Read Tenting Tonight if you want the large-format introduction with pictures, Wiley and McPherson and so on if you want academic studies. Beyond the Battlefield is not worth bothering with.