Book Review--Young Men and Fire

MacLean, Norman. Young Men and Fire. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. B/W photos, maps. ISBN 9780226500621, $16.

While it might seem that fighting wild fires should have become safer in the years since the 1949 Mann Gulch fire recent events have proven that to be not the case.

Norman MacLean, in his masterpiece Young Men and Fire, takes readers closer than they would ever want or realistically need to be to a wild fire.

On a hot dry August afternoon 15 young men, 13 were under 24 years old, jumped out of an airplane into the remote forests of Montana to cut and dig a fire break in hopes of containing a fire in Mann Gulch. They carried limited supplies and tools.  They were confident in the abilities and planned on working through the night and being back at camp the next day. By late afternoon only three were still alive.

With a skill few authors could match MacLean works through the history of smoke jumping, the lives these young men would have been leading, the flight to the fire and the decision to jump, the awful turn of events as mother nature showed her wrath, the tragedy of the following day, the questions regarding those that were there and their actions and his research into the fire. Readers will meet the last two remaining survivors and follow along as they struggle to remember events that had happened nearly fifty years before.



The Mann Gulch memorial, installed in 1999,

 located at the mouth of Meriwether Canyon.

All along we see an author facing his own mortality through the deaths of twelve young men. MacLean interweaves stories of his life and we realize he understands he could have been one of those who left a lasting memory on Mann Gulch in the form of a concrete cross. Instead he was allowed to live a full life and devote the last of it to paying homage to these young men and making sure they were not forgotten.

This book is not for everybody. It does get a bit rambling at time. It doesn't always flow the way you might expect. The book had not been edited for publication at the time of MacLean's death nor was it complete. The publisher of the book has done little to change the book. That is good. For some readers there will also be a bit too much fire science involved. In researching the fire it became imperative to figure out what happened and why the fire behaved as it did. While certainly being far from a textbook readers will finish with a much better understanding of fire behavior and the danger that it can pose.

This is a book I have read on multiple occasions and will no doubt be returning to again. Highly recommended!

Press Release--The History Press Releases Civil War Soldiers of Greater Cleveland

The History Press is pleased to introduce the new title:

Civil War Soldiers of Greater Cleveland

Letters Home to Cuyahoga County

Dale Thomas

 

The Civil War interrupted the area around Cleveland, Ohio, in the middle of its great leap into prosperity, redirecting its men into military camps and its industrial strength into munitions and provisions. Dale Thomas roots his story in the letters that kept the ordinary soldiers from Cuyahoga County tethered to their families and friends on the home front, even as they moved from battlefield to battlefield, through sickness and captivity. For many, these letters were the only part of them to make it back—their final legacy to a community they had helped to build.

   

Dale Thomas graduated from Kent State University (BS in social studies and education) and Case Western Reserve University (MA in history). Before retiring, he taught social studies for thirty-one years at Bay High School in Bay Village, Ohio. In addition to serving as a judge for History Day at Case Western Reserve University, he has been an advisor for tours at the Western Reserve Historical Society and historian for the Cleveland Civil War Roundtable. Thomas is the archivist and vice-president for the Olmsted Historical Society and a member of the North Olmsted Landmarks Commission. He is the author of the books Images of America: North Olmsted and Then & Now: Olmsted. In 2012, The History Press published his third book, Lincoln’s Old Friends of Menard County, Illinois.

 

 

ISBN: 978.1.62619.088.7•  Paperback   •   144 pages   •   $19.99  •  July 2013

 

This new book is available at local stores and online at www.historypress.net

It retails as an E-BOOK via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple’s I-bookstore, Google’s  E-bookstore, & Overdrive.

GrantLee's Florida Brigade Restaurant Update

Some of you might remember that a while back I wrote a review about a Civil War themed restaurant called GrantLee's Florida Brigade Tavern and Grill. Overall it was a disaster to put it mildly. You can read the review here and be sure to take a look at a couple of follow up comments that were left; none by the management you will notice. Well, less than four months later I have some updated news for you that was posted on their Facebook page today:

TO ALL THE LOYAL CUSTOMERS: We are sorry to say that GrantLee's Florida Brigade is officially closed for business... due to lack of income/business, we regret to inform everyone that we are closing the doors for good tonight. We thank all of you for your continued support! We worked hard day in and day out to make this place work, but at the end of the day: it wasn't enough. Next year we are opening something a little smaller, in a better location. See everyone around!! (and a special thanks to all our very LOYAL employees that stuck it out with us up until the end!! We cant say thanks enough to you guys!!)

That is correct, they made it less than four months before having to close the doors. Unfortunately for them there were a lot of strikes working against them: a location that forced folks to drive by many other options before getting there, poor food, poor service, poor management based upon other reviews I have read, a most unusual name that really meant nothing to those not interested in the Civil War and was completely ridiculous to those that are interested, and did I say bad food and service. The owners supposedly operated another restaurant (in Maine if I remember correctly but I could be wrong on that) but based upon this I find it hard to believe. It's really too bad considering there is not a good bar-b-que restaurant around here. This place COULD have done better. Of course it SHOULD have had good food and service.

Thinking back to the parade of restaurants that have tried to operate in this building all I can say is: NEXT!

Book Review--Civil War Pittsburgh

Barcousky, Len. Civil War Pittsburgh: Forge of the Union (PA). Charleston, The History Press., 2013. Index, bibliography, b/w photos, 128 pages, 122 pages text, ISBN 9781626190818, $19.99.

Certainly Pittsburgh is not in the top dozen cities one would name when discussing the Civil War. Author Len Barcousky however shows us that while there were no battles fought here and that no Confederate army seriously threatened the area the Pennsylvania city played a role in the Union success.

While heavily for the Republican party and Abraham Lincoln, Pittsburgh did have a strong states rights wing. This difference is borne out buy the city having two newspapers, one supporting each party: the Gazette was Republican with the Post being Democratic. They each spun events their way. Author Len Barcousky, an editor and reporter with what is now the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had access to both papers and has used this archive in creating his interesting look at "The arsenal of the Union."

The book begins with a visit from President-elect Abraham Lincoln in February 1861. The author tells the contrasting stories of Lincoln's visit to the city. The Post of course plays up the visit and the Gazette instead chooses to talk about the physical appearance of Lincoln.

Other interesting stories include a telling of the tragedy at the Allegheny Arsenal, killing over 75 persons mostly women and girls. The explosion happened on the same day as the Battle of Antietam so Barcousky puts forth that the tragedy was under-reported due to the great los of life in Maryland. He does make what I though an unusual comment comparing the reporting of the destruction to that of reporting on 9/11/2001 in New York City. I'm not sure this was really the best choice here nor do I see the relation of a terrorist attack to management and employee negligence.

The late 1860 story of more than 100 pieces of artillery almost being sent south makes for good reading as does the story of POW Josiah Copley who compliments some southern officers for doing the best they could for the prisoners.

The book wraps up nicely discussing the 1939 GAR meeting held in Pittsburgh and also a story of the last Allegheny County Civil War soldier dying 1946, Joseph Caldwell.

Readers may see Mr. Caldwell's Findagrave memorial by clicking here.

With no notes and a small bibliography this is really more a book for a casual reader or somebody with a passing interest rather for somebody wanting in-depth information on the "Steel City" during the war. The book has many b/w illustrations though I think a map showing just how close Pittsburgh is located to what was the Confederacy would have been a nice addition. Overall though, still worth a look.

For a different look at Pittsburgh during the Civil War readers might want to find a copy of Pittsburgh during the American Civil War 1860-1865 written by Arthur Fox.

Thanks to The History Press for sending a complimentary review copy.

New Arrivals--Lincoln & Reconstruction; Reconstructing the Campus

Thanks going out to the good people at Southern Illinois University Press and University of Virginia Press for sending copies of a couple of new release books. Both look interesting and will move high in my "to be read" pile.

Reconstructing the Campus: Higher Education and the American Civil War (A Nation Divided: Studies in the Civil War Era) written by Michael David Cohen.
 

The Civil War transformed American life. Not only did thousands of men die on battlefields and millions of slaves become free; cultural institutions reshaped themselves in the context of the war and its aftermath. The first book to examine the Civil War’s immediate and long-term impact on higher education, Reconstructing the Campus begins by tracing college communities’ responses to the secession crisis and the outbreak of war. Students made supplies for the armies or left campus to fight. Professors joined the war effort or struggled to keep colleges open. The Union and Confederacy even took over some campuses for military use.

Then moving beyond 1865, the book explores the war’s long-term effects on colleges. Michael David Cohen argues that the Civil War and the political and social conditions the war created prompted major reforms, including the establishment of a new federal role in education. Reminded by the war of the importance of a well-trained military, Congress began providing resources to colleges that offered military courses and other practical curricula. Congress also, as part of a general expansion of the federal bureaucracy that accompanied the war, created the Department of Education to collect and publish data on education. For the first time, the U.S. government both influenced curricula and monitored institutions.

The war posed special challenges to Southern colleges. Often bereft of students and sometimes physically damaged, they needed to rebuild. Some took the opportunity to redesign themselves into the first Southern universities. They also admitted new types of students, including the poor, women, and, sometimes, formerly enslaved blacks. Thus, while the Civil War did great harm, it also stimulated growth, helping, especially in the South, to create our modern system of higher education.

Lincoln and Reconstruction written by John C. Rodrigue and is part of the Concise Lincoln Library.

Although Abraham Lincoln dominates the literature on the American Civil War, he remains less commonly associated with reconstruction. Previous scholarly works touch on Lincoln and reconstruction, but they tend either to speculate on what Lincoln might have done after the war had he not been assassinated or to approach his reconstruction plans merely as a means of winning the war. In this thought-provoking study, John C. Rodrigue offers a succinct but significant survey of Lincoln’s wartime reconstruction initiatives while providing a fresh interpretation of the president’s plans for postwar America.

Revealing that Lincoln concerned himself with reconstruction from the earliest days of his presidency, Rodrigue details how Lincoln’s initiatives unfolded, especially in the southern states where they were attempted. He explores Lincoln’s approach to various issues relevant to reconstruction, including slavery, race, citizenship, and democracy; his dealings with Congressional Republicans, especially the Radicals; his support for and eventual abandonment of colonization; his dealings with the border states; his handling of the calls for negotiations with the Confederacy as a way of reconstructing the Union; and his move toward emancipation and its implications for his approach to reconstruction.

As the Civil War progressed, Rodrigue shows, Lincoln’s definition of reconstruction transformed from the mere restoration of the seceded states to a more fundamental social, economic, and political reordering of southern society and of the Union itself. Based on Lincoln’s own words and writings as well as an extensive array of secondary literature, Rodrigue traces the evolution of Lincoln’s thinking on reconstruction, providing new insight into a downplayed aspect of his presidency.

Press Release--Andrew Jackson, Southerner From LSU Press

Mark R. Cheathem’s New Book Argues for a Reassessment of Andrew Jackson

LSU Press to Publish "Andrew Jackson, Southerner" October 2013

Baton Rouge— Many Americans view Andrew Jackson as a frontiersman who fought duels, killed Indians, and stole another man’s wife. Historians have traditionally presented Jackson as a man who struggled to overcome obstacles and helped create a more democratic United States. In his compelling new biography of Jackson, Mark R. Cheathem argues for a reassessment of these long-held views, suggesting that in fact “Old Hickory” lived as an elite southern gentleman.

Cheathem contends Jackson had already started to assume the characteristics of a southern gentleman by the time he arrived in Middle Tennessee in 1788. After moving to Nashville, Jackson further ensconced himself in an exclusive social order by marrying the daughter of one of the city’s cofounders, engaging in land speculation, and leading the state militia. According to Cheathem, through these ventures Jackson grew to own multiple plantations and cultivated them with the labor of almost two hundred slaves. His status also enabled him to build a military career focused on eradicating the nation’s enemies, including Indians residing on land desired by white southerners. Jackson’s military success eventually propelled him onto the national political stage in the 1820s, where he won two terms as president. Jackson’s years as chief executive demonstrated the complexity of the system of elite white southern men, as he earned the approval of many white southerners by continuing to pursue Manifest Destiny and opposing the spread of abolitionism, yet earned their ire because of his efforts to fight nullification and the Second Bank of the United States.

By emphasizing Jackson’s southern identity, characterized by violence, honor, kinship, slavery, and Manifest Destiny, Cheathem’s narrative offers a bold new perspective on one of the nineteenth century’s most renowned and controversial presidents.                                       

Mark R. Cheathem is an associate professor of history at Cumberland University and the author of "Old Hickory’s Nephew: The Political and Private Struggles of Andrew Jackson Donelson."

October 2013
320 pages, 6 x 9
978-0-8071-5098-6
Cloth $39.95, ebook available
Biography / Southern History
Southern Biography

Southern Illinois University Press Fall & Winter 2013 Catalog

I received the Fall and Winter 2013 catalog from Southern Illinois University Press recently and as would be expected there are some titles of interest.

There will be two new additions to the excellent Concise Lincoln Library series both scheduled for November release.

Lincoln and the U.S. Colored Troops written by John David Smith.

 

Drawing on a broad range of sources, including many letters and texts by the men of the USCT, Smith’s welcome study illuminates this critical period in Civil War history and reveals how Lincoln’s evolution changed not only the war, but America and even Lincoln himself.

 

 

 

Lincoln and the Union Governors written by William C. Harris.

By emphasizing the difficult tasks that both the governors and President Lincoln faced in dealing with the major issues of the Civil War, Harris provides fresh insight into the role this dynamic partnership played in preserving the nation’s democratic and constitutional institutions and ending the greatest blight on the republic—chattel slavery.

 

 

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The Vicksburg Campaign, March 29-May 18, 1863 edited by Steven E. Woodworth and Charles D. Grear.

Volume 1 of a planned 5 volume look at the Vicksburg campaign. This volume dealing with the early stages of the campaign sheds new light on the intelligence network put together by Ulysses S. Grant. Following in the tradition of the other fine works they have edited on Chattanooga, Chickamauga, and Shiloh this looks like a must have for anybody interested in the western theater of the war.      October


Also scheduled for release are:

Union Heartland: The Midwestern Home Front during the Civil War  edited by Ginette Aley and J. L. Anderson.  This book looks at how intensifying political and ideological turmoil affected the Midwestern home front.    September

The Long Shadow of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address written by Jared Peatman.   This book deals with the evolving significance of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.     December

We Called Him Rabbi Abraham: Lincoln and American Jewry, a Documentary History edited by Gary Phillip Zola.  The first collection of primary source documents revealing how American Jews have regarded Lincoln.     February

The Rhetoric of Rebel Women: Civil War Diaries and Confederate Persuasion written by Kimberly Harrison: How the everyday writing and speech of southern white women impacted Confederate national identity.     October