Steven E. Woodworth, ed.. The American Civil War: A Handbook of Literature and Research. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996. xiv + 754 pp. $99.50, cloth, ISBN 978-0-313-29019-0.
Reviewed by John David Smith
Published on H-CivWar (April, 1997)
Estimates of the number of writings devoted Through the years, other useful bibliographical to the Civil War range from 50,000 to 70,000 books works have appeared, including E. Merton Cout‐ and pamphlets. Not surprisingly, no one can keep ler's Travels in the Confederate States (1948, track of, not to mention master, such an extensive 1994); Charles E. Dornbusch's Regimental Publica‐ corpus of works. No sooner had Robert E. Lee's tions & Personal Naratives of the Civil War: A men stacked their arms at Appomattox, than par‐ Checklist (2 vols.; 1961- 1972); and Civil War ticipants, and later scholars, began to chronicle Books: A Critical Bibliography (2 vols.; 1967-1969), the war's history and meaning. Bibliographers, edited by Allan Nevins, James L. Robertson, Jr., following closely behind, soon commenced the and Bell I. Wiley. In his recent The Civil War in formidable task of identifying and classifying the Books: An Analytical Bibliography (1997), David J. growing mountain of polemical and scholarly Eicher lists more than thirty general and special‐ writings. ized Civil War bibliographical works. His own bib‐ As early as 1866, the Rhode Island bibliogra‐ liography is a "selection" of what Eicher considers pher and librarian John Russell Bartlett published "the most important 1100 books on the Civil War" his 477-page compilation, The Literature of the (p. xxi) and includes lengthy, often critical, anno‐ Rebellion: A Catalogue of Books and Pamplets Re‐ tations. lating to the Civil War in the United States. Almost Steven E. Woodworth's hefty The American a half century later, John Page Nicholson issued Civil War: A Handbook of Literature and Re‐ his Catalogue of the Library of Brevet Lieutenant- search takes a diferent tack. Far more compre‐ Colonel John Page Nicholson Relating to the War hensive than Eicher's book, Woodworth's volume of the Rebellion, 1861-1866 (1914), a bibliography is by its very nature much less analytical. Cover‐ that brimmed with more than one thousand ing several thousand titles, many of the works are pages of citations. Most of Nicholson's books went either listed or mentioned in a superfcial, uncriti‐ to the Henry E. Huntington Library in 1927. cal manner. Despite the obvious limitations of this H-Net Reviews approach, non-specialists and specialists alike will Among other valuable parts of the book, re‐ beneft considerably from Woodworth's book. It searchers will welcome the Home Front, which will guide students at all levels through the maze Woodworth divides into fve chapters ("Northern of Civil War scholarship. State and Local Politics"; "Southern State and Lo‐ The American Civil War consists of forty-sev‐ cal Politics"; "Industry, Agriculture, and the Econo‐ en historiographical essays arranged in eleven my"; "Northern Social Conditions"; and "Southern parts that cover General Secondary Sources, Gen‐ Social Conditions"). To round out his volume, eral Primary Sources, Illustrative Materials, Cau‐ Woodworth devotes sections to illustrative mate‐ sation, International Relations, Leaders, Strategy rials (maps, charts, atlases, photographs, and and Tactics, Conduct of the War, Home Front, Re‐ drawings) and popular media (novels, other fc‐ construction and Beyond, and Popular Media. tional accounts, flms and television programs, Forty-eight specialists contribute the chapter- and musical and narrative recordings). T. Michael length essays. References to works include in-text Parrish adds a handy guide to publishers and citations and complete bibliographical informa‐ dealers of Civil War literature, including address‐ tion following each chapter. One chapter includes es and phone numbers. endnotes. The strengths of Woodworth's book are the Woodworth set intelligent parameters on the breadth of its coverage and the expertise of its chapter coverage. "Emphasis," he explains, "has contributors. In a thoroughly researched and been placed on works of current usefulness over well-crafted chapter, for example, Eric H. Walther those of merely historiographical interest. Within concludes that "an enormous amount of scholar‐ this framework, we have also concentrated on ship...points to the centrality of slavery and race works that would be readily available to modern in the coming of the war" (p. 121). Writing on readers without neglecting truly vital items, no Union international relations, Daniel K. Blewett matter how obscure. The goal has been to provide surveys traditional topics such as U.S. relations a practical guide that will do more than gather with England and France, but also examines criti‐ dust on reference shelves" (p. xii). cally the historical literature on American diplo‐ macy with Canada, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Poland, Indeed, Woodworth has compiled a highly and Japan. Evaluating the "War at Sea" (including useful book, one that scholars will consult fre‐ a section on underwater archaeology), authors quently and with proft. New recruits and sea‐ Stephen R. Wise, Robert Holcombe, Jr., and Kevin soned warriors will welcome the overviews of the Foster comment that Civil War naval history tends secondary and primary sources by such veterans to be "dominated by the [Alfred Thayer] Mahan as Woodworth, Daniel E. Sutherland, T. Michael school of naval writing, wherein the strategic Parrish, Alan C. Aimone, and Judith Lee Hallock. view is stressed, with emphasis on big battles and Mark E. Neely, Jr. and Michael Ballard, respective‐ famous personalities." They regret that no scholar ly, summarize the fruits of scholarship on Abra‐ has yet produced a synthesis of such vital naval ham Lincoln and Jeferson Davis. Evaluations of issues as commerce raiders, blockade running, the literature on the military campaigns comprise naval ordnance, ship construction, and naviga‐ sixteen chapters (231 pages) of the book. Authors tion. "The sources for such a work do exist," the include a veritable "who's who" of established authors conclude, "and when a naval historian and rising Civil War scholars, including Mark combines the primary sources with the secondary Grimsley, Anne J. Bailey, Benjamin Franklin Cool‐ works, a nearly complete picture of the navy's ing, John F. Marszalek, Grady McWhiney, William role can be produced" (p. 313). Gaines M. Foster Garrett Piston, and Michael B. Chesson. contributes a timely and insightful review of
2 H-Net Reviews scholarship on "Veterans' Organizations and Even several of the chapter contributors' academ‐ Memories of the War." Foster notes the debate ic titles are wrong. More attention to analysis, among scholars on the degree to which veterans depth of coverage, and editorial detail, then, on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line accepted would have made this book a more useful and ac‐ sectional reconciliation. He observes correctly curate historiographical tool. that "Historians have done little to...explicate the Having said this, scholars nonetheless will African-American view of the war" (p. 595). welcome Woodworth's The American Civil War. Woodworth, too, might have taken steps to Compiling such a work is a major task, and his ensure that racial questions--wartime slavery, book's overall contributions outweigh its defcien‐ blacks in the Confederacy and in the loyal slave cies. It is hoped that over time Woodworth and states, contrabands within federal lines, the Greenwood Press will correct the book's omis‐ emancipation process, and the evolving status of sions and remedy its minor errors. Updating and the freedmen and women--received more thor‐ reissuing it in an afordable paperback edition ough coverage and analysis in his book. To be will help us keep in step with the forward march sure, James Alex Bagget's brief chapter on "Eman‐ of Civil War scholarship. cipation, Freedmen, and the Freedmen's Bureau" Copyright (c) 1997 by H-Net, all rights re‐ (pp. 576-85) provides an overview. And Richard served. This work may be copied for non-proft M. Zuczek ofers some insightful remarks in educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ "Southern Occupation" (pp. 548-60). But racial thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ themes are too important, and the scholarship too tact [email protected]. vast, for such limited coverage. For example, [The book review editor for H-CivWar is "[m]odel state studies" (p. 579) on emancipation in Daniel E. Sutherland
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Citation: John David Smith. Review of Woodworth, Steven E., ed. The American Civil War: A Handbook of Literature and Research. H-CivWar, H-Net Reviews. April, 1997.
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