Synopses & Reviews
"A masterful community study. . . . Based on exhaustive and innovative research. . . . [That] brilliantly demonstrates that common men and women, yeoman farmers, poor whites, slaves, and freedpeople left their stories behind for historians to excavate."
-Arkansas Historical Quarterly "The bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth has come and gone, and with it a flood of books about the sixteenth president. But the sesquicentennial of the Civil War now looms on the horizon, promising its own deluge of books of every size, shape and description. We will be fortunate indeed if in sheer originality and insight they measure up to . . . The Long Shadow of the Civil War, [a] new work by . . . Victoria Bynum . . . on the Confederate experience."
-Eric Foner, The Nation "Bynum has plunged deeply into the primary sources on these interesting individuals, family groups, and local communities. . . . Valuable . . . because it proves that dissent was not rare and insignificant."
-H-Civil War "Offers vivid examples of the different Souths that fought, endured, and remembered the war."
-North Carolina Historical Review "Bynum maps a road that few took, but the evocative stories of these families demand notice."
-Virginia Quarterly Review "Historians wishing to pursue such comparisons and questions will find great value in Bynum's careful research."
-Journal of the Civil War Era "Supported by impressive research and crafted to enlighten rather than celebrate or condemn, this book offers a penetrating portrait of the dissenters and their world. A strong addition to upper-level Civil War collections, it will also serve as a lively read for the general public. . . . Highly recommended."
-Choice "Bynum highlights the 'solid South' as a construction and even more successfully presents the importance of 'kinship, community, and place' in sustaining resistance to oppression."
-Publishers Weekly "The South in the Civil War era was anything but solid. Victoria Bynum tells us why, introducing us to a set of intriguing events and a cast of unforgettable characters."
--Suzanne Lebsock, author of A Murder in Virginia: Southern Justice on Trial "Based on deep and creative research, this book opens up large and hotly debated questions of racial identity, gender roles, national identity, family life, and community in the South during and after the Civil War. It is a poignant portrait of all manner of Southern common folk coming to grips with war, freedom, and dislocation on a scale that few Americans have ever experienced."
--W. Fitzhugh Brundage, editor of Where These Memories Grow: History, Memory, and Regional Identity in the American South "Those who enjoy the study of Reconstruction social and political battles as much or more than the military conflicts of the Civil War will find a wealth of material here for further study. . . . [Bynum's] engaging writing style will no doubt interest many readers of her book as well."
-TOCWOC
Review
"Based on deep and creative research, this book opens up large and hotly debated questions of racial identity, gender roles, national identity, family life, and community in the South during and after the Civil War. It is a poignant portrait of all manner of Southern common folk coming to grips with war, freedom, and dislocation on a scale that few Americans have ever experienced."
--W. Fitzhugh Brundage, editor of Where These Memories Grow: History, Memory, and Regional Identity in the American South
Review
"Those who enjoy the study of Reconstruction social and political battles as much or more than the military conflicts of the Civil War will find a wealth of material here for further study. . . . [Bynum's] engaging writing style will no doubt interest many readers of her book as well."
-TOCWOC
Review
"Bynum has plunged deeply into the primary sources on these interesting individuals, family groups, and local communities. . . . Valuable . . . because it proves that dissent was not rare and insignificant."
-H-Civil War
Review
"A masterful community study. . . . Based on exhaustive and innovative research. . . . [That] brilliantly demonstrates that common men and women, yeoman farmers, poor whites, slaves, and freedpeople left their stories behind for historians to excavate."
-Arkansas Historical Quarterly
Review
"The bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth has come and gone, and with it a flood of books about the sixteenth president. But the sesquicentennial of the Civil War now looms on the horizon, promising its own deluge of books of every size, shape and description. We will be fortunate indeed if in sheer originality and insight they measure up to . . .
The Long Shadow of the Civil War, [a] new work by . . . Victoria Bynum . . . on the Confederate experience."
-Eric Foner, The Nation
Review
"Offers vivid examples of the different Souths that fought, endured, and remembered the war."
-North Carolina Historical Review
Review
"Bynum maps a road that few took, but the evocative stories of these families demand notice."
-Virginia Quarterly Review
Review
"Historians wishing to pursue such comparisons and questions will find great value in Bynum's careful research."
-Journal of the Civil War Era
Review
"Supported by impressive research and crafted to enlighten rather than celebrate or condemn, this book offers a penetrating portrait of the dissenters and their world. A strong addition to upper-level Civil War collections, it will also serve as a lively read for the general public. . . . Highly recommended."
-Choice
Review
"The book is an interesting read and opens up avenues for scholars who wish to trace kinship migrations throughout the South."
-The Review of Politics
Review
"Bynum highlights the 'solid South' as a construction and even more successfully presents the importance of 'kinship, community, and place' in sustaining resistance to oppression."
-Publishers Weekly
Review
"The South in the Civil War era was anything but solid. Victoria Bynum tells us why, introducing us to a set of intriguing events and a cast of unforgettable characters."
--Suzanne Lebsock, author of A Murder in Virginia: Southern Justice on Trial
Review
"A solid contribution....an engagingly written exposition of buried and contested histories....Bynum has done a great service to Southern history."
-Southern Historian
Review
"The book is an interesting read and opens up avenues for scholars who wish to trace kinship migrations throughout the South."
-The Review of Politics
Review
"[This book] ranks among the most innovative in its methods and its findings....[Bynum] is to be commended for her sheer doggedness as a researcher and her creative use of methods and sources."
-The Journal of American History
Review
"Bynum's emphasis on individual characters makes this story come alive. . . .
The Long Shadow of the Civil War is a fascinating account of southern Unionist activity and fills a large hole in Civil War historiography."
-The Journal of Southern History
Review
"Sophisticated, multi-layered analysis of class relations....An intriguing narrative about small, local bands of citizens who believed in the Union and strove to counter Confederates, white supremacists, and other southern conservatives."
-Civil War Monitor
Review
"Fascinating. . . . Bynum demonstrates an impressive, intricate knowledge of the case. . . . The book is an interesting read and opens up avenues for scholars who wish to trace kinship migrations throughout the South and the cultural linkages those migrations may have established."
-The Review of Politics
Review
"An interesting read and opens up avenues for scholars who wish to trace kinship migrations throughout the South and the cultural linkages those migrations may have established."
-The Review of Politics
Synopsis
Bynum relates uncommon narratives about common Southern folks who fought not with the Confederacy, but against it. Focusing on regions in three Southern states--North Carolina, Mississippi, and Texas--Bynum introduces Unionist supporters, guerrilla soldiers, defiant women, socialists, populists, free blacks, and large interracial kin groups that belie stereotypes of the South and of Southerners as uniformly supportive of the Confederate cause. Centered on the concepts of place, family, and community, Bynum's insightful and carefully documented work effectively counters the idea of a unified South caught in the grip of the Lost Cause.
Synopsis
In
The Long Shadow of the Civil War, Victoria Bynum relates uncommon narratives about common Southern folks who fought not with the Confederacy, but against it. Focusing on regions in three Southern states--North Carolina, Mississippi, and Texas--Bynum introduces Unionist supporters, guerrilla soldiers, defiant women, socialists, populists, free blacks, and large interracial kin groups that belie stereotypes of the South and of Southerners as uniformly supportive of the Confederate cause.
Examining regions within the South where the inner civil wars of deadly physical conflict and intense political debate continued well into the era of Reconstruction and beyond, Bynum explores three central questions. How prevalent was support for the Union among ordinary Southerners during the Civil War? How did Southern Unionists and freedpeople experience both the Union's victory and the emancipation of slaves during and after Reconstruction? And what were the legacies of the Civil War--and Reconstruction--for relations among classes and races and between the sexes, both then and now?
Centered on the concepts of place, family, and community, Bynum's insightful and carefully documented work effectively counters the idea of a unified South caught in the grip of the Lost Cause.
About the Author
Victoria Bynum is professor of history at Texas State University, San Marcos. She is author of The Free State of Jones: Mississippi's Longest Civil War and Unruly Women: The Politics of Social and Sexual Control in the Old South (both from UNC Press).