On Many a Bloody Field is a masterpiece of Civil War scholarship and painstaking historical research - reviews "Bookwatch". "The author gives some of the best descriptions of the daily life of a Civil War soldier that can be found anywhere" - reviews "Library Journal". "It is a history of the common man; the ordinary men who circumstances call upon to do extraordinary jobs...one of the best examples of this genre of Civil War studies" - quotes "Free-Lance Star" (St. Petersburg; FL). "This is an excellent unit history of a renowned regiment" - reviews "Civil War News". "The story is highly dramatic and well told" - says "Indianapolis Star". "Alan D. Gaff has managed to provide both scholars and general readers a new perspective on the Civil War..." - reviews "History". "American history on a human scale" - quotes "Kirkus Review". "On Many a Bloody Field" follows one of the Civil War's most famous combat organizations - Company B; 19th Indiana Volunteers of the Iron Brigade - in a vivid account of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. Alan Gaff follows the men from recruitment through mustering out; from the tedium of camp to the excitement of battle. Marches and battles are described in detail; but Gaff also devotes close attention to how the war affected individuals; both physically and emotionally. Formed into a brigade with the 2nd; 6th; and 7th Wisconsin; these Indiana soldiers fought their first real battle at Brawner Farm. Over four difficult years; they fought on many a bloody field: Second Bull Run; South Mountain; Antietam; Fredericksburg; Gitzhugh Crossing; Gettysburg; Wilderness; Laurel Hill; North Anna River; Cold Harbor; Petersburg; and Weldon Railroad. With meticulous care; Alan Gaff recounts the experience of war from the soldiers' perspective; often in the words of the men themselves. This intimate portrait of men at war is an important contribution to the literature of the Civil War.
#337860 in Books Indiana University Press 2006-11-08 2006-11-08Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x .85 x 6.12l; .94 #File Name: 0253218640296 pages
Review
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Some interesting cases; but not all cases address all four terms in the titleBy peace and conflict profThe editors of this collection very succinctly summarize the intended focus in their introduction where they state; "What links the essays together is a keen eye toward the exposure of contested memory as key to the sanctification; desanctification; and resanctification of space and place; brought about through violence and its subsequent social and cultural commemoration. Each chapter of this collection attends to the ways in which atrocities render places religiously charged; indigestible in their toxicity; while their commemoration creates of those sites sacred spaces; variously digestible in and through their memorialization and contestation" (9). The collection includes an impressive sweep of locations from Israel to Auschwitz; Hiroshima to Washington; D.C.; South Africa; Rwanda; Bosnia; Armenia; Haiti; and Little Big Horn to Ground Zero. It feels as if only three of the themes can be productively held in tension at a time. That is; one may think about religion; memory; and violence; but not place. One element always seems to slip away. Either religion is defined so broadly as to become almost meaningless; or violence fades into generalized structural violence; or place becomes less grounded (e.g. the Armenian Diaspora is theorized as a place). This undoes the editors' claim that all four themes are necessary. Still as a collection of essays; each dealing with some subset of the four themes; it raises interesting questions. The most successful at integrating all four themes is Terry Rey's chapter on the monument to refugees in Port au Prince Haiti. Perhaps sedimentation of the various elements is a better way to understand what is under consideration. The specific site references violence; religion; and memory in multiple cross-referencing registers. The other chapter that most clearly falls within the intersection of religion; memory; violence; and place is Tania Oldenhage's chapter on German Christians' Holocaust commemoration. The back cover says; "examines the religious memorialization of violent acts that are linked to particular sites." But this is not strictly true. Sometimes the memorialization is not religious in nature but a memorialization of violence that took place in the name of religion. Or; the place in question might be the site of memorial; not the site of the original violence. Rather; these essays should be seen as meditations on the various possible intersections of the four themes. The first argument the editors make is for the importance of (and to date relative absence of) memory in religious studies. The second argument is that religion is an essential component of memory. It is unclear that religious studies has as much to contribute to studies of memory as understanding memory can contribute to religious studies. Indeed; the editors can only say about memorial that "such activity is often religious in nature" (6). "All of the essays in this volume consider memory as a cultural product emerging from the negotiations and contestation of meaning within religious frameworks at specific sites marked by violent histories." They insist that religious studies be included; but do not prove that such inclusion is strictly necessary. Indeed; in my own work in post-war Sierra Leone for example; religious responses to violence have most often been against memorialization; the argument being "let's leave everything to God." The violence visible in the bodies of amputee beggars in the streets of Freetown is shameful to many Sierra Leoneans. The beggars say; "Do for God;" not invoking the violent past in their speech. So; I agree with the authors that time is important; but sometimes it is forward looking rather than memorial. The volume succeeds as an interdisciplinary collection of essays; all obliquely addressing the same issues; but does not succeed in arguing for the centrality of religious studies as a discipline for understanding memory; violence; and place.
