The twenty essays collected here explore the Virginia story throughout the Civil War era. Some contributors examine Robert E. Lee and the issues confronting his men, such as soldier morale and religious conversion. Others emphasize the wartime home front - in some cases reexamining its connection with the battlefront - or explore questions of gender, race, or religion. Several essays extend the story into the postwar years and consider various Virginia individuals or groups in the context of the conflict's aftermath. Building on current knowledge, but often contesting conventional thinking, the essays give the most comprehensive view yet of Civil War Virginia and suggest avenues of inquiry that remain to be explored.
Peter Wallenstein teaches history at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and is the author of Cradle of America: Four Centuries of Virginia History. Bertram Wyatt-Brown is Richard J. Milbauer Professor of History, Emeritus, at the University of Florida and is currently a visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of The Shaping of Southern Culture: Honor, Grace, and War, 1760s-1880s.
Wyatt-Brown and Wallenstein, as well as the contributors to this volume, deserve much praise, for they did their work well and have produced an impressive book that covers a wide range of topics related to the social and cultural history of the Civil War era.... [F]or those looking for a book that will help them better understand the world beyond the battlefield, this exceptional volume of essays is highly recommended. - Civil War News
