Book Notes

Book Notes Men of Men, Stories of Courage: Medal of Honor Recipients with Ties to Alabama. By Marga Griffin-Jones and John F. O’Malley. Birmingham: Maya Ventures & Publishing, 2006. 48 pp. $20.00. ISBN 978-0-97690698 -8. This short but information-packed book lists thirty-one Medal of Honor recipients who either were born or enlisted in Alabama. Each entry includes a photograph of the honoree, biographical information, the Medal of Honor citation, a brief history of the conflict the men fought in, and personal items such as poems and patches. Proceeds from sales of the book—which includes honorees from seven conflicts, from the Civil War through Vietnam—are donated to the Veterans Medical Center in Birmingham. Prey For Us All: The War Letters of Benjamin Franklin Porter, 11th Alabama. By Ellen Williams. Leroy, Ala.: Ellen Williams, 2007. 126 pp. $19.00, includes shipping. Available from the author, 1730 Carson Road, Leroy, AL 36548. This collection of letters, written by Benjamin Franklin Porter from 1861 to 1865, illustrates the challenges faced by common soldiers during the American Civil War. During his four years with the Eleventh Alabama Infantry, Porter was twice wounded, captured, briefly imprisoned at Fort Delaware, and suffered numerous illnesses that eventually led to his furlough . Compiled by Ellen Williams (a member of the Alabama Historical Association), the letters retain their original spelling and grammar, and exhibit a plethora of wonderfully antiquated southern terminology. This volume is a valuable resource for public school teachers, college professors , and students at the secondary and post-secondary levels. Civil War enthusiasts and the general reader will also appreciate this fine addition to a voluminous field. The Segregated Scholars: Black Social Scientists and the Creation of Black Labor Studies, 1890–1950. By Francille Rusan Wilson. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2006. xiv, 356 pp. $37.50. ISBN 0-8139-2550-9. Wilson’s collective biography explores the lives of fifteen black labor historians and social scientists, many of whom knew and worked with each other. Some of her subjects are well known—W. E. B. Du Bois, Abram L. Harris, and Robert C. Weaver—while profiles of several little-known female scholars such as Gertrude McDougald, Emma Shields Pen, and Elizabeth Haynes add an aspect of discovery and exploration to Wilson’s work. ...