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The Journal of Military History 67.3 (2003) 945-946



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An Uncommon Time: The Civil War and the Northern Home Front. Edited by Paul A. Cimbala and Randall M. Miller. Bronx, N.Y.: Fordham University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8232-2195-4. Notes. Index. Pp. xx, 362. $45.00.

In a provocative 1989 article written for the Journal of American History, Maris Vinovskis challenged the historical community by asking "Have Social Historians Lost the Civil War?" Scholars quickly answered with a definitive "no" and subsequently published numerous monographs and articles that covered a myriad of social issues related to the war. Not surprisingly, however, "[t]he social historians marched off to Dixie" (p. ix), due to the obvious traumatic consequences of the war in the South. Vinovskis's own innovative essay collection, Toward a Social History of the American Civil War: Exploratory Essays (1990), and Phillip Shaw Paludan's survey, "A People's Contest": The Union and the Civil War (1989), exhorted Civil War scholars to explore the many ways in which the war also changed the North. Nonetheless, historians have continued to focus their scholarship on the Confederacy. An Uncommon Time attempts to redress this situation, and editors Paul A. Cimbala and Randall M. Miller credit Vinovskis and Paludan as the inspiration for their compilation of original essays.

The twelve articles chosen for inclusion lack a common theme, reflecting instead diverse issues such as family life, political culture, party ideology, and gender roles. While it is difficult to group the essays, certain similarities do exist. Several focus on political and economic issues, including Michael Green's analysis of how the war influenced the development of Republican ideology; Adam Smith's study of the changing nature of political partisanship; John Syrett's assessment of the Confiscation Acts; Kyle Sinisi's investigation of the persistence of strong federalism in the wake of the war; and Melinda Lawson's reappraisal of Jay Cooke's motivation in wartime bond drives. Essays by Peter Parish and Bryon Andreasen uncover the link between religion and politics. Parish explores the active support of evangelical Protestant clergymen for the northern war effort, while Andreasen investigates the squashing of antiwar dissent through church trials. Alice Fahs and Earl Hess offer insights into wartime publishing. Hess evaluates how combat was portrayed in the media, while Fahs analyzes popular "sensational literature," especially novels. Race, class, and gender are examined in Rachel Seidman's inquiry into the attitudes of diverse groups of northern females toward gender dependency and Lex Renda's essay on black suffrage as a political issue in Connecticut. Finally, Michael Conlin's study of Joseph Henry and the Smithsonian reminds us that the war affected all aspects of northern society, even scientific inquiry.

The volume concludes with an excellent "Afterword" by J. Matthew Gallman, which calls for greater research on the northern home front and offers suggestions for further study. An Uncommon Time is social history at its best. Taken as a whole, the essays offer us a glimpse of not only the countless ways the war affected the Northern populace but also the many techniques historians are now using to seek out and perceive those effects. This [End Page 945] work is a fine addition to Fordham University Press's The North's Civil War series, and it will prove invaluable reading for those interested in the war beyond the battlefield.

 



John D. Fowler
Kennesaw State University
Kennesaw, Georgia

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