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Look Away! A History of the Confederate States of America
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You Are Here: Books About Antiques > Confederate Collectibles > Item 9 of 26
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$5.10
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Available from Amazon
Price Last Updated : 6-25-2008
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Features
Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Free Press April 1, 2003
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743234995
ISBN-13: 978-0743234993
Product Dimensions:
8.6 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
Product Review
The military history of the Civil War is well known. The political history of the era, and especially of the South, is less documented, a gap that William Davis's Look Away! admirably addresses.
Although the rhetoric of secession was democratic, invoking the ideals of the American Revolution and its classical forebears, Southern politics was directed by members of a small, self-serving aristocracy. And though the Confederate government advanced what then and now might be thought to be radical proposals (for one, that the postal service had to be self-supporting within two years of its founding), it was intolerant of dissent; the South's leaders, Davis writes, even barred a constitutional provision "recognizing the right of a state to secede." The natural result, Davis shows, was widespread resistance, including the development of a peace movement and of political groups loyal to the old Union. At the end of the war, Davis writes, "Confederate democracy had gone and would not be seen again--but the oligarchies had survived." Davis's study affords a new view on the Civil War, and it makes a fine addition to the overflowing library devoted to that crisis. --Gregory McNamee
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
The director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech, Davis (Lincoln's Men) here offers a sweeping nonmilitary perspective of the Confederacy, examining the political turmoil that led to its creation and the social and economic devastation left after its defeat. Civilian life, civil law and justice, internal dissent, the opposition to Richmond's dictates, and the uneasy relationships between old-line Whigs and Democrats in the Rebel state legislatures and governors' mansions constitute the bulk of the work. With reference to the South's planter class and political base, the author concludes: "They had begun in 1861 as a movement dedicated to the professed belief that sovereignty lay with the states. For four years that democracy went through strains and wrenches testing its ability to resist centralization through one compromise of its ideology after another." Herein lies the kernel of Davis's penetrating analysis of the values and differences among the various factions of the Confederacy. This important contribution to Confederate historiography is recommended for all Civil War collections and major libraries. John Carver Edwards, Univ. of Georgia Libs., Cleveland
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: Look Away!: A History of the Confederate States of America (Hardcover)
Folks like to say that this book is "good" but it's "not Davis's best." I would say that it IS his best, and certainly deserving of some attention from the various prize committees. The author's treatment of the creation of the Provisional Government and drafting of the Permanent Constitution are a real joy, if you like political history. That's an important point: This book is essentially a political history, with some special treatment of critical social issues such as slavery and commerce. It is not a military history of the Civil War. Those readers expecting that will be disappointed. What Philadelphia was to the United States, Montgomery (Alabama) was to the Confederate States and Davis handles this episode with authority. The chapters about the various forms of apology and propaganda in support of slavery are mind bending. As grave as many of these topics are, Davis animates them with beautiful narrative prose and scholarly rigor. His topics are terribly unfashionable which, unfortunately, hinders his chances for a (well deserved) major prize. Books like this should be read by a general audience, as they illuminate much about pre-Civil War American politics as much as they do about Southern history.
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Look Away! A History of the Confederate States of America
by William C. Davis
Available from Amazon
Price: $5.10
on 6-25-2008
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