Civil War

There are a lot of books on the Civil War and the appeal of this particular one is that it presents over 100 photographs and illustrations from the Library of Congress to bring that period of American history to life for young readers. Starting with illustrations of the industrial North and the agrarian South, author Martin W. Sandler talks about the divisions and the war in mostly general terms. This book is not an introductory history to the war; although it follows a general chronology the approach is much more topical, devoting chapters to soldier boys and camp life as well as military turning points. The chapter on camp life is probably the best in the book, giving a sense of how the troops lived, including the songs that they sang. Obviously, the chief attractions here are the illustrations, which should be a treat for those young readers who already know something about the history of the Civil War. For those who stumble first upon this book, the pictures should be enough to get them interested in reading more, at which point they will discover they will have a lot of options as to where to turn next."The Civil War" is one of a series of similar volumes that allow young readers to "Travel back through time with the Library of Congress." Called "the storehouse of our national memory," the Library of Congress is home to the largest collection of knowledge on earth and these volumes take advantage of that fact to provide vintage photographs, posters, paintings, quotes from letters, lyrics to songs, and historic speeches to teach about not only "The Civil War," but also "Pioneers," "Cowboys," "Presidents," "Immigrants," and "Inventors." Of course given the resources of the Library of Congress they could do a dozen volumes just like this one and my only minor complaint is that there is not much information on all the pictures. Rarely are we told anything about an illustration, like it being the cover for a song sheet entitled "The Battle of Shiloh," let alone anything about the artist, photographer, or even the situation, and I like to see credit be given where credit is deserved.

This is my favorite book ever about the Civil War for young people. It has the flavor and look of Ken Burns' PBS series, and it is readable and enjoyable for all ages. I love it!