The Story of the Confederacy

In his review dated 11 Apr 2000 -- wow, this is only the third review of this book and the second since that date! -- about how easy this book is to read. I have struggled so far through the first 200 pages of this book and find the writing style to be somewhat tedious and at times confusing. However, in defense of the author, Ralph Selph Henry, who appears to be a Southern sympathizer in this book, his style was not that uncommon for many books I have read originally written in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Story Of The Confederacy was written in the 1920s and for whatever reason there are no pictures. There are some hard to follow maps but no pictures. There is the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words and in the absence of pictures it seemed as though Mr. Henry felt compelled to write several thousand more words than necessary. Many authors of that era, I think, wrote history more in the mode of story telling and felt compelled to be more descriptive than many modern day authors. And maybe that is why this particular reader is not so enamored with his writing style. I personally felt he got off on tangents and was descriptive to the point of being distracting. So why four stars? I am giving Mr. Henry the benefit of the doubt on his style of writing. I have also learned a lot from this book and have read material that I do not think I have read anywhere else about the Civil War. That is not just because he writes from a Southerner point of view. It is also because he has mention trivialities that when they all added up were not so trivial. For instance, he talks about the mistaken Southern belief that cotton was king and would be critical in persuading potential European allies. That much I already knew. What I did not know was that in 1859 and 1860 the South had a strong cotton crop and was able to supply European nations such as England with so much cotton that these countries had a surplus. England was even able to export the South's cotton back to textile mills in New England. So the Union blockade really did not impact European countries that much the first couple of years of the war. By the end of 1862 they were beginning to feel the pinch and coincidentally (or was it?) about that time the Lincoln Administration was toying with the Emancipation Proclamation. Although these potential allies of the South were beginning to feel the pinch of the lack of cotton they were also less than enthused to join the side fighting to maintain slavery. This is an excellent book for any Civil War buff. But brace yourself for the writing style. You may like it as did Mr. MacDuff in 2000. Or you may find it difficult to follow at times as I am experiencing in 2008.

Great work on the confederacy, b/c of RSH's knowledge of railways, and passion for the subject - you will find much info on railroads as they existed, and functioned during the war. great read.

The Confederate story (written in the 1920's)as told by Mr. Henry is an evident detailed work, with easy readability that makes the going seamless.This is a military literary work that starts with the shelling of Fort Sumter, and ends in early April of 1865 with the surrender of General Johnston to General Sherman. With every campaign talked about, there are regional illustrations so the reader can follow along quite easily (even me!). With these tellings he weaves interesting anecdotes; brothers fighting on opposite sides of the war, or my favorite: A union soldier stole across the Confederate lines dressed in civilian clothing to enjoy a night of dancing out "on the town" with the single ladies, to be back across to the Union side the next morning. The author accomplished quite successfully the "feeling" that permeated the war; from the exasperation of Washington with its generals to the long winter of 1864 - 1865, where Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was always hungry, at the point of starvation (often on 1/6 rations), and cold because of a lack of boots or shoes. Indecision; General Lee had a Union Army commission in which he took pride, but the loyalty to his home state of Virginia is what decided his allegiance after the beginning of the war.As claimed on its jacket, this IS a complete one volume history of the short lived life of The Confederate States of America. For anyone looking to expand their knowledge on this period, I'd recommend this book to be a good start.