Add this copy of The Summer of '63-Gettysburg: Favorite Stories and to cart. $22.50, very good condition, Sold by The Haunted Bookshop rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Iowa City, IA, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by Savas Beatie.
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Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. Crisp, clean pages; no owners' marks; the hard cover and dust jacket show a little nominal edgewear at corners, otherwise excellent. xxxviii, 297pp. incl. index.
Add this copy of The Summer of? 63: Gettysburg: Favorite Stories and to cart. $58.17, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by Savas Beatie.
Add this copy of The Summer of? 63: Gettysburg: Favorite Stories and to cart. $111.10, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2021 by Savas Beatie.
This new book, The Summer of '63 Gettysburg: Favorite Stories and Fresh Perspectives from the Historians at Emerging Civil War" commemorates both the Battle of Gettysburg and the tenth anniversary of the Emerging Civil War. The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1 -- July 3, 1863) needs no introduction. The Emerging Civil War is a history-oriented platform which aims to increase interest and knowledge of the Civil War to a large public and to offer a broad range of writers the opportunity to share their thoughts on America's greatest conflict. Among other things, ECW maintains a blog, hosts an annual Civil War Symposium, and publishes a wide range of accessible books for non-specialist readers in its Emerging Civil War Series published by Savas Beatie. I have learned a great deal from these books.
"The Summer of '63" collects a wide variety of essays on Gettysburg from ECW writers. Many of the essays are expanded versions of works originally posted as blogs while others are new. The volume also includes eight maps of the battlefield together with many images.
The essays take a broad, diverse approach. Some offer relatively detailed looks at various aspects of the battle while others offer more personal responses to the battle together with human interest stories of the participants. Caroline Davis' short essay, "A Poet's Perspective: Melville on Pickett's Charge" combines battle history with literature. She explores Pickett's Charge through its treatment in Herman Melville's poem, "Gettysburg: The Check" from his collection of Civil War poetry, "Battle Pieces and Aspects of the War". Melville's poetry is rarely discussed in books focusing on Civil War history. It was a creative touch for Davis and ECW to present Pickett's Charge through Melville's reflections.
The essays in the volume begin with background to the battle in Eric Wittenberg's essay "Nobody can Truly Understand the Battle of Gettysburg without a Solid Understanding of the Battle of Chancellorsville" followed by Kristopher White's essay discussing the change in command in the Army of the Potomac from Joseph Hooker to George Meade only three days before the battle. The book includes several essays on the sometimes underestimated first day of the battle, including one of several contributions by Kristopher White, "The Curmudgeon, the Eccentric and the Norse God" which explores the failure of the Confederate Army to attempt the capture of Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill at the conclusion of the first day battle.
The essays on the second day have lttle to say about Joshua Chamberlain and his role in the defense of the far Union left at Little Round Top, but they cover much else of this remarkable day of war. The jointly-written essay "Gettysburg: Day Two" offers an excellent overview while Dan Welch's contribution, "Where all so well did their Duty" offers a clearly written and well detailed overview of the often overlooked heroics on the far right of the Union line in the defense of Culp's Hill.
Caroline Davis' discussion of Melville is the main essay focusing on the third day of the battle. An excellent essay by Eric Wittenberg explores the retreat from Gettysburg and largely vindicates the pursuit offered by Meade in the face of strong criticism from his day to the present. Cecily Nelson Zander's essay "Unintentional Reconciliation" is a historiographical study of how Gettysburg and the Civil War were perceived in the War's aftermath. She raises questions about the reconciliationist view between North and South that is one of the major ways of thinking about the post-War period. The final essay I want to mention is Dan Welch's "Traveling to Gettysburg: Chester S. Durfee and the 1913 Reunion" which offers a rare glimpse of a survior of the First Minnesota on his train journey to Gettysburg for the 50th anniversary of the Battle.
This book helped me understand my continued fascination with Gettysburg, a fascination which has helped me better understand our country. The publisher, Savas Beatie, kindly sent me a review copy.
