A definitive book of quotations with comments not only from generals (such as General Sherman's "War is hell,") and presidents (Lincoln's description of army recruitment/retention as "trying to shovel fleas. You take up a shovelful, but before you can dump them anywhere, they are gone,") but also from ordinary soldiers (Sam R. Watkins' "A private soldier is but an automator, a machine that works by the command of a good, bad, or indifferent engineer, and is presumed to know nothing of all these great events,") and quotes from businessmen, wives and daughters (such as Southerner Sarah Morgan's comment about Northern newspapers "There must be many humane, reasonable men in the North, can they not teach their Editors decency in this their hour of triumph") nurses, African Americans (both enslaved and free, such as John S. Rock, a lawyer in Boston), foreign observers (such as William Howard Russell), and many others, this work will also include more contextual information than other books of Civil War quotations. Organized by topic and collecting quotations from people from different classes and with different perspectives on the conflict, The Oxford Book of Civil War Quotations should engage the casual reader as well as be an essential volume for the library of Civil War buffs. Thirty-five halftones will illustrate selected topics and individuals.
