Civil War

While searching for some good books on the Civil War I found the book titled Civil War A-Z by Norman Bolotin. I found this to be a great resource book for middle school students as it gives a brief overview of events and people involved in the Civil War. The entries are arranged in alphabetical order and some contain pictures. I will add that there are a couple of photos that are difficult to view such as war dead on the battlefield and a survivor of a prison camp who is a mere skeleton. Some families feel it is appropriate for their middle school children to view these images as it is a realistic view of war. The book also contains a timeline of events in the back of the book that we have found to be very helpful in our studies.

If you are looking for a book that will give your students some insight into how the war affected families on both sides try this title. It is easy to read and won't take as long to read as a novel or chapter book would. This will be helpful if your study of this time period is brief.

Yankee Blue or Rebel Gray? A Family Divided by the Civil War by Kate Connell and Nancy Feresten is the story of two sisters and their families during the Civil War. One family lives in the North and the other family in the South. Both families have sons serving in their respective armies. During the course of the war the sisters write letters to one another describing the events of the war that have touched their lives as well as their feelings about the war and the involvement of their sons. In addition, the youngest son of the family in the South keeps a journal that his older brother left him before he enlisted. Commentary by the author is scattered throughout the book to explain the events surrounding the letters and journal entries. This book is a fictional account based on events during the war.

Our family is currently listening to one chapter per day of G.A. Henty's book With Lee in Virginia. So far I have found it to be interesting. It is written from a Confederate point of view as the story focuses mainly on a young man, the son of a Southern planter, who is against the ill treatment of slaves. This may be a rare view for someone from a Southern slave holding family during the Civil War period, but I think it does give some insight into a side of the story that is rarely told. The relationship between the young man, Vincent, and his personal slave is woven into the story as well. This type of fictional work I believe has merit in providing a different point of view for the listener than is normally portrayed in literature of this type.

There are several places to purchase this book and in several formats. If you are interested in an audio of this book I would recommend the MP3 audio CD from Vision Forum Ministries. I prefer the voice and reading style of this narrator (Jim Hodges) over the one that is offered on Amazon.com. You will find the links to the Vision Forum Ministries selections at the bottom of this post.

If you are interested in getting this book in audio or Kindle from Amazon.com just use the search box on the left and type in "With Lee in Virginia". You will find a set of links on the Amazon page that will list links for both these formats. Here is the link for the book on Amazon.com.

The book is also available on Vision Forum Ministries website: https://www.visionforum.com/search/productdetail.aspx?search=with+lee+in+virginia&productid=24325

as is the MP3 audio CD: https://www.visionforum.com/search/productdetail.aspx?search=with+lee+in+virginia&productid=89749

For instant download of the above listed Vision Forum Ministries audio of With Lee in Virginia you can purchase from BlueBehemoth.com (a division of Vision Forum Ministries): http://bluebehemoth.com/album/51944/

Enjoy!