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Profoundly in awe of this powerful small book about the American Civil War, winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Based on the imagined life of the mostly absent father in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, readers experience the American South and the ensuing war from the eyes of an 18-year-old youth through his years as a 39-year-old war chaplain.
Young March is idealistic. He initially warms to the people he meets in the pre-war South even while watching slaves labor, something he abhors. His ideals are shattered in stages as he witnesses gut-wrenching emotional and physical pain inflicted on others. It is here that readers learn how slaves were kept uneducated in order to deny access to information, and young whites were groomed to keep the system intact. The entire societal infrastructure, including churches, supported the slave system to March's dismay.
As a father and war chaplain, March experiences great personal conflict and witnesses terrible pain and destruction. He also sees that not all Northerners are kind and supportive of abolitionists, and not all Southerners are evil. It is politically and economically difficult to change a deeply entrenched system.
Among these huge issues, there lies a very personal one. March's wife, Marmee, deals with the war from her home where she watches their four daughters. Marmee is strong-minded, supporting the underground railroad and sending supplies to newly freed slaves. Their letters to one another hide a lot of truth that the two must reconcile as they reunite while at the brink of death.
This book helps readers see ethical, political, religious, societal, military, and family angles in a mere 280 pages. This is not about battle scenes, but rather the wrenching effects of war and how individuals respond differently, but very personally to troubling events. This novel lands squarely among my all-time favorite books. Highly recommend.
Young March is idealistic. He initially warms to the people he meets in the pre-war South even while watching slaves labor, something he abhors. His ideals are shattered in stages as he witnesses gut-wrenching emotional and physical pain inflicted on others. It is here that readers learn how slaves were kept uneducated in order to deny access to information, and young whites were groomed to keep the system intact. The entire societal infrastructure, including churches, supported the slave system to March's dismay.
As a father and war chaplain, March experiences great personal conflict and witnesses terrible pain and destruction. He also sees that not all Northerners are kind and supportive of abolitionists, and not all Southerners are evil. It is politically and economically difficult to change a deeply entrenched system.
Among these huge issues, there lies a very personal one. March's wife, Marmee, deals with the war from her home where she watches their four daughters. Marmee is strong-minded, supporting the underground railroad and sending supplies to newly freed slaves. Their letters to one another hide a lot of truth that the two must reconcile as they reunite while at the brink of death.
This book helps readers see ethical, political, religious, societal, military, and family angles in a mere 280 pages. This is not about battle scenes, but rather the wrenching effects of war and how individuals respond differently, but very personally to troubling events. This novel lands squarely among my all-time favorite books. Highly recommend.