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Morning to Midnight in the Saddle

CIVIL WAR LETTERS OF A SOLDIER IN WILDER'S LIGHTNING BRIGADE

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A soldier’s annotated letters chronicle life and death in the Civil War’s western theater.

In 1862, Otho McManus was a 24-year-old schoolteacher when he joined the 123rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry. Orphaned at 16, he was the oldest of five children scattered to foster homes. He married Sallie Rupp, the pastor’s daughter in a small congregation of families that included his foster parents. They all became his extended family. He fought alongside two brothers, a brother-in-law and four cousins, all of whom enlisted the same day. Everyone survived but Otho, killed seven days before Lee’s surrender. This collection of more than 100 previously unpublished letters is notable for its volume and clarity and for the writer’s participation in an innovative wartime strategy. Col. John T. Wilder’s “Lightning Brigade,” which Otho joined in May 1863, used mounted infantry—soldiers riding horses to outmarch opposing infantry but fighting on foot, using newly invented repeating rifles to outshoot their opponents. Otho’s erudition, even temper, and devotion to his wife, 6-year-old daughter and the Union cause shine throughout. His attention to detail yields many delightful surprises and in-depth information about the engagements in which he fought. The editors, all Otho’s descendants, provide crucial context and narrative flow between the letters, leavening the inherent challenges of storytelling through personal correspondence—potentially tedious repetition and oblique references that could leave readers in the dark. Their support is especially needed given the one-sided nature of the letters; no responses to Otho survived. Their text, from broader scene-setting to explaining minute details, is clear and well-paced, and they are in obvious command of the material. They cite 50 books and 13 articles in more than 350 endnotes that further illuminate the story and should not be ignored. Some readers might desire even more background and analysis from these knowledgeable editors, but they keep Otho’s voice squarely in the foreground—an effective choice. Readers grow fond of Otho and his family through letters spanning 30 months. Although the outcome is known in advance, his death, reported to his wife by his brother-in-law/comrade in arms, evokes a powerful, novelistic climax.

A genuine treat for Civil War buffs and a valuable source for scholars.

Pub Date: July 2, 2014

ISBN: 978-1469143194

Page Count: 322

Publisher: Xlibris

Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2014

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TOMBSTONE

THE EARP BROTHERS, DOC HOLLIDAY, AND THE VENDETTA RIDE FROM HELL

Buffs of the Old West will enjoy Clavin’s careful research and vivid writing.

Rootin’-tootin’ history of the dry-gulchers, horn-swogglers, and outright killers who populated the Wild West’s wildest city in the late 19th century.

The stories of Wyatt Earp and company, the shootout at the O.K. Corral, and Geronimo and the Apache Wars are all well known. Clavin, who has written books on Dodge City and Wild Bill Hickok, delivers a solid narrative that usefully links significant events—making allies of white enemies, for instance, in facing down the Apache threat, rustling from Mexico, and other ethnically charged circumstances. The author is a touch revisionist, in the modern fashion, in noting that the Earps and Clantons weren’t as bloodthirsty as popular culture has made them out to be. For example, Wyatt and Bat Masterson “took the ‘peace’ in peace officer literally and knew that the way to tame the notorious town was not to outkill the bad guys but to intimidate them, sometimes with the help of a gun barrel to the skull.” Indeed, while some of the Clantons and some of the Earps died violently, most—Wyatt, Bat, Doc Holliday—died of cancer and other ailments, if only a few of old age. Clavin complicates the story by reminding readers that the Earps weren’t really the law in Tombstone and sometimes fell on the other side of the line and that the ordinary citizens of Tombstone and other famed Western venues valued order and peace and weren’t particularly keen on gunfighters and their mischief. Still, updating the old notion that the Earp myth is the American Iliad, the author is at his best when he delineates those fraught spasms of violence. “It is never a good sign for law-abiding citizens,” he writes at one high point, “to see Johnny Ringo rush into town, both him and his horse all in a lather.” Indeed not, even if Ringo wound up killing himself and law-abiding Tombstone faded into obscurity when the silver played out.

Buffs of the Old West will enjoy Clavin’s careful research and vivid writing.

Pub Date: April 21, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-250-21458-4

Page Count: 400

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020

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HOW DEMOCRACIES DIE

The value of this book is the context it provides, in a style aimed at a concerned citizenry rather than fellow academics,...

A provocative analysis of the parallels between Donald Trump’s ascent and the fall of other democracies.

Following the last presidential election, Levitsky (Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America, 2003, etc.) and Ziblatt (Conservative Parties and the Birth of Democracy, 2017, etc.), both professors of government at Harvard, wrote an op-ed column titled, “Is Donald Trump a Threat to Democracy?” The answer here is a resounding yes, though, as in that column, the authors underscore their belief that the crisis extends well beyond the power won by an outsider whom they consider a demagogue and a liar. “Donald Trump may have accelerated the process, but he didn’t cause it,” they write of the politics-as-warfare mentality. “The weakening of our democratic norms is rooted in extreme partisan polarization—one that extends beyond policy differences into an existential conflict over race and culture.” The authors fault the Republican establishment for failing to stand up to Trump, even if that meant electing his opponent, and they seem almost wistfully nostalgic for the days when power brokers in smoke-filled rooms kept candidacies restricted to a club whose members knew how to play by the rules. Those supporting the candidacy of Bernie Sanders might take as much issue with their prescriptions as Trump followers will. However, the comparisons they draw to how democratic populism paved the way toward tyranny in Peru, Venezuela, Chile, and elsewhere are chilling. Among the warning signs they highlight are the Republican Senate’s refusal to consider Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee as well as Trump’s demonization of political opponents, minorities, and the media. As disturbing as they find the dismantling of Democratic safeguards, Levitsky and Ziblatt suggest that “a broad opposition coalition would have important benefits,” though such a coalition would strike some as a move to the center, a return to politics as usual, and even a pragmatic betrayal of principles.

The value of this book is the context it provides, in a style aimed at a concerned citizenry rather than fellow academics, rather than in the consensus it is not likely to build.

Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5247-6293-3

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017

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