so durable, when the trend of historical research has long been moving in the opposite direction? Manning thinks we anachronistically project attitudes we think more recent and less ideological soldiers had (for instance during the Vietnam War) back onto an earlier and very different time. Having very carefully looked at the evidence for a large and apparently random sample of fighting men, she finds it patronizing and false to think that during the Civil War they were apolitical automatons. Her scrupulous scholarship to support this enlightening conclusion deserves a wide audience. -Thatkane Note: There are comments associated with this question. See the discussion page to add to the conversation.