Where Death and Glory Meet: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry
Much like Joshua Chamberlain, Robert Gould Shaw has attained near-legendary status in the pantheon of Civil War heroes, yet the striking monument to Shaw and his men on Boston Common portrays a resolution not always evident in the young colonel's correspondence. Duncan (Univ. of Copenhagen), whose previous publications include an excellent edition of Shaw's letters accompanied by a brief (and, as he immodestly reminds us, praised) sketch, now presents an expanded version of that essay, which enriches but does not materially alter current scholarly understandings. If anything, it may lengthen the shadow Shaw and his men already cast over other black regiments, further obscuring other accomplishments. Although matters of military history occasionally elude Duncan's grasp, he deftly manipulates Shaw's story in support of his insistence that emancipation is what makes the Civil War "worth studying and teaching"; fortunately, his discussion of Shaw and those around him offers a more complicated and compelling reality.ABrooks D. Simpson, Arizona State Univ., TempeCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.