Battle Hymns: The Power and Popularity of Music in the Civil War (Civil War America)
No historian has done more than Christian McWhirter to open our ears to Civil War music as a powerful expression of political action.-- Peter S. Carmichael, Fluhrer Professor of History, Gettysburg CollegeMcWhirter powerfully demonstrates the important role played by music in the lives of Johnny Reb, Billy Yank, and the folks back home during the war between the states. As a longtime student and performer of Civil War songs I am excited to have this valuable and informative resource available.-- Bobby Horton, multi-instrumentalist and composerThese days, both ever more sophisticated military history and ever more cultivated outreach onto broader terrain drives Civil War history ahead.  Christian McWhirter's excellent new study of Civil War music adds to the promise of operation outreach.-- William W. Freehling, author ofThe Road to DisunionandPrelude to Civil WarMcWhirter enriches our understanding of the soundscapes of America's bloodiest conflict. It is a deeply researched and beautifully executed examination of a curiously understudied aspect of the War.-- Mark M. Smith, author ofListening to Nineteenth-Century AmericaIn capturing the documents of the time in their detail, and retelling them with sweeping, Technicolor splendor, Christian McWhirter has written a compelling, inspirational and very sobering novel in the form of a Civil War history trade publication.-- The Huffington Post"Recommended. Lower - and upper-division undergraduates; graduate students; professionals; general readers."--Choice"An extensive, descriptive account of music during the American Civil War."--Journal of American History"Much more than a treat for lovers of good history writing and a fresh look at well-trodden fields, it is also a painful reminder of just how divided a nation we were at birth, and how those divisions live with us still."--Huffington PostArts & Culture"A detailed and thorough account invaluable to students of the Civil War and American cultural history."--The North Carolina Historical Review"[An] enjoyable, fun to read book. . . . A unique necessary history for our libraries."--TOCWOC: A Civil War Blog"Exceptionally well researched and engagingly written,Battle Hymnsis a welcome addition to a growing scholarship on popular culture in the Civil War era. . . . [It] will profit scholars who work on popular culture in nineteenth-century America, Union and Confederate nationalism, the history of music, and Civil War memory."--H-CivWar"General Robert E. Lee once stated: 'I don't see how we could have an army without music.' McWhirter has done as excellent job of opening our eyes and our ears to why this was so."--Indiana Magazine of History"McWhirter excels at tracing the history and popularity of a variety of songs from the 1860s."--Journal of Southern History"Contains fascinating, humorous, and little-known stories from the period." --Kansas History"An extremely valuable addition to the canon of Civil War history."--Southern Historian"This excellent book will stand as the definitive study on the subject for many years to come."--Society of Civil War Historians Newsletter"McWhirter's deft and entertaining use of anecdotal material to support his arguments will appeal to a wide audience."--Tennessee Libraries"Battles Hymnsconvincingly combines historical and musicological perspectives by illustrating the mutual enrichment of music and extramusical culture."--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society"A welcome addition to the historiography of the Civil War and the music of the period."--The Annals of Iowa"No historian has done more than Christian McWhirter to open our ears to Civil War music as a very powerful expression of political action."--McCormick Messenger"A fascinating examination of how popular songs defined and unified ideologies during the Civil War."--Southern Register"A wealth of practical information on who composed what, when, and under what circumstances. [McWhirter's] discovery of minute details concerning the origins of popular Civil War songs constitutes a real contribution to this area of specialization."--Civil War Book Review