The Peninsula Campaign and the Necessity of Emancipation: African Americans and the Fight for Freedom (Civil War America)
"Recommended. All levels/libraries."--Choice"This book effectively opens new doors of scholarly exploration."--Virginia Magazine"[Brasher] successfully challenges both myths [about slave participation  in the Civil War], and in the process, places Virginia's slave population at the center of one of the most important military campaigns of 1862. . . . [This book] reminds us just how much the Union and Confederacy shared in their valuation of blacks during the war."--The Atlantic"In a highly stimulating way this seminal work ties social, military, and political developments together into a powerful thesis about the making of the Federal decision for emancipation."--Journal of American History"[An] assiduously researched and highly illuminating work."--Journal of Southern History"A fascinating, impressively researched, and lucidly written addition to the literature on emancipation."--American Historical Review"In the debate over emancipation, Brasher persuasively emphasizes the importance of such reports of blacks' participation in the war."--The North Carolina Historical Review"By placing black people at the center of the Peninsula campaign, Brasher shows the value of blending military historiography with emancipation histiography."--H-CivWarIt is fortunate for his audience that Brasher is a careful and resourceful researcher and a lucid writer. . . . Although this work focuses on the necessity of emancipation, if other historians are wise they will let it serve as a model of how to unify political, military, and social history for future studies of all the campaigns of the Civil War."--Civil War History"Brasher presents an insightful description of this most fascinating, yet oddly overlooked chapter of American history. . . . A valuable addition to Civil War literature and this reviewer gives it high marks for research and candor. The book makes an excellent addition to any Civil War library."--West Virginia History"A highly praiseworthy work that succeeds in combining traditional military history and social history to the benefit of both."--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society"This book does what history does at its best."--Civil War Monitor"Want proof that history isn't dead? Look no further than Glenn David Brasher's revelatory account of what happened in Virginia 150 years ago this summer. . . . Brasher shows that freedom wasn't something that happened to enslaved Virginians. They seized it the first moment they could. . . . Brasher's seminal book makes it hauntingly real."--Fredericksburg News"No student of the Civil War who wants to give an informed answer when next confronted with the 'black Confederate' question can afford to miss this fine book."--Civil War Monitorblog"This book, which is destined to become a mainstay in the historiography of emancipation, offers a constant reminder that history does not occur in a vacuum."--Civil War News"Rarely does an author merge so seamlessly in one study a military history--a particular campaign, social history--slavery and history from the bottom up, and political history--the origins of the Emancipation Proclamation."--Civil War Book Review"[A] satisfying read, breaking new ground and laying the groundwork for future studies of Black/White relations on the front lines of the Civil War. This excellent book is well written, extensively researched, and convincingly argued. The University of North Carolina Press has a winner here."--TOCWOC:A Civil War Blog