From Battlefields Rising: How The Civil War Transformed American Literature
"When the volcano of Civil War erupted in 1861, American literature had already achieved maturity in the writings of Emerson, Melville, Whitman, Hawthorne, and others.  All of them, plus new voices like Emily Dickinson, tried to understand and express the profound meaning of the war in their writings, which Randall Fuller skillfully dissects in this original and incisive volume."-James M. McPherson, author ofBattle Cry of Freedom"In this lucid and insightful work, Randall Fuller probes the creative and intellectual responses of some of the nation's greatest writers to the Civil War. The result is a luminous and revealing portrait of American literary culture in a period of volcanic eruption."-Louis P. Masur, author ofTheCivil War: A Concise History"This is a beautiful, powerful book, uniting the pivotal event of American history with the defining literature of the nation.  Fuller's account is filled with humanity, eloquence, and surprise.  Anyone who reads this book will see both the Civil War and America's iconic authors with new eyes."--Edward Ayers, author ofIn The Presence of Mine Enemies"Fuller's book is a moving excursion through the writers who found their language altered by the convulsions of the American Civil War.  From Alcott to Emerson, Dickinson to Douglass, Melville to Hawthorne, Fuller traces connections both familiar and strange, granting careful attention to new literary configurations in the wake of war."-Shirley Samuels, author ofFacing America: Iconography and the Civil War"Highly recommended." -Library Journal"A fresh and fascinating look not only at Melville, Emerson, Whitman, and Hawthorne but at lesser lights and the loyalties that drove them...It should stand high on any must-read list of books, old or new, as we move into the Civil War anniversary years." -The Weekly Standard"When it comes to the Civil War, there's no poem or novel or even author who leaves us saying: This is the one who got it right, who captured what the war meant and what it felt like. Now one scholar has come up with a new angle on this very old problem. In "From Battlefields Rising: How the Civil War Transformed American Literature," Randall Fuller reminds us that the 1860s featured as talented a cohort of American writers as any decade could ask for." -The Boston Globe"An engaging story...Fuller is a gifted storyteller...Well-researched, well-written, and well worth the read." -Civil War Book Review