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The Ghosts of Guerrilla Memory
How Civil War Bushwhackers Became Gunslingers in the American West
by Matthew Christopher Hulbert
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Pub Date
Oct 15 2016
| Archive Date
Oct 01 2016
Description
The Civil War tends to be remembered as a vast sequence of battles, with a turning point at Gettysburg and a culmination at Appomattox. But in the guerrilla theater, the conflict was a vast sequence of home invasions, local traumas, and social degeneration that did not necessarily end in 1865. This book chronicles the history of “guerrilla memory,” the collision of the Civil War memory “industry” with the somber realities of irregular warfare in the borderlands of Missouri and Kansas.
In the first accounting of its kind, Matthew Christopher Hulbert’s book analyzes the cultural politics behind how Americans have remembered, misremembered, and re-remembered guerrilla warfare in political rhetoric, historical scholarship, literature, and film and at reunions and on the stage. By probing how memories of the guerrilla war were intentionally designed, created, silenced, updated, and even destroyed, Hulbert ultimately reveals a continent-wide story in which Confederate bushwhackers—pariahs of the eastern struggle over slavery—were transformed into the vanguards of American imperialism in the West.
The Civil War tends to be remembered as a vast sequence of battles, with a turning point at Gettysburg and a culmination at Appomattox. But in the guerrilla theater, the conflict was a vast sequence...
Description
The Civil War tends to be remembered as a vast sequence of battles, with a turning point at Gettysburg and a culmination at Appomattox. But in the guerrilla theater, the conflict was a vast sequence of home invasions, local traumas, and social degeneration that did not necessarily end in 1865. This book chronicles the history of “guerrilla memory,” the collision of the Civil War memory “industry” with the somber realities of irregular warfare in the borderlands of Missouri and Kansas.
In the first accounting of its kind, Matthew Christopher Hulbert’s book analyzes the cultural politics behind how Americans have remembered, misremembered, and re-remembered guerrilla warfare in political rhetoric, historical scholarship, literature, and film and at reunions and on the stage. By probing how memories of the guerrilla war were intentionally designed, created, silenced, updated, and even destroyed, Hulbert ultimately reveals a continent-wide story in which Confederate bushwhackers—pariahs of the eastern struggle over slavery—were transformed into the vanguards of American imperialism in the West.
A Note From the Publisher
Matthew Christopher Hulbert is a cultural and military historian of nineteenth-century America and coeditor of The Civil War Guerrilla: Unfolding the Black Flag in History, Memory, and Myth. Part of the UnCivil Wars series.
Matthew Christopher Hulbert is a cultural and military historian of nineteenth-century America and coeditor of The Civil War Guerrilla: Unfolding the Black Flag in History, Memory, and Myth. Part of...
A Note From the Publisher
Matthew Christopher Hulbert is a cultural and military historian of nineteenth-century America and coeditor of The Civil War Guerrilla: Unfolding the Black Flag in History, Memory, and Myth. Part of the UnCivil Wars series.
Advance Praise
“In this first book devoted entirely to Civil War
memory and the guerrilla wars, Matthew Hulbert skillfully shows how
popular impressions of Confederate guerrillas were exploited by both
friends and enemies and for a variety of ends. Especially intriguing are
the ways in which Hulbert looks beyond the Civil War generation to
probe the continuing legacy of guerrilla warfare in the twentieth
century. This book makes a substantial contribution to the field of
memory studies.”
—Daniel E. Sutherland, author of
A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War
"This superb book brilliantly traces the meaning and memory of Civil War
guerrillas and guerrilla warfare—from the theaters of the war into the
postwar American West, and from the violence of Reconstruction into our
own time. This is a major contribution to our understanding of violence
in American culture."
—William F. Deverell, coauthor of The West in the History of the Nation
“In this first book devoted entirely to Civil War memory and the guerrilla wars, Matthew Hulbert skillfully shows how popular impressions of Confederate guerrillas were exploited by both friends...
Advance Praise
“In this first book devoted entirely to Civil War
memory and the guerrilla wars, Matthew Hulbert skillfully shows how
popular impressions of Confederate guerrillas were exploited by both
friends and enemies and for a variety of ends. Especially intriguing are
the ways in which Hulbert looks beyond the Civil War generation to
probe the continuing legacy of guerrilla warfare in the twentieth
century. This book makes a substantial contribution to the field of
memory studies.”
—Daniel E. Sutherland, author of
A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War
"This superb book brilliantly traces the meaning and memory of Civil War
guerrillas and guerrilla warfare—from the theaters of the war into the
postwar American West, and from the violence of Reconstruction into our
own time. This is a major contribution to our understanding of violence
in American culture."
—William F. Deverell, coauthor of The West in the History of the Nation
Available Editions
| EDITION |
Other Format |
| ISBN |
9780820350028 |
| PRICE |
$29.95 (USD)
|
Additional Information
Available Editions
| EDITION |
Other Format |
| ISBN |
9780820350028 |
| PRICE |
$29.95 (USD)
|
Average rating from 2 members
Featured Reviews
Ranger H, Educator
Hulbert is a BRAVE man who has written a GREAT book. I mean dare anyone write about history nowadays?!?!
Regardless here is a book that if you let it, it will educate you in why this was a war like no other, fought between families, and in hoe towns. Hulbert then shows how the survivors are banished to the West where violence is happenstance. Take a chance on this great book and expand your mind!!
Featured Reviews
Ranger H, Educator
Hulbert is a BRAVE man who has written a GREAT book. I mean dare anyone write about history nowadays?!?!
Regardless here is a book that if you let it, it will educate you in why this was a war like no other, fought between families, and in hoe towns. Hulbert then shows how the survivors are banished to the West where violence is happenstance. Take a chance on this great book and expand your mind!!
