Children--white and black, northern and southern--endured a vast and
varied range of experiences during the Civil War. Children celebrated
victories and mourned defeats, tightened their belts and widened their
responsibilities, took part in patriotic displays and suffered shortages
and hardships, fled their homes to escape enemy invaders and snatched
opportunities to run toward the promise of freedom.
Offering a fascinating look at how children were affected by our
nation's greatest crisis, James Marten examines their toys and games,
their literature and schoolbooks, the letters they exchanged with absent
fathers and brothers, and the hardships they endured. He also explores
children's politicization, their contributions to their homelands' war
efforts, and the lessons they took away from the war. Drawing on the
childhoods of such diverse Americans as Jane Addams, Booker T.
Washington, and Theodore Roosevelt, and on sources that range from
diaries and memoirs to children's "amateur newspapers," Marten examines
the myriad ways in which the Civil War shaped the lives of a generation
of American children.
"An original-minded, skillfully and suggestively presented history,
haunting in its detailed unfolding of a war that put so many already
vulnerable youngsters in danger, but elicited from some of them, as
well, impressively sensitive, responsive thoughts, gestures, and deeds
in what became, as this extraordinary book's title insists, their civil
war.--Journal of American History
"James Marten's thoroughly researched and engagingly written study . . .
stands as one of the most exciting studies to emerge in the last dozen
years. . . . Marten has taken a topic ignored by both Civil War
historians and historians of childhood and crafted an engaging,
masterful, nuanced, and readable study that will not quickly leave the
reader's mind or heart.--American Studies
"The first comprehensive account of Civil War children. . . . Thoroughly
researched and nicely illustrated, The Children's Civil War will be a
touchstone for historians and generalists who seek to gain a fuller
understanding of life on the home front between 1861 and 1865.--Civil
War History
The Children's Civil War is a poignant and fascinating look at
childhood during our nation's greatest crisis. Using sources that
include diaries, memoirs, and letters, James Marten examines the wartime
experiences of young people--boys and girls, black and white, northern
and southern--and traces the ways in which the Civil War shaped the
lives of a generation of American children.
