
These Rugged Days
Alabama in the Civil War
John S. Sledge(Author)
The University of Alabama Press
Will be published approx. on 30. August 2017
Book
Hardback
296 pages
978-0-8173-1960-1 (ISBN)
Description
An accessibly written and dramatic account of Alabama's role in the Civil War. The Civil War has left indelible marks on Alabama's land, culture, economy, and people. Despite its lasting influence, this wrenching story has been too long neglected by historians preoccupied by events elsewhere. In These Rugged Days: Alabama in the Civil War , John S. Sledge provides a long overdue and riveting narrative of Alabama's wartime saga. Focused on the conflict's turning points within the state's borders, this book charts residents' experiences from secession's heady early days to its tumultuous end, when 75,000 blue-coated soldiers were on the move statewide. Sledge details this eventful history using an impressive array of primary and secondary materials, including official records, diaries, newspapers, memoirs, correspondence, sketches, and photographs. He also highlights such colorful personalities as Nathan Bedford Forrest, the i?1/2Wizard of the Saddlei?1/2; John Pelham, the youthful Jacksonville artillerist who was shipped home in an iron casket with a glass faceplate; Gus Askew, a nine-year-old Barbour County slave who vividly recalled the day the Yankees marched in; and Augusta Jane Evans, the young novelist who was given a gold pen by a daring blockade runner. Sledge offers a refreshing take on Alabama's contributions to the Civil War that will intrigue anyone who is interested in learning more about the state's war efforts. His narrative is a dramatic account that will be enjoyed by lay readers as well as students and scholars of Alabama and the Civil War. These Rugged Days is an enthralling tale of action, courage, pride, and tragedy, making clear the relevance of many of the Civil War's decisive moments for the way Alabamians live today.
Reviews / Votes
If all politics is local then history is more so, and that holds true for the story John Sledge has told here. It is personal and intimate (and unusually moving), as well as enormously edifying, well written, and revealing; I couldn't stop reading it! Bravo!"" - Ken Burns, Emmy Award-winning producer and director of The Civil War""A fresh look at the Civil War in Alabama that thoroughly covers the topic in a way that only John Sledge can. Anyone who grew up in the South, who has an interest in the Civil War, will immediately relate."" - Robert Bradley, former chief curator at the Alabama Department of Archives and History
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Alabama
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
8 colour figures, 37 black & white figures, 3 maps
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
612 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8173-1960-1 (9780817319601)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
08/2017
1st Edition
University of Alabama Press
€42.99
Available for download
Person
John S. Sledge is a senior architectural historian for the Mobile Historic Development Commission and a member of the National Book Critics Circle. He is the author of Cities of Silence: A Guide to Mobile's Historic Cemeteries and The Mobile River. He and his wife, Lynn, live in Fairhope, Alabama.