Reviews
"By combing through the letters, diaries, and memoirs of 205 soldiers for daily struggles with fouled water, merciless weather, and lice, Kathryn Meier does the near-impossible: adds detail to Bell Wiley's justly revered Life of Johnny Reb (1943) and Life of Billy Yank (1952)."-- Virginia Magazine, Well written and accessible to undergraduates. . . . Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.-- Choice, Meier provides remarkable insight into the social and environmental history of common soldiers at war while simultaneously posing provocative directions for further work on Civil War environmental history.-- Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, "Succeeds in vividly recreating the common soldier's struggle to adjust to life in a hostile landscape with mainly his comrades and his wits to keep him alive."-- Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Offers useful insight into the common soldier's difficult task of maintaining personal health amid the dual stressors of a harsh natural environment and a system of official army care which seemed a disorganized, uncaring, and frequently incompetent bureaucracy to those used to the loving attentions of home and family.--Civil War Books and Authors blog, Succeeds in vividly recreating the common soldier's struggle to adjust to life in a hostile landscape with mainly his comrades and his wits to keep him alive.-- Journal of Interdisciplinary History, By combing through the letters, diaries, and memoirs of 205 soldiers for daily struggles with fouled water, merciless weather, and lice, Kathryn Meier does the near-impossible: adds detail to Bell Wiley's justly revered Life of Johnny Reb (1943) a|9781469610764|, "Well written and accessible to undergraduates. . . . Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above."-- Choice, By combing through the letters, diaries, and memoirs of 205 soldiers for daily struggles with fouled water, merciless weather, and lice, Kathryn Meier does the near-impossible: adds detail to Bell Wiley's justly revered Life of Johnny Reb (1943) and Life of Billy Yank (1952).-- Virginia Magazine, " Nature's Civil War is an insightful study of common soldiers' physical and mental health. With deep research and stories that leap off the page, this fascinating book will change the way we think about Civil War soldiers' lives in wartime. It will make a mark."--Megan Kate Nelson, Harvard University, "This well-written and compelling monograph deserves a wide audience and should be required reading for both environmental and Civil War historians."-- North Carolina Historical Review, An argument that adds to our broader understanding of the common soldier and his experiences.-- Southern Historian, "Offers useful insight into the common soldier's difficult task of maintaining personal health amid the dual stressors of a harsh natural environment and a system of official army care which seemed a disorganized, uncaring, and frequently incompetent bureaucracy to those used to the loving attentions of home and family."--Civil War Books and Authors blog, An innovative, fine-grained study that blends military, medical, and environmental history in ways that transform understandings in all three fields.-- Journal of American History, This well-written and compelling monograph deserves a wide audience and should be required reading for both environmental and Civil War historians.-- North Carolina Historical Review, Filled with ideas, theories, examples and arguments that are not often found in Civil War writing about the experiences of common soldiers. . . . Highly recommended.-- The Journal of America's Military Past, "Filled with ideas, theories, examples and arguments that are not often found in Civil War writing about the experiences of common soldiers. . . . Highly recommended."-- The Journal of America's Military Past, "Successfully refreshes the common soldier scholarship and launches a worthy discussion of their approaches to health care and the environment."-- H-War, As a commendable scholarly work with emphasis on self-care behavior, it affixes a new and welcomed aspect to the understanding of the common Civil War soldier.-- Journal of the Civil War Era, A captivating 'ethnographic history of soldier health,' building a strong case for environmental determinism, a phenomenon commonly overshadowed by the 'persistent romanticizing' of the Civil War in popular culture. Recommended to Civil War history buffs and anyone interested in soldiers' adaption and survival in trying environments.-- Library Journal, Offers useful insight into the common soldier's difficult task of maintaining personal health amid the dual stressors of a harsh natural environment and a system of official army care which seemed a disorganized, uncaring, and frequently incompetent bure|9781469610764|, "Full of clever, and sometimes surprising, observations. . . . [A] mandatory reading for anyone interested in the Civil War or environmental history."-- West Virginia History, "Meier's research is formidable, her writing graceful, and the analysis judicious. She offers a powerful and imaginative argument about the practical strategies of soldier agency that will invigorate scholarly and popular conversation about how Civil War soldiers survived the physical and psychological trauma of military service."--Peter Carmichael, Fluhrer Professor of History, Gettysburg College, "A captivating 'ethnographic history of soldier health,' building a strong case for environmental determinism, a phenomenon commonly overshadowed by the 'persistent romanticizing' of the Civil War in popular culture. Recommended to Civil War history buffs and anyone interested in soldiers' adaption and survival in trying environments." - Library Journal, "An innovative, fine-grained study that blends military, medical, and environmental history in ways that transform understandings in all three fields."-- Journal of American History, Will prove a template for other scholars and could, very likely, inspire an entire genre within Civil War studies.-- The Historian, "A captivating 'ethnographic history of soldier health,' building a strong case for environmental determinism, a phenomenon commonly overshadowed by the 'persistent romanticizing' of the Civil War in popular culture. Recommended to Civil War history buffs and anyone interested in soldiers' adaption and survival in trying environments."-- Library Journal, A captivating 'ethnographic history of soldier health,' building a strong case for environmental determinism, a phenomenon commonly overshadowed by the 'persistent romanticizing' of the Civil War in popular culture. Recommended to Civil War history buffs|9781469610764|, Successfully refreshes the common soldier scholarship and launches a worthy discussion of their approaches to health care and the environment.-- H-War, Full of clever, and sometimes surprising, observations. . . . [A] mandatory reading for anyone interested in the Civil War or environmental history.-- West Virginia History, An argument that adds to our broader understanding of the common soldier and his experiences.-- Southern Historian|9781469610764|
