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Civil War Curiosities: Strange Stories, Oddities, Events, and Coincidences
by Webb Garrison
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (2000-10-27)
ISBN: 155853315X
EAN: 9781558533158
UPC: 031869003154
Dewey Decimal #: 973.7
Binding/Media: Paperback - 288 pages
SKU: LDEV0909263
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. No writing, no highlighting. This is a used copy with reading/ shelf wear.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
This fascinating collection explores the unusual and often bizarre persons, attitudes, and events of the Civil War. Illustrated and indexed.
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Customer Reviews
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A Civil War Curio Shop
Rating  (4)
Date: 2010-04-27
"And I found this item while rummaging through ...", or so it would seem the author says as he blows the dust off another factual artifact on history's shelf. Most likely this little curiosity shop of Civil War arcania would be discovered by readers who are well traveled down the main arteries of the conflict's documentation and now wish to travel a curiosity road less taken.
The table of contents is like labeled shelves in a curio cabinet. Choose any shelf such as "Strange New Weapons", "Clergymen Fought Like Hell", or "Civil War Critters" and enjoy the intriguing facts thus displayed. How about "Silent Battles defy Explanation"? Here the author recounts the oft reported battlefield experience of individuals being near the struggle but not hearing it, while others miles away could; seeing the flash of gunfire but not hearing the shot. Your curiosity peaked? Try "From The Sublime to the Ridiculous", but you get the point. This book is chalk full of interesting tidbits in bite size and easily digestible form.
One you start into this book, you may well have a sublime experience; you certainly won't feel ridiculous for having pursued your "Civil War Curiosities".
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Mom asked me to find a book online about the Civil War
Rating  (5)
Date: 2009-12-24
Purchased this book for my mom who lives in another state and had asked me to find her something about the Civil War. She is 92 and just now getting curious about it. It arrived promptly in excellent conditions and she is thoroughly enjoying reading it.
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Bric-A-Brac Of The American Civil War- Strictly For Aficionados
Rating (4)
Date: 2009-09-06
In the course of a life long study of history, especially when looking at the impact of great revolutions on the course of history, and the American Civil War fits into that category, I have read many books that narrate the main events of those upheavals. I have honed in on the lives of the most important political actors in those dramas as well. Further, I have gone to the backs streets of the events to find out what the "people", who formed the backbone for all the major revolutions, at least in the West, had to say. I have even, and here is where this book, "Civil War Curiosities", falls run into compilations of the oddities and contradictions that have emanated from this historic events. This, my friends, as the headline to this entry indicates is a task for aficionados. So once you've gotten the main narrative of the Civil War down, have read about the major actors and checked out was happening in the back streets then you can take some time for some light, but informative , reading about the oddities.
Of course, on the subject of the American Civil War there is no shortage of books covering individual oddities and topics, or at least the subject has been covered in such depth that at this distance from the event there is not much room for fresh commentary except for the running through the ephemera. Personally, my tastes run to more detailed mainstream studies, like James McPherson's, that center on the fight to abolish slavery or of Bruce Catton's that detail the struggle to preserve a unitary state on this part of the continent. However, Mr. Garrison, a noted author with a resume filled with books that center on compiling the bric-a-brac of this war fills a rather different niche. And along the way provides some interesting information about the personage of Lincoln, his adversary Jefferson Davis, the women of the Civil War, plenty of material on battles and leaders, and most importantly, some new information about the role of blacks in their own liberation as soldiers. Not a book for everyone but interesting nevertheless.
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An Enjoyable Read
Rating (4)
Date: 2007-12-19
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I picked this book up after reading a monster of a historical book and enjoyed it very much. It is written in anecdotal paragraphs, with each paragraph being relevant to the chapter it is included in. It has a very interesting chapter on hostages and also one on officers who were in the clergy. My favorite chapter was on quotes about officers from their contemporaries. I will warn the reader that the book seems to lean toward northern sympathies, which is just fine, but I like my history to be a bit more unbiased. Any casual student of the American Civil War should pick up this entertaining book. Advanced scholars will probably enjoy it as well, but the material is pretty light, and most of the anecdotes I am sure you will have come across before.
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Civil War Curiosities
Rating (4)
Date: 2007-10-27
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
This provided some little known insights into the humanity and inhumanity of this epic war in America's history. Both sides were brutal, both sides compassionate in individual ways. A thoroughly enjoyable read.
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