Never before or since in American history have the needs and influence of the military weighed so heavily on society. Escott analyzes the militarization of life in the Confederacy and probes the relationships between military commanders, legislators, and Jefferson Davis and his administration. As the South struggled to wage an exhausting war against the North, military necessity increasingly determined policy and shaped all aspects of life. The military had an increasingly large impact not only on policy but also on events inside civil society. Military men played important roles in...
Never before or since in American history have the needs and influence of the military weighed so heavily on society. Escott analyzes the militariz...
The secession of the southern states from the Union was not merely a culmination of certain events; it was also the beginning of the trial of Confederate nationalism. The slaveholding elite which had led the South out of the Union now had to solidify its support among the nonslaveholding small farmers, a class that constituted the bulk of the white population.
But Jefferson Davis and the new government were greatly hampered in their bid for widespread public support, partially because of the same force that had resulted in secession -- the strong states' rights predisposition of many...
The secession of the southern states from the Union was not merely a culmination of certain events; it was also the beginning of the trial of Confe...
Slavery Remembered is the first major attempt to analyze the slave narratives gathered as part of the Federal Writers' Project. Paul Escott's sensitive examination of each of the nearly 2,400 narratives and his quantitative analysis of the narratives as a whole eloquently present the differing beliefs and experiences of masters and slaves. The book describes slave attitudes and actions; slave-master relationships; the conditions of slave life, including diet, physical treatment, working conditions, housing, forms of resistance, and black overseers; slave cultural institutions; status...
Slavery Remembered is the first major attempt to analyze the slave narratives gathered as part of the Federal Writers' Project. Paul Escott's s...
Many Excellent People examines the nature of North Carolina's social system, particularly race and class relations, power, and inequality, during the last half of the nineteenth century. Paul Escott portrays North Carolina's major social groups, focusing on the elite, the ordinary white farmers or workers, and the blacks, and analyzes their attitudes, social structure, and power relationships. Quoting frequently from a remarkable array of letters, journals, diaries, and other primary sources, he shows vividly the impact of the Civil War, Emancipation, Reconstruction, Populism, and the...
Many Excellent People examines the nature of North Carolina's social system, particularly race and class relations, power, and inequality, duri...
The South often seems like a foreign country to newcomers from other parts of the United States. And for people from other countries, Southern customs and lifestyle can be even more bewildering. For anyone who has ever wondered why the style of conducting busines in the South is different or why some Southerners are still fighting the Civil War, this book will be a valuable guide. The informative and entertaining essays will help new Southerners understand and appreciate the region and its people, and they will also serve as a refresher course on the South for those who are comfortably...
The South often seems like a foreign country to newcomers from other parts of the United States. And for people from other countries, Southern customs...
Although North Carolina was a "home front" state rather than a battlefield state for most of the Civil War, it was heavily involved in the Confederate war effort and experienced many conflicts as a result. North Carolinians were divided over the issue of secession, and changes in race and gender relations brought new controversy. Blacks fought for freedom, women sought greater independence, and their aspirations for change stimulated fierce resistance from more privileged groups. Republicans and Democrats fought over power during Reconstruction and for decades thereafter disagreed over the...
Although North Carolina was a "home front" state rather than a battlefield state for most of the Civil War, it was heavily involved in the Confederate...
Paul Escott's The Confederacy: The Slaveholders' Failed Venture offers a unique and multifaceted perspective on the United States' most pivotal and devastating conflict, examining the course of the Civil War from the perspective of the Southern elite class, who were desperate to preserve the "peculiar institution" of its slave-based economy, yet dependent on ordinary Southerners, slaves, and women to sustain the fight for them.
Against the backdrop of the war's military drama and strategic dilemmas, The Confederacy brings into sharp focus the racial, class,...
Paul Escott's The Confederacy: The Slaveholders' Failed Venture offers a unique and multifaceted perspective on the United States' most pivo...
The Civil War forced America finally to confront the contradiction between its founding values and human slavery. At the center of this historic confrontation was Abraham Lincoln. In this fascinating new book Paul Escott considers the evolution of the president's thoughts on race in relation to three other, powerful - and often conflicting - voices.
The Civil War forced America finally to confront the contradiction between its founding values and human slavery. At the center of this historic confr...
