Review: United No More: Stories of the Civil War
United No More: Stories of the Civil War by Doreen Rappaport and Joan Verniero (HarperCollins, 2006)
Men, women, children, black, white, Native American — all took part in the American Civil War on both sides. What was it like for them? What led them to serve their cause, to fight in battles and to rouse others to do the same? What was the U.S. like in the 1860’s, when the Civil War erupted and split one country into two?
These questions and more are explored in this collection of fictionalized accounts of real people during the Civil War, bringing history alive to young readers. Appropriate for readers at the middle school level and above, these stories encompass many different groups who participated in the war between the states. Stories feature:
- Julia Ward Howe, writer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic
- Eugenia Phillips, arrested as a Confederate spy
- Mary Jackson, who led a protest against food shortages and rising prices in Richmond, Virginia
- William H. Carney, who served in the Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry
- Commander David Glasgow Farragut, who led the Union naval attack on Mobile, Alabama, and is reputed to have said, “Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!”
- President Abraham Lincoln during his second inaugural address, and Washington correspondent Noah Brooks who recorded and printed the famous “With malice toward none” speech.
- Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, once allies in the Mexican war, leading opposing armies in the Civil War, who faced one another across a table in house at Appomattox Virgina to negotiate the war’s end.
Readings from United No More would make a valuable addition to U.S. history lessons, bringing dry textbook facts to life, and giving a human face to important events.
