Secret Lives of the Civil War: What Your Teachers Never Told You about the War Between the States by Cormac OBrien

Secret Lives of the Civil War: What Your Teachers Never Told You about the War Between the States Reviews

• 
  Jeff

  It's my own fault I took forever to finish this book. There were so many facts and names and conjectures and repetitions of all that that in the end I finally just muscled through. It was a slog though, but I'm not entirely sure how much of that is the author's fault.
  The book is laid out like a media guide for the civil war teams. Each character gets their assets, a short blurb about their favorite quote, and their astrological sign. The material is very in-depth, giving the characters history, their accomplishments in the war, and if known the way they shuffled off the mortal coil. The author has certainly done their homework, but at the end of the book I find myself no more interested in checking the facts (as there are no footnotes I wonder if all that is said is correct). I did find it interesting that on both sides of the conflict most of the officers started at west point and had campaigns in mexico or the west before the war started. Truly fighting brother vs brother. Most of the descriptions of the battles relied on military explanations, which I recalled as a child really enjoying but now as an adult I didn't have time for "flanking, pincer moves and bayoneting." Also cavalry was different back then?
  My personal opinion is that this book is great for add prone kids, but I fell my add was too short to deal with it. Happy to complete it and return it to the office collection--from whence it was stolen.
• 
  Jim

  This is History Lite, author Cormac O'Brien giving us entertaining bios of many of the leading figures of the Civil War. But if you're looking for any analysis of these leaders and the War, you should go to other books. However, the stories are enjoyable. We get Lincoln, who is interestingly described as both "the funniest and most depressed man many in Washington ever met." We also have his wife, Mary. O'Brien has a lot of sympathy for the woman who could so often be a burden on her husband. She had a keen intelligence and a ready wit and was a good adviser to her husband during his rise to the presidency. Most unfortunately, she was undone by her son Willie's death in 1862. After her husband's assassination, she was frequently in despair and ill. But she didn't deserve it when her son Robert had her taken to court to defend her sanity. She was committed to an institution in Batavia, Illinois. Jeff Davis is included, of course, as well as his wife Varina. She was shrewder in her judgments of people than Jeff. He should have listened to her! Most of the figures in the book are generals such as Grant, Sherman, McClellan, Burnside, and Sheridan for the North, Lee, Jackson, Jeb Stuart, Braxton Bragg, and Nathan Bedford Forrest for the South. But there are also such characters as William Clarke Quantrill, the Rebel guerrilla leader. He led the attack on Lawrence, Kansas, where 150 men and boys were killed. Sarah Emma Edmonds is featured. She was one of many women who disguised herself as a man to serve in the Civil War. There are a lot of interesting characters, but many are missing. John Wilkes Booth is not included nor is Clara Barton- nor is Swedish inventor of the USS Monitor John Ericsson-- and generals such as George Thomas, Joseph Johnston, and young George A. Custer are missing. You can't cover everyone.
• 
  Jason Pierce

  I enjoy Cormac O'Brien's books, at least the ones I've read so far. They're slightly sensationalist yet still informative with accurate information. If you want strict facts, it'd be best to look elsewhere, but if you want something fun, engaging, and easy to read, then this could be your huckleberry. It's kind of the way Dr. Watson treated Sherlock Holmes' cases, much to Holmes' annoyance... And actually much to my college history teacher's annoyance as well. He wanted just the facts in our papers (which, truth be told, is how a proper history paper is supposed to be written). Writing in that manner is not my natural style, though, and I never could get it quite right for him which was, of course, reflected in the grade I got. Well, at least nobody ever fell asleep reading my shit. I doubt he can make such a claim, so there.
  
  There's a danger whenever I get started in on the Civil War because I tend to go on and on about it. Many of my other
  Civil War book reviews will attest to this, but I'll try not to do it again and rehash everything I've said elsewhere.
  
  Currently (2021), the Civil War is completely misunderstood thanks to... well, that didn't last long. Everyone thinks it was a war to free the slaves. It wasn't. (Please see my
  Gone with the Wind review before taking me to task over that statement). Freeing the slaves was only one part of it, and not even close to the main reason, though slavery was the core issue. (Notice the distinction. The issue of "freeing slaves" is not the same as the issue of "slavery.")
  
  Confederate general A.P Hill was opposed to slavery, but was more alarmed at the federal government attacking his home state, so he fought for the Confederacy. If it had just been a war to free the slaves, he would've fought for the North. (And let's not even get started on the "Emancipation Proclamation's" inconsistencies.) Another interesting thing about Hill, and one that this book will soon have wrong, is that he was buried three times. First in Chesterfield near where he died, then in Hollywood Cemetery which started as a Confederate cemetery in Richmond, then under a monument erected for him at an intersection in Richmond. The city is scheduled to take down that monument, the last confederate one in Richmond, soon, and his remains will be re-interred to Fairview Cemetery in Culpeper where he was born.
  
  This is the kind of tidbit that you can find in this book. I'll leave you with a blurb about everyone who is covered in it.
  
  (Yankees):
  
  Abraham Lincoln - The only person who could've held the Union together though ironically it was his election that served as the catalyst to split it apart.
  
  Mary Todd Lincoln - One of our craziest first ladies who held seances at the White House to communicate with her dead son and whoever else might want to chime in, some of whom apparently brought her top-secret Confederate plans.
  
  Henry Wager Halleck - Who? Exactly. He was put in charge of everything at the onset of the war because he had credentials out the wazoo, but he was pretty much worthless, though it was politic to keep him around. Kind of like Dr. Fauci during the Trump administration.
  
  George Brinton McClellan - He never once missed a chance to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
  
  Ulysses S. Grant - One of the best generals in American history, and the only top dog in the Union who could take on Lee and consistently win. (His statue was torn down in San Francisco last year during the Floyd fracas because San Franciscans are idiots.)
  
  William Tecumseh Sherman - Many of his maneuvers, especially the March to the Sea, were flat out war crimes, but let's face it: he got shit done. He said "War is all hell," and he should know.
  
  Ambrose Everett Burnside - The man who gave us the term "sideburns" due to his impressive facial hair.
  
  Joseph Hooker - This aptly named man always had women of commercial love in his headquarters for him and his officers.
  
  Philip Henry Sheridan - He had a notorious temper, and in spite of his success on several battlefields, he was so reviled by his contemporaries that he wasn't invited to the Grand Review of the Armies (the big post war parade in DC) and was instead sent west to deal with the last Confederate force still fighting which really wasn't such a big problem that it needed Sheridan's attention. Grant just didn't want him causing trouble with the other generals at the parade.
  
  Daniel Edgar Sickles - One of the sleaziest cads in the Union army. Put J.R. Ewing in charge of a Yankee army, and that's pretty much Sickles.
  
  Frederick Douglass - Pointing out any flaws in this man might be illegal, hence his entry was the least exciting, though he once yelled at a white hotel clerk and got away with it at a time when no other black person could do such a thing without repercussions. I think that was the extent of his misbehavior.
  
  Sarah Emma Edmonds - Yankee spy. She passed herself off as a man and served for two years in the Union Army. It's remarkable she was never discovered since men pee standing up, and you'd think someone would notice something off kilter when they formed a firing line while on the march.
  
  Harriet Tubman - One of the toughest people of either sex during the war. While dealing with a rotting tooth that was killing her during a march, she simply excused herself for a minute, knocked it out of her head with her pistol, then they were back on their way to wherever. No fainting like that pansy Tom Hanks in Castaway.
  
  (Rebels):
  
  Jefferson Davis - His middle name was "Finis" because he was the 10th child in the family, and his mother said she was done birthing babies when he came along. He was not the right man for the job he was given, knew it, and eventually so did everyone else.
  
  Varina Howell Davis - Completely devoted to her husband, she once stepped in front of a gun aimed at him to diffuse a tense situation.
  
  Robert E. Lee - No other general on either side of the conflict was given more respect than he even when some of his actions didn't turn out as planned. He was an able commander, though not as good as some others, who was often blessed with good luck.
  
  James Longstreet - A Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Maybe the best tactician on either side, but since he pretty much switched sides after the war was over, he was later reviled by those he fought to defend.
  
  Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson - One of the best generals (he was about as famous and well-respected in the north as he was in the south). He was also the weirdest. He might the most famous hypochondriac in American history. He thought one of his arms was heavier than the other, so he raised the heavier one up to drain the blood in that one back into his body to even everything out...
  
  Richard Stoddert Ewell - This poor man had the misfortune of taking over the Second Corps from Stonewall Jackson which, of course, was an impossible act to follow. He also gets stuck with the credit for burning Richmond, though he really didn't want to and was acting on orders from Secretary of War John Breckinridge.
  
  Ambrose Powell Hill - In addition to what I mentioned at the start of this review, Hill was tackled at the one yard line, killed in action April 2, 1965. Lee surrendered seven days later in Appomattox.
  
  Braxton Bragg - Take McClellan's ineptitude, Sheridan's tyrannical, disputatious temper, put them in a rebel general, and you have Bragg. He was so reviled that his own men tried to murder him... Those incidents happened during the Mexican-American war, but he was just as hated during the War between the States.
  
  James Ewell Brown Stuart - One of the best cavalry commanders on either side until all of a sudden he wasn't. (Gettysburg knocked all the confederate generals down a peg or two.) Yet he was able to bring men together like none other with his sense of humor. He was the only person who could get Lee or Jackson to laugh where most others couldn't even get them to crack a smile.
  
  Jubal Anderson Early - His intense hatred for the Yankees made him one of the South's harshest campaigners when he was in the north. His actions still pale in comparison to Sherman's, though I suspect Chambersburg, PA, which he burned to the ground, would disagree.
  
  Nathan Bedford Forrest - He was in a class all his own, terrible as some of his deeds were. (See the Fort Pillow Massacre). He even personally killed 30-some combatants, and was pretty much a murder machine, though such actions were just another day at the office for him.
  
  William Clarke Quantrill - This bushwhacker leader pretty much used the war to sate his bloodlust in the west as a slave catcher. When your associates are Cole Younger, "Bloody" Bill Anderson, and Frank and Jesse James, you know no good is going to come of anything.
  
  Rose O'Neale Greenhow - Stuck in DC due to a sick daughter when the war started, she became one of the most effective spies for the Confederacy. She was eventually found out, imprisoned for a while, then kicked south.
• 
  Ruth Soz

  I really like O'Brien's style - it's fun and interesting. I have a harder time following battles and tactics, so I enjoyed his other books a little more (Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents and Secret Lives of the First Ladies), but this was still enjoyable and informative. It did help that that I have read Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin - names that wouldn't have meant much to me actually had a place in my mind (Stanton, Seward, etc.)
• 
  Kristi Spinks

  Good book. Some funny stories about the people involved in the Civil War. Made me laugh several times.
• 
  Erikka

  While I have enjoyed every book in this series, this was probably my least favorite. I liked some of the stories and I appreciated how being introduced to generals from both sides and their feats enabled me to see the battles themselves from both perspectives. That being said, a lot of these men weren't very interesting people outside of their military feats, so the facts post-bio weren't as interesting as they were in the other books. I liked that there were a few women described (5, to be specific) and a few people of color (2, to be specific), but there weren't enough for my tastes. Just a lot of old beardy white men being praised as the history makers. If I want that, I'll, well, I'll go to history class or read a textbook. Plus, this guy was really friendly to the Confederacy in a not too pleasant way. I was a history teacher, I can appreciate that the South had good generals, even the best general in Lee, but it doesn't make them good dudes, just good military men. They supported slavery as an institution. They don't need to be put on a pedestal.
• 
  Michelina Matozzi

  I found Cormac O'Brien's book a very interesting look into the key players of the Civil War. Read my entire review of the book at my blog:
  http://michelinam.wordpress.com/2013/...
• 
  Lynnette

  just loved it, so very cool and interesting...
• 
  Jack

  The book “Secret Lives of the Civil War “ has a sub-title — - What your teachers never told you about the War Between the States and is written by Cormac O’Brien.
  
  That’s probably true because the author does go into a good deal of detail on each of the Northern and Southern personalities included in the book. Teachers wouldn’t have had time to cover everything..
  
  To someone starting out learning about the Civil War, this would be a decent book to read.
  
  However, for those who have done any reading about that period of American history, I would say 80% of the book would be nothing new.
  
  It’s sort of like a PEOPLE Magazine version of the war.