Photo, above: This image is an illustration from The Soldier in Our Civil War and depicts a New Year’s Contraband Ball at Vicksburg, Mississippi, during the siege at Vicksburg.

On July 6, 2011, James Taylor, co-founder of the Jefferson County Black History Preservation Society, was a guest speaker at a meeting of the Sons of the Confederacy. He talked about his family ties with Major General Nathaniel Banks, a Union commander who fought against Lieutenant General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson at Winchester in 1862.  Mr. Taylor’s great grandfather, who was contracted to work for the Confederate Army at Winchester and had escaped to Berkeley County, was with the Union Army when they retreated back to the contraband camp at Harpers Ferry.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Hour One

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 1, Block A: 1861: The Civil War Awakening (Vintage) by Adam Goodheart (1 of 2)   Goodheart, a historian, journalist, and a regular columnist for the Times' acclaimed Civil War series, "Disunion," makes sophisticated use of a broad spectrum of sources for an evocative reinterpretation of the Civil War's beginnings. Wanting to retrieve the war from recent critics who dismiss the importance of slavery in the Union's aims, he reframes the war as "not just a Southern rebellion but a nationwide revolution" to free the country of slavery and end paralyzing attempts to compromise over it. The revolution began long before the war's first shots were fired. But it worked on the minds and hearts of average whites and blacks, slaves and free men. By 1861 it had attained an irresistible momentum. Goodheart shifts focus away from the power centers of Washington and Charleston to look at the actions and reactions of citizens from Boston to New York City, from Hampton Roads, Va., to St. Louis, Mo., and San Francisco, emphasizing the cultural, rather than military, clash between those wanting the country to move forward and those clinging to the old ways. War would be waged for four bitter years, with enduring seriousness, intensity, and great heroism, Goodheart emphasizes. 15 illus.

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 1, Block B: 1861: The Civil War Awakening (Vintage) by Adam Goodheart (2 of 2)  “Goodheart shows us that even at 150 years’ distance there are new voices, and new stories, to be heard about the Civil War, and that together they can have real meaning. . . . He takes what is known, breaks it down to its elemental parts and rearranges it, giving us a different view entirely of something we thought we understood entirely.” —The Boston Globe

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 1, Block C: . Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz (1 of 2)  Horwitz’s skills are a good match for this enormously compelling character, and his well-paced narrative incorporates masterful sketches of Brown’s family, foot soldiers, financial backers, admirers and prosecutors… The result is both page-turning and heartbreaking—a book to engage mind and soul."—The Boston Globe

"Horwitz, an exceptionally skilled and accomplished journalist, here turns his hand to pure history with admirable results. Midnight Rising is smoothly written, thoroughly researched, places Brown within the context of his time and place, and treats him sensitively but scarcely adoringly."—The Washington Post(Best of 2011, Notable Work of Nonfiction)

"Midnight Rising is a richly detailed and engaging history… Horwitz’s moment-by-moment account of the doomed raid unfolds with such immediacy that he reintroduces suspense to a story we all know from textbooks."—The San Francisco Chronicle

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 1, Block D: . Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz (2 of 2) Gripping, disturbing and heartbreaking... Horwitz brings all his gifts of character building and storytelling to Brown’s rise and self-promotion… Horwitz’s Brown did not die in vain. By recalling the drama that fired the imagination and fears of Brown’s time, Midnight Rising calls readers to account for complacency about social injustices today. This is a book for our time."—Library Journal

"Lucid and compelling… The author’s archival sleuthing pays off with a rich narrative."—Kirkus Reviews

"[Horwitz’s] vivid biographical portrait of Brown gives us an American original: a failed businessman and harsh Calvinist with a soft spot for the oppressed and a murderous animus against oppressors… Brown’s raiders—a motley crew of his sons and various idealists, adventurers, freedmen, and fugitive slaves—come alive as a romantic, appealing bunch; their agonizing deaths give Horwitz’s excellent narrative of the raid and shootout a deep pathos."—Publishers Weekly

Hour Two

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 2, Block A: Born to Battle: Grant and Forrest--Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga by Jack Hurst  (1 of 4)

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 2, Block B: Born to Battle: Grant and Forrest--Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga by Jack Hurst  (2 of 4)

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 2, Block C: Born to Battle: Grant and Forrest--Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga by Jack Hurst  (3 of 4)

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 2, Block D: Born to Battle: Grant and Forrest--Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga by Jack Hurst  (4 of 4)

Hour Three

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 3, Block A: A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War by Amanda Foreman (1  of 4)

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 3, Block B: A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War by Amanda Foreman (2  of 4)

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 3, Block C: A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War by Amanda Foreman (3  of 4)

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 3, Block D: A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War by Amanda Foreman (4  of 4)

Hour Four

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 4, Block A: THE CAMPAIGNS FOR VICKSBURG, 1862-63, Leadership Lessons by Kevin Dougherty (1 of 2)  "The author begins the book by explaining his understanding of the meaning of the term Leadership. This, he states, is "the process of influencing others to work towards organizational goals; it provides purpose, direction, and motivation. In war it is the most dynamic element of combat power." He then goes on to state that the lessons of American Civil War leaders learned during the Vicksburg Campaign are transferrable to a variety of leadership situations, both in battle and elsewhere. Thus he gives himself a clear mandate that is not just about exploring the whys and wherefores of a particular military event but one that is to provide a wider explanation and application of leadership itself."

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 4, Block B: THE CAMPAIGNS FOR VICKSBURG, 1862-63, Leadership Lessons by Kevin Dougherty (2 of 2)

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 4, Block C: 1861: The Civil War Awakening (Vintage) by Adam Goodheart (1 of 2)

Sunday 22 December 2013 / Hour 4, Block D: 1861: The Civil War Awakening (Vintage) by Adam Goodheart (2 of 2)