Add this copy of The Life of Billy Yank: the Common Soldier of the Union to cart. $20.00, good condition, Sold by Book Forest rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from San Rafael, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by Lsu Press.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. 1952, stated first edition. Binding is tight, page block is sturdy and clean, boards straight, no highlights or underlining. Dust wrapper shows some minor rubbing, minor tanning. Well packaged and promptly shipped from California. US veteran operated.
Add this copy of The Life of Billy Yank: the Common Soldier of the Union to cart. $25.00, very good condition, Sold by Gils Book Loft rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Binghamton, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1952 by Louisiana State Univ. c1952, 1971.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Near Fine. Dust Jacket Included. Book ISBN: 0-8071-1908-3. Indexed. Handsome gift binding w/ pictorial spine--collector's edition b/w photos. near fine, nf dj, blue leatherette w/ blue cloth. Clean text 454 pgs.
Add this copy of The Life of Billy Yank: the Common Soldier of the Union to cart. $39.98, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1994 by Louisiana State Univ Pr.
Add this copy of The Life of Billy Yank: the Common Soldier of the Union to cart. $81.15, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1993 by LSU Press.
Add this copy of The Life of Billy Yank: the Common Soldier of the Union to cart. $91.71, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1994 by Louisiana State Univ Pr.
Bell Irvin Wiley (1906-1980) enjoyed a distinguished career as a professor at the University of Mississippi and Emory University and as the author or editor of over 20 books on the Civil War. His "The Life of Billy Yank: the Common Soldier of the Union" (1952) is, together with its companion volume "The Life of Johnny Reb, the Common Soldier of the Confederacy (1943), Wiley's best-known work. It presents an outstanding history of the day-to-day life of the soldier in the Union Army.
As Wiley stated in the preface to the book, his focus was "social rather than military". The book offers little of the military history of the various Civil War campaigns and little of the political aspects of the War. Rather, Wiley discusses soldering in the Union Army in all its detail and drudgery. It is an indispensable source for those wishing to understand the Civil War. The book would be of interest as well to reenactors wishing to get inside and recapture life in a Civil War Army.
The book is well-researched and documented. It draws upon the letters and diaries of innumerable Union soldiers, both published and unpublished and on other first-hand accounts. Much of the discussion is anecdotal, but Wiley makes good use of census and statistical data as well. The book is clearly written with an obvious empathy for the life of the Civil War soldier. The book leads the reader beyond its specific subject and encourages reflection of the Civil War, its terrible human cost, and its continuing importance to our country.
Wiley begins with a discussion of the recruitment process into the Union Army following the attack on Fort Sumter. The book gives a good picture of the complex relationship between state militia units, the regular army, the volunteers and the draftees -- the various units that uneasily combined to form the Union army. Bell discusses -- in a subject that continues to fascinate historians -- the motivations of the soldiers who served in the conflict. In particular, he discusses the Emancipation Proclamation and considers the extent to which Emancipation was or became a goal for a large number of Union troops. Wiley sees the many sides of this question, and the issue remains one that is vigorously discussed.
The book describes well the rigors of training and camp life, the diseases and unhealthy living conditions which plagued the army, the boredom and enforced routines, the bad food, temptations to vice, and experience of combat. There is excellent material in the book on the organization of the Union Army. Much of the material in Wiley's study is either presupposed or otherwise not covered in other well-known studies of the military of political history of the War. The book considers the morale and fighting spirit of the men and how it varied with the fortunes of war and with the support of people at home. Again, anticipating more recent studies, Wiley discusses the ambiguous, complicated relationships that developed during the War between the Union troops and their enemies in gray. This relationship, and the instances of fraternization during the midst of a total conflict, presaged the way for reconciliation, at long last, at the conclusion of the conflict. There is a brief discussion in the book of women soldiers who enlisted in the Union army and sometimes managed to avoid detection. This subject too has received much recent attention and it is interesting to see Wiley deal with it in his early account. The book ends with reflections on the way in which the Civil War helped forged the United States into a nation.
This is a study that wears its age well. It will bring the reader face-to-face with the life of the Union soldier during our nation's greatest combat.