War Is All Hell

During his first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln expressed hope that the "better angels of our nature" would prevail as war loomed. He was wrong. The better angels did not, but for many Americans, the evil ones did. War Is All Hell peers into the world of devils, demons, Satan, and hell during the era of the American Civil War. It charts how African Americans and abolitionists compared slavery to hell, how Unionists rendered Confederate secession illegal by linking it to Satan, and how many Civil War soldiers came to understand themselves as living in hellish circumstances. War Is All Hell also examines how many Americans used evil to advance their own agendas. Sometimes literally, oftentimes figuratively, the agents of hell and hell itself became central means for many Americans to understand themselves and those around them, to legitimate their viewpoints and actions, and to challenge those of others. Many who opposed emancipation did so by casting Abraham Lincoln as the devil incarnate. Those who wished to pursue harsher war measures encouraged their soldiers to "fight like devils." And finally, after the war, when white men desired to stop genuine justice, they terrorized African Americans by dressing up as demons. A combination of religious, political, cultural, and military history, War Is All Hell illuminates why, after the war, one of its leading generals described it as "all hell."

General Sherman tells his own story of his march with 1,000,000 men across the heart of Georgia.

As strange as it may seem, there is a lot of room for humor and laughter in a war zone environment. Maybe the reason is that when so much sadness and danger is all around, one seems to welcome anything that is remotely funny. During my two years in Vietnam, I oft en felt that humor and laughter were the major factors that contributed to having a positive attitude. I talk about a number of the people, places and very meaningful events that have proven to be extremely monumental in my life and my desire to make a difference, at least in my mind. It is dedicated to those that have served and are currently serving in our military forces, and especially to those comrades in arms who paid the full measure. To be sure, our many freedoms, our opportunities, and our safe living environment in the USA did not and still do not come without a price. This story is for friends, comrades and any others that have had similar experiences. I hope to shed a bit of a different light on the subject of war with an emphasis on the humor that oft en happens, which I believe is what gets us through. I have cherished this time and know that it had a great deal to do with developing the positive attributes of my character that I may have and the way I approach and live my life.

War Is All Hell is a no-holds-barred look at the American Civil War through the words of the people who endured it. Filled with more than 470 quotations from persons directly involved in the war and arranged with dozens of illustrations to convey the character of the war to present-day readers, it captures the thoughts and emotions of the times in a way that no ordinary history can do. Here in their own words are the thoughts, emotions, and curses of a nation at war with itself. Drawing on the well-known leaders such as Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, Davis, and Longstreet, it also contains a rich sampling of the common soldiers' observations and insights of the war. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction, highlighting significant events and describing the progress of the war. Both the eastern and western theaters are covered, with particular attention being paid to the great battlefield confrontations. The result is a surprisingly thorough coverage of the war's events and those who wore the blue and the gray.

Pulitzer Prize–winning author John Matteson illuminates three harrowing months of the Civil War and their enduring legacy for America. December 1862 drove the United States toward a breaking point. The Battle of Fredericksburg shattered Union forces and Northern confidence. As Abraham Lincoln’s government threatened to fracture, this critical moment also tested five extraordinary individuals whose lives reflect the soul of a nation. The changes they underwent led to profound repercussions in the country’s law, literature, politics, and popular mythology. Taken together, their stories offer a striking restatement of what it means to be American. Guided by patriotism, driven by desire, all five moved toward singular destinies. A young Harvard intellectual steeped in courageous ideals, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. confronted grave challenges to his concept of duty. The one-eyed army chaplain Arthur Fuller pitted his frail body against the evils of slavery. Walt Whitman, a gay Brooklyn poet condemned by the guardians of propriety, and Louisa May Alcott, a struggling writer seeking an authentic voice and her father’s admiration, tended soldiers’ wracked bodies as nurses. On the other side of the national schism, John Pelham, a West Point cadet from Alabama, achieved a unique excellence in artillery tactics as he served a doomed and misbegotten cause. A Worse Place Than Hell brings together the prodigious forces of war with the intimacy of individual lives. Matteson interweaves the historic and the personal in a work as beautiful as it is powerful.

Surrounding the war with an aura of nostalgia both fosters the delusion that war can cure our social ills and makes us strong again, and weakens confidence in our ability to act effectively in our own time."—Journal of Military History

"An examination of how Americans brought concepts of the devil, demons, and hell into every fabric of their lives and times in the American Civil War. These influences continued to impact the nation and its people after the war"--

All Hell Breaking Loose is an eye-opening examination of climate change from the perspective of the U.S. military. The Pentagon, unsentimental and politically conservative, might not seem likely to be worried about climate change—still linked, for many people, with polar bears and coral reefs. Yet of all the major institutions in American society, none take climate change as seriously as the U.S. military. Both as participants in climate-triggered conflicts abroad, and as first responders to hurricanes and other disasters on American soil, the armed services are already confronting the impacts of global warming. The military now regards climate change as one of the top threats to American national security—and is busy developing strategies to cope with it. Drawing on previously obscure reports and government documents, renowned security expert Michael Klare shows that the U.S. military sees the climate threat as imperiling the country on several fronts at once. Droughts and food shortages are stoking conflicts in ethnically divided nations, with “climate refugees” producing worldwide havoc. Pandemics and other humanitarian disasters will increasingly require extensive military involvement. The melting Arctic is creating new seaways to defend. And rising seas threaten American cities and military bases themselves. While others still debate the causes of global warming, the Pentagon is intensely focused on its effects. Its response makes it clear that where it counts, the immense impact of climate change is not in doubt.