+- Lincoln Discussion Symposium (https://rogerjnorton.com/LincolnDiscussionSymposium)
+-- Forum: Lincoln Discussion Symposium (/forum-1.html)
+--- Forum: Books - over 15,000 to discuss (/forum-6.html)
+--- Thread: Faith In God And Generals (/thread-4358.html)
Faith In God And Generals - Gene C - 07-11-2020 06:26 PM
This is a companion book for the movie "Gods and Generals". Material compiled by Ted Baher and Susan Wales. Published in 2003 with 180 pages of text and some nice pictures.
The main focus is on a closer look of the christian faith and character of Stonewall Jackson.
Robert E Lee and Joshua Chamberlain are also frequently mentioned. Their christian faith, and that of others, is the main focus of this book.
I purchased this book at a library book sale, not knowing what it was really about. It is a collection of articles selected about examples of faith in the Civil War. I quickly became very interested.
The book has a definite slant towards the south, and a few of the articles started to make an almost unrealistic characterization of Jackson and other people's personalities. In addition, there are several mistakes of either poor research and/or editing. Some source notes didn't match up to the passages they referenced. An article regarding Winfield Scott Hancock has mistakenly used a photo of General Winfield Scott. There is an almost 40 year age difference between the two men, so despite similarities in their names, a mistake of this kind is inexcusable in this kind of book.
There is a short section in this book titled "African American Heroes" which claims "close to 75,000 African Americans fought for the Confederacy...".
This is false according to the attached article from the American Battlefield Trust.
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/black-confederates
This is a great idea for a book, but in the writers enthusiasm for the subject, they over shot their target with false or misleading information, which in my opinion seriously damaged their credibility. Add to that, the book does not have an index and has weak source notes.
As interesting as the book is, there are just to many errors so I do not recommend this book. I paid $3 for it, and there was some useful information in it, so I don't feel I wasted my money. It could have been, and should have been, a much better book.
Available on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Faith-God-Generals-Anthology-American/dp/B003E7EYKI/ref=sr_1_1?crid=JTSPM3QN5R4Z&dchild=1&keywords=faith+in+gods+and+generals+by+ted+baehr&qid=1594507949&sprefix=faith+in+gods%2Caps%2C191&sr=8-1