The Green and the Gray: The Irish in the Confederate States of America (Civil War America) - Hardcover

David T. Gleeson

3.92

13 ratings by Goodreads

9781469607566: The Green and the Gray: The Irish in the Confederate States of America (Civil War America)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1469607565 ISBN 13: 9781469607566

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2013

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Why did many Irish Americans, who did not have a direct connection to slavery, choose to fight for the Confederacy? This perplexing question is at the heart of Gleeson's comprehensive analysis of the Irish in the Confederate States of America. Taking a broad view of the subject, Gleeson considers the role of Irish southerners in the debates over secession and the formation of the Confederacy, their experiences as soldiers, the effects of Confederate defeat for them and their emerging ethnic identity, and their role in the rise of Lost Cause ideology.

Focusing on the experience of Irish southerners in the years leading up to and following the Civil War, as well as on the Irish in the Confederate army and on the southern home front, Gleeson argues that the conflict and its aftermath were crucial to the integration of Irish Americans into the South. Throughout the book, Gleeson draws comparisons to the Irish on the Union side and to southern natives, expanding his analysis to engage the growing literature on Irish and American identity in the nineteenth-century United States.

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Review:

Very well researched. . . . By far the best-written book to date on the subject of Irish Confederates.--Blue & Gray Magazine Well done.--The Journal of America's Military Past [An] eye-opening account. . . . As [Gleeson's] analysis unfolds, there is much that will surprise, perhaps even unsettle.--Boston Globe Gleeson's engrossing book is the first authentically successful study to fully consider Irish participation in the Confederacy, and it will be the authoritative touchstone for any that follow.--Journal of the Civil War Era [An] important book.--Journal of American History A remarkable achievement on a hitherto neglected subject. It is well argued, deftly written, and exhaustively researched. This book will surely become the standard text for anyone wanting to understand more about the Irish in the Confederacy.--West Virginia History A 'must have' book for your Confederate library!--The Lone Star Book Review Based on wide-ranging research in dozens of archival collections, and throughout Gleeson places his findings in the context of current scholarship on the South in the Civil War era.--Journal of Southern History An excellent synthesis of the Irish in the South before, during, and after the American Civil War.--Georgia Historical Quarterly An important addition to the scholarship.--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society A superb and long overdue addition to the literature on the role played by the Irish in the United States Civil War.--H-Net Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and general readers.--Choice Reading Gleeson's book will reward anyone interested in these subjects.--North Carolina Historical Review Gleeson has written an exemplary study that is at the crossroads of several different historical fields. . . [and] has provided [an] important piece in the jigsaw of nineteenth-century Irish American identity.--Dublin Review of Books Gleeson offers a solid narrative of the Irish in the South in all aspects of the War and its immediate aftermath that is nicely nuanced and should serve as a starting point for future work.--Louisiana History A comprehensive, sophisticated, and fascinating study of the role that Irish immigrants and their descendants played in the life and afterlife of the Confederacy.--Arkansas Historical Quarterly Gleeson's thoroughly researched study of Irish Confederates (both Catholic and Protestant) adds greatly to historians' understanding of the experience of ethnic soldiers and civilians during the war.--The Historian An extremely important and significant study. It is the most comprehensive analysis of the Irish in the Confederacy by some distance, and stands to remain so for some time to come.--IrishAmericanCivilWar.com Gleeson's latest offering reflects a more realistic approach to the Irish experience in the Confederate States than anything that has come before, and it is recommended to both general and academic readers. . . .The Green and the Gray will shape our views on the Civil War in these sesquicentennial years and beyond.--South Carolina Historical Magazine Gleeson persuasively demonstrates how the southern Irish readily assumed a Confederate identity but perhaps just as easily cast it aside once the Civil War ended. . . [A] solidly executed volume.--Virginia Magazine A well-written and thoughtful narrative.--Irish Studies Review

About the Author:

David T. Gleeson is reader in American History at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

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