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The Bonfire: The Siege And Burning Of Atlanta (2009)

by Marc Wortman(Favorite Author)

3.69 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1586484826 (ISBN13: 9781586484828)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

PublicAffairs

review 1: This amazing book tells a larger series of stories, starting with biographies of personalities including Civil War Mayor Calhoun, and the settlement and resettlement conflicts with Creek, Cherokee, and Seminole peoples. All is told briefly and winningly. William T. Sherman, as a young man, was part of the Indian removal and survey, and so, at end here, he is again in the American West. Yet, to tell such large arcs of story, much is truncated and elided, though the primary-source quotations are well and thoroughly chosen. For example, in summarizing Cherokee and Creek conflicts, their historic entrance upon the Southeastern scene, for space reasons but leaving an impression of haste, and the Allatoona Pass battle in retrograde, after the Battle of Atlanta, does not appear.... moreNever mind these cavils; highly recommended.
review 2: Maintaining a close focus on the city of Atlanta, The Bonfire differs from other Civil War histories. The wider Civil War is excluded from view, and the battles are only mentioned when they directly affect the city.I quite enjoyed the snapshot of antebellum (and intra-bellum) Southern society, without any cloying admixture of "Lost Cause" or "states rights" rhetoric. Sherman's statements at the end sum it up--paraphrased: "The war had to be fought, because the principles of slavery were incompatible with the freedom that was the foundation of our democracy. Slavery had to be abolished". I'd obviously understood that slavery was racist, but many of the specific cruelties elucidated were new to me.One also felt sympathy for the citizenry of Atlanta during the wartime siege, but again, Sherman: "War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it." less

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