Overview

An important new contribution to nineteenth-century cultural history, environmental history, Civil War history, and American studies scholarship. Among the book's many strengths are its interdisciplinary approach, showing a sophisticated understanding of fields ranging from visual culture to gender studies to the history of science; a truly impressive base of archival research; a very clear writing style; and a subtle suggestion of the topic's present-day resonance and relevance. -Aaron Sachs, author of The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism ; Nelson brings a truly original set of problems and questions to a thoroughly canvassed period of U.S. history. Engaging, deeply researched, and lucidly and fluently written, her book is bound to interest scholars and a broader readership alike. -Karen Halttunen, author of Murder Most Foul: The Killer and the American Gothic Imagination ; Megan Kate Nelson has found a fresh way to consider the destruction caused by the Civil War. In often compelling prose, she uses the idea of ruins to consider how we construct meaning from chaos and loss. Through this concept she explores the scars left by combat on not only objects like homes but also on people, such as amputees. In the symbolism of ruins, she finds the intersection of how we cope with what war destroys and what it creates. The book is an intriguing application of cultural analysis to one of the centerpieces of our national narrative. -William Blair, Director of the George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center, Pennsylvania State University

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9786613586551

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