A review of Thunder On the River The Civil War in Northeast Florida by Daniel L. Schafer Growing up in the northern state of Illinois, a student was always taught in school that the Civil War was about slavery and president Abraham Lincoln. Reading this book gives the reader a point of view that is not normally explained in northern states. Daniel L. Schafer the Author of the Book Thunder on the river, explains in great detail with firsthand accounts of how the Civil War started, who was involved and what happened, before during and after the war. In the Preface of the book, Schafer explains how he was able to write the book; he was asked to edit the draft of Richard A. Martin 's two volume history of Jacksonville more than twenty five years …show more content…
It showed me a new perspective on the south and its ways of life before and after the war. Before reading this a person from the north only saw how the south had slaves and didn 't want to give them up; being taught that the south was just keeping slaves and that the war started because this did not adhere to the Emancipation Proclamation. In reading this book, the reader learns how the laws made to prevent slaves from uprising or creating a balanced system was not going to happen anytime while living in North Florida after the war. Most slaves couldn 't even live within the city limits without paying a fee or 5 days in jail (Schafer 11). The fact that during Lincoln 's first election, he wasn 't even on the Florida Ballot was a shock. One really interesting connection is the name of my hometown, Ottawa, Illinois and its neighboring town of Seneca names of Indians from the area. The ships also carried the same names and at one point both fought on the St Johns River. However we did not hear or were taught of these ships until reading about them in battle. The Ottawa is the ship that fought a train, shooting at a train car, thinking it was filled with soldiers hitting the rear which exploded furniture everywhere(Schafer 48). The Seneca was used to patrol and used to transport slaves (Schafer 78,87). This little connection gave me a great deal of interest in the book. The connection to the south was a small but important as well, …show more content…
Reading this book, he seems to want to tell the reader about how things happened accurately. With all that happened in this timeline he covers a great amount of information and relays that to the reader as well. It was written in a uniform way, Schafer is clear and consistently stays on topic. Not being much a reader, some of the information can get a little overwhelming at times if the reader does not focus and possibly has to reread some of the pages to stay on topic. However Schafer 's opinion does not seem to show throughout the book, but his passion for writing and history pour out on the pages. Schafer 's way of making a book enjoyable can be difficult for someone like me to read at times, if not for the amazing details and great historical accounts given about the war. He has a way of making sure the reader could not only read it, but also they could see and hear it in their mind 's eye. That is where a reader can separate a writer that is just writing for money, from a professional writer that loves their
The Civil War has had a significant impact in history for the nation today. It reconstructed our ideas about our freedom and equality. The Civil war was a very devastating time during the mid 1800’s. Things such as slavery, racism,and segregation took over. People had sacrificed their lives to devote freedom for our soon to come nation.
The story is not only fact filled and educational, but emotionally engaging. I would consider this book not only as a historical nonfiction but as a thriller and suspense novel. The story engages the reader into Lincoln’s last days: The last moments of battle, General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox courthouse, the moment the bullet was shot in Ford’s Theatre, and the capture
It will make the reader view the importance of each of the founding fathers differently in a good way. There are many emotions as the readers go through the book because of the struggles and what each of the founding fathers went through to be what they are today. I feel like we are missing those little important facts in our history today. The book is very convincing because being well sourced to the arguments that point out. Joseph J. Ellis has made sure for the reader to understand the history by explaining what our history is today, and giving the different point of views of the situation to support his argument.
Wilkie offers a personal look on significant landmark events of American history in the South. From James Meredith’s enrollment in the University of Mississippi to the Freedom Summer of 1964 to the murder
Though it can be nauseatingly biased at times the story can at times be quite the page turner. All in all this book could work well for fans of Bill O’Reilly and novice history buffs as a jumping off point for further research into the Lincoln
The United States Civil War is possible one of the most meaningful, bloodstained and controversial war fought in American history. Northern Americans against Southern Americans fought against one another for a variety of motives. These motives aroused from a wide range of ideologies that stirred around the states. In James M. McPherson’s What they fought for: 1861-1865, he analyzes the Union and Confederate soldier’s morale and ideological components through the letters they wrote to love ones while at war. While, John WhiteClay Chambers and G. Kurt Piehler depict Civil War soldiers through their letters detailing the agonizing battles of war in Major Problems in American Military History.
Despite the many years after the Civil War ended in 1865, the war’s significance was still great enough to have caused such controversy with the public over its meaning. In David W. Blight’s Race and Reunion, the meaning of the war changes throughout the period of Reconstruction not due to the misconception of it solely, but due to what we wanted to interpret from the war (or rather, what we remembered from the war that eventually changed over time). Blight argues, “I am primarily concerned with the ways that contending memories clashed or intermingled in public memory, and not in developing professional historiography of the Civil War” (Blight, Prologue). With this being said, the meaning of the Civil War changed through what people felt and
The Civil war is one of the largest topics covered in 8th grade US history, with it’s change in America affecting us to this day. The importance of this unit may not be widely known, but the Civil war changed our country for the better. Being able to have a struggle to learn from to know how to make better decisions for our country’s future is essential to keep this country together. How we get taught about the Civil war can vary depending on the state and the books you read. I was given the chance to compare the Michigan State Curriculum on the Civil war and the book “Lincoln’s last Days” by Bill O’Reilly and Dwight Jon Zimmerman, and I must say the differences in the two are very apparent.
The Civil War was a national devastation that had a deep impact on American society. In 1863, Lincoln proposed the Emancipation Proclamation declaring the slaves would be free, though it was limited only to the rebellious states. By careful preparation of the document, Lincoln ensured that it would offer a positive impact on the Union efforts and to redefine the purpose of the civil war. The results of the emancipation continued to have an abrupt and profound effect of equality and social justice (Roark, 402).
Iron Thunder By Avi Tom Carroll is a thirteen year old boy from Brooklyn. He lost his father in the Civil War. Now he live with him mother. His mother is becoming old and can’t take care of the family anymore.
He teaches the reader about a couple of the most important battles and generals of the civil war. Instead of being a plain research book about the civil war, he gives us accounts of true yet hilarious events during the civil war, such as a soldier rushing into battle with half of his hair shaved because he couldn’t finish his haircut. Or even about the time opposing soldiers did not fight and instead met at a river to trade goods like newspaper, tobacco, and card in makeshift boats. Steve Sheinkin explains the Civil war in simple, perhaps oversimplified tales and fact. This, however, does not take away the depth of the book, fully going into slavery and the impact of cotton, he does his part in explaining the Civil War.
Ricochet River, written by Robin Cody, is a fictional book that takes place in a small town called Calamus, Oregon. And in this town, the loggers are treated like royalty. However, the story of the book focuses on the Curren Family, as well as Wade Currens friends, Jesse, and Wade's girlfriend Lorna. Characters, no matter what the book is, usually evolve towards the end of the story. This applies to Wade in many ways; such as at the beginning of the book he accepts Lorna box theorem, and enjoys it, However towards the end of the book Wade has stated to reject the box theorem and wants to get out of his box.
I would recommend this book to someone who is into history and Abraham Lincoln. Growing up I used to think Abraham Lincoln was cool and inspiring. This book has helped me realize who Lincoln was. This book is really good at going into details from every aspect of Lincoln 's life. This book starts from the very beginning to the the very end of Lincoln.
It highlights the ongoing impact of the slave trade on the characters and a larger society answering a question if something done a long time ago still effects people and why we cant just forget about
This including the electing of Abraham Lincoln made the southern states feel like they were going to lose control of the political choices in the southern territories, which would have lead to them not having control over their area in general (American Civil War History). These events are all effects where the underlying problem was the conflict of slavery that was between the north and south states. Showing how much of a factor it was during the civil war era. Making it one of the largest causes of why the civil war broke