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Spring 2010 Highlights

EDITORIAL

Political History Remains Vibrant

By Nathan Buman

FEATURE REVIEW

Isham G. Harris of Tennessee: Confederate Governor and United States Senator

By Sam Davis Elliott
Review by George C. Rable

FEATURE REVIEW

Justice in Blue and Gray: A Legal History of the Civil War

By Stephen C. Neff
Review by Charles W. McCurdy

FEATURE REVIEW

Blue & Gray Diplomacy: A History of Union and Confederate Foreign Relations

By Howard Jones
Review by Amy S. Greenberg

FEATURE REVIEW

Pursuit of Unity: A Political History of the American South

By Michael Perman
Review by Harry L. Watson

CWBR AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Becoming American under Fire: Irish Americans, African Americans, and the Politics of Citizenship during the Civil War Era

By Christian G. Samito
Author Interview by Nathan Buman

A LOOK AT LINCOLN

The Intersection of Christianity and Politics

By Frank J. Williams

CIVIL WAR TREASURES

Slowing Down Secession: Louisianans Feared Commercial Consequences

By Leah Wood Jewett

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Night Journey to Vicksburg

by Masters, Susan Rowan
Publisher: Silver Moon Press
Retail Price: $14.95
Issue: Summer 2004
ISBN: 1893110303

Coming of age

Becoming a man in the midst of slavery

Night Journey to Vicksburg is Susan Rowan Masters' fourth novel for young readers and the first that draws on historical resources. Set in the spring of 1863, just before the Battle of Vicksburg, this book illuminates history through the fictional story of three slave children who run away from their plantation to avoid being sold and separated. Like Masters' other novels, Night Journey to Vicksburg relies on vivid characterization and draws the reader in through the story's hero, thirteen-year-old Jubilee. When we first meet Jubi, he is paralyzed by his fear of making the wrong choice and haunted by a sense of having failed his father. He comes to realize that he must overcome self-doubt in order to save himself and his sisters. As Jubi learns to trust others--a dog, a wounded Union soldier--he is finally able to trust himself and to believe he can be a man like his father. The choices he makes end up being significant not only for his family, but also for the Union Army.

This is a beautifully-written, powerful story that focuses on a moment of crisis and growth in a single individual's life in order to communicate broader issues of bravery, self-sacrifice and the rewards of freedom. Susan Rowan Masters uses wonderfully descriptive language to convey the terrors of slavery and escape, and does so in a way that avoids sensationalism. This is a moving story that will be of great interest to readers of all ages. While the novel certainly could be used as part of a history curriculum, it will also stand alone as a coming-of-age story that transcends a single historical moment.

Julie Pfeiffer is an Associate Professor of English at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, where she teaches children's literature, British literature and women's studies. She is the editor of Children's Literature, the annual publication of the Children's Literature Association and the Modern Language Association Division on Children's Literature.

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