Having won renown in the 1850s for his vivid warfront dispatches from the Crimea; William Howard Russell was the most celebrated foreign journalist in America during the first year of the Civil War. As a special correspondent for The Times of London; Russell was charged with explaining the American crisis to a British audience; but his reports also had great impact in America. They so alienated both sides; North and South; that Russell was forced to return to England prematurely in April 1862.My Diary North and South (1863); Russell's published account of his visit; remains a classic of Civil War literature. It was not in fact a diary but a narrative reconstruction of the author's journeys and observations based on his private notebooks and published dispatches. Despite his severe criticisms of American society and conduct; Russell offered in that work generally sympathetic characterizations of the Northern and Southern leadership during the war. In this new volume; Martin Crawford brings together the journalist's original diary and a selection of his private correspondence to resurrect the fully uninhibited Russell and to provide; accordingly; a true documentary record of this important visitor's first impressions of America during the early months of its greatest crisis.Over the course of his American visit; Russell traveled widely throughout the Union and the new Confederacy; meeting political and social leaders on both sides. Included here are spontaneous―and often unflattering―comments on such prominent figures as William H. Seward; Jefferson Davis; Mary Todd Lincoln; and George B. McClellan; as well as quick sketches of New York; Washington; New Orleans; and other cities. Also revealed for the first time are the anxiety and despair that Russell experienced during his American visit―a state induced by his own self-doubt; by concern over the health and situation of his wife in England; and; finally; by the bitter criticism he received in the United States over his reports.A sometimes vain and pompous figure; Russell also emerges here as an individual of exceptionally tough spirit―a man who abhorred slavery and remained convinced of the essential rectitude of the Northern cause even as he criticized Northern leaders; their lack of preparedness for war; and the apparent disunity of the Northern population.
#1138000 in Books University of Georgia Press 1996-03-01 1996-03-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x .92 x 6.00l; 1.26 #File Name: 0820317799240 pages
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Worthwhile analysis of the Kansas migrationBy Michael Kratzer"For God and Mammon" examines the motivations behind migration to the Kansas territory following the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Dr. SenGupta argues that there were two main motivating factors that drove Northern migration: evangelical abolition (God) and free labor (Mammon). The abolitionist groups; particularly the American Home Missionary Society; helped the free labor companies in promoting migration west. These groups were only interested in settling the "right" kind of people in Kansas (i.e.; whites who did not drink; gamble; or were Catholic). Southerners; she argues; migrated for "unabashed commercialism and political ambition." (28) She does give a fairly good account of "Bleeding Kansas;" including the "sack of Lawrence" and the Pottawotamie Massacre.However; she reaches too far when she starts Chapter 7. In that chapter; she argues that Franklin Pierce's handling of the Kansas conflict cost him the Democratic Party nomination in 1856. Also; the Kansas affair split the Know Nothing Party; with many of them joining the Republican Party. This set up the two party system that still exists today. She also examines the 1857 territorial election; and that rampant voter fraud led to part of the ballots being thrown out. This gave the antislavery faction in Kansas the majority in the territorial legislature; and led to Kansas entering the Union as a free state in 1861. The problem with this chapter is that it discusses all these important themes -- and takes 9 pages to do it. This is not nearly long enough to cover everything in any sort of depth; and the overall product is severely hurt by it. Had she deleted this chapter; or expanded her thesis and analyzed these events in more detail; her book would be excellent.However; since she did not stay in Kansas; which is where the strength of her book lies; I'm afraid that "For God and Mammon" is not as good as it could have been.
