Civil War Battlefields Then and Now (Compact) (Then and Now) | 
 enlarge | Author: James Campi
Publisher: Thunder Bay Press
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy New: $5.91
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Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 206401
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 144
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 6.7 x 0.5
ISBN: 1592238661
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.730222
EAN: 9781592238668
ASIN: 1592238661
Publication Date: October 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: P20081203121853S
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Product Description
Although more than 140 years have passed since Confederate guns first fired on Fort Sumter, our fascination with the American Civil War has not faded. With the advent of photography, the Civil War was the first time images captured the devastation of war in all of its brutal truth. Now you can see the infamous battlefields of the Civil War as they were then — and how they are today — in this fascinating new compact edition of Civil War Battlefields Then and Now.
• Witness the unfolding of the greatest conflict in U.S. history through incredible archival images, many of which were taken by Mathew Brady, the most celebrated photographer of the day.
• This unique book pairs archival photos with contemporary images of the Civil War’s most hallowed locations, like Fort Sumter, S.C., where the Confederate Stars and Bars flag was first unfurled after a siege.
• Explore some of the bloodiest battlefields, including Manassas, Harpers Ferry, Fredericksburg, Bull Run and other sacred ground.
• Visit Old Hagerstown Pike and Bloody Lane in Antietam, Maryland, site of the bloodiest day in American history. Striking images of the casualties are shocking even today.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Then and Now, and then again October 11, 2008
The book is compact, and is at least 80 percent photographs. On the left-hand page appears a landscape photo taken during the "War of Northern Aggression," and on the right appears a modern photo taken in the same locale. Both are accompanied by a short text explaining the significance of the location, often with a map, so that you can get there any time you are on an extended Civil War tour.
Many of the period photographs, which were located at the better sources, such as the US Army Military History Institute and the Library of Congress, will be very familiar to serious students of the war. The comparative modern photos are generally appealing, taken at the right time of day to get a good color rendition. When I think of comparing original Civil War images with others taken in modern times, I always think of the work of Bill Frassanito, who set the standard in his books about Antietam and Gettysburg, taking fastidious care to retake the exact frame as had been shot in the 1860's. Here, on many occasions, this book fails. For example, the shot along the Charleston Battery could have been easily replicated; but the modern photo is taken looking in the opposite direction. Many of the photos are in fact of churches, most of which have obviously stood the test of time well- but which bear little significance in the battles of the Civil War. Still, this book is very reasonably priced, and I can envision sitting down with it and my grandson to give him a taste of how things have changed since the war was actually fought.
 Civil War Battlefields Then and Now February 18, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Essentially a coffee table book. Delivers what the title says. Not vital to any study of the Civil War but a nice book to browse.
Civil War Battlefields Then and Now January 7, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is actually a very good book. I didn't give it a full 5 stars simply because not all the modern pictures were taken from the same perspective as the 19th century camera positions, which is what the book attempts to do, and there is no reason given for the difference. I have personally visited many of the sites depicted and can see no reason why some of the camera positions could not have been replicated a bit more accurately. This is not to say the book is disappointing. The pictures are poignant and many serve to show how often we simply drive past much of our history as it stands quietly beside our modern roads, anonymous testimony to far reaching events which may have taken place in a few hours, but which resonate in the national consciousness (especially in the South) to this day. This book can serve as a useful guide to anyone who wishes to make history come alive by simply going to the exact spots where much of the action actually happened. History was excruciatingly boringly taught when I was in school, and a book like this would have made a big difference in my interest as a student. Since so much of the war between the states took place in the state of Virginia, I recommend it to any curious Virginians who will find many of the locations more convenient geographically than people who have to travel farther to find the scenes.
Relatively disappointing December 4, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This kind of book is right up my alley. Unfortunately, the "modern" photographs don't quite measure up. Most people with a casual interest in the Civil War have probably seen most, if not all of the "then" photographs. The selections are about what most would expect and are of great quality.
There are too many poor "now" photographs, making them distracting at best. For a new book, they aren't very contemporary. You can tell by looking at the cars that are inexplicably scattered throughout. They are older models.
Why they chose some of these is beyond me. Maybe the author was doing the photographer a favor. The picture of the Stone House at Manassas is almost ruined by a bright, red truck passing through the camera's view. If the photographer had waited one more second, there would be no modern vehicles in the photograph. Just because the "now" are of today's world, doesn't mean that you have to let modern intrusions in the photo when they could be avoided. One guess as to why they chose the photos they chose is because the author is part of a Civil War preservation group and wanted to show the destructive power of communities not being more preservation-minded. I say it was a bad choice. Mixing in a handful of that type would have been sufficient. Plus that doesn't explain the poor quality of many of them. The photo taken between LRT and Devil's Den is even out of focus!?
I give it no more than three stars. It's a great idea for a book, but it could have/should have been so much better.
Photography and the Transformation of the Civil War April 14, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Campi's "Civil War Battlefields Then & Now" is a book of photographs in which Civil War Battlefields and sites as they appeared at the time of the conflict are contrasted with photographs of the sites today. The Civil War era photos are, of course in black-and white. The modern photographs are in color and were taken especially for this book.
The book is presented chronologically beginning with Fort Sumter, South Carolina and proceeding through Appomattox Court House, Ford's Theatre and the dedication of the first Civil War Battlefield Monuments at First Manassas on June 10, 1865. The photos cover the major campaigns of the Civil War on land and sea including Fort Sumter, McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Stone's River, Vicksburg, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, the Atlanta Campaign, Grant's Overland Campaign, Petersburg, Nashville, and Appomattox. There are no photographs of Shiloh and none of Andersonville. The book is accompanied by a short running textual commentary which summarizes the events leading to the historical photographs.
Many of the historic photographs, such as those of Antietam and Gettysburg, will be familiar to students of the Civil War. But it is valuable to have a short collection of photographs from the entire War in a single attractive volume and to be able to compare them to current pictures of the sites.
I found this book an excellent way of stimulating reflection about the Civil War. The contrasting photographs show eloquently how our Civil War Battlefields have been transformed from places of violence to Hallowed Ground which offer the opportunity for peace, meditation, and contemplation. The book encouraged me to think again about the purpose of the war, the importance of a united country, and the vision which still needs to be realized fully of a Nation which offers freedom, liberty, and equality to all regardless of race.
This book doesn't take long to read but it can be revisited with pleasure many times. It is a good book for browsing and would make an excellent gift for those loved ones on your gift list with an interest in the Civil War.
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