Uncommonly Savage

“Truly impressive. Travels uncharted terrain, moving deftly through a vast scholarship in two languages. The research is sound, the prose crisp and accessible, and the subject unquestionably important.”—W. Fitzhugh Brundage, author of The Southern Past: A Clash of Race and Memory

 

“Illuminates the enduring potency of memory in shaping postwar societies for generations after the fighting ceased, reminding us that both losers and victors often had powerful motives to remember—and to forget.”—Caroline E. Janney, author of Remembering the Civil War

 

 “Traces the dynamics of memory in the aftermath of the Spanish and American civil wars and demonstrates how similar processes of closure, willful blindness, and ideological inculcation worked out in the different contexts to produce sometimes similar but often radically different outcomes.” —Cillian McGrattan, author of Memory, Politics and Identity

 

“With an engaging narrative and deep research, the book is a model of the benefits derived from a truly comparative study.”—David Goldfield, author of Still Fighting the Civil War

“In crisp prose, Escott successfully shows how inertia ruled in both postwar societies, but also how change eroded continuity.”—Choice



“Breaks new ground. . . . A uniquely comparative work that looks at the two civil wars in diachronic comparative perspective.”—Journal of American History



“A useful contribution to the burgeoning scholarly literature on historical memory as a transnational phenomenon.”—American Historical Review



“Suggest[s] fruitful new directions for comparative historians: what happens in the aftermath of violent conflicts, when the guns fall silent?”—Civil War Monitor



“In crisp prose, Escott successfully shows how inertia ruled in both postwar societies, but also how change eroded continuity.”—Choice



“An intellectual tour de force.”—Civil War Book Review



“A fascinating study of war, memory, and reconciliation.”—Journal of the Civil War Era



“An engaging success on the theme of war and memory.”—Civil War History



“A nice discussion of the similarities of the two civil wars . . . [and] an excellent discussion of five great dissimilarities between the outcomes.”—Journal of America’s Military Past



“Rewarding. . . . Demonstrates how even unlikely comparative histories can yield great insights.”—Journal of Southern History



“While we might think of the American Civil War as unique in a number of ways. . . Escott presents a corrective against this pervasive sense of exceptionalism.”—North Carolina Historical Review



“[Escott] presents his arguments in a fresh ways that challenges assumptions we all bring about the memory of war and its impact.”—Journal of Military History