Five Forks: Waterloo of the Confederacy - Hardcover

Alexander, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0870136712 ISBN 13: 9780870136719

Publisher: Michigan State University Press, 2003

Synopsis

The Battle of Five Forks was one of the the last battles of the American Civil War. A week later, Lee surrendered. Two weeks later, Lincoln was dead. In this meditation on that battle, Alexander juxtaposes the story of the battle, which he tells through narrative, letters, and journal entries, with his own impressions, viewing the South through Northern eyes. In addition, he views contemporary American society through the story of the Civil War and specifically through the story of Five Forks. If it is true that we meet our past coming to us out of the future, then, Alexander posits, America is still grappling with issues unresolved by the Civil War. Those issues are not just the obvious ones of race and class, or of North vs. South, but also the more ephemeral issues surrounding the mythos Americans live by.
     Alexander is not a historian, and this is much more a literary work than a battle story. However, the immediacy with which Alexander tells his tale leads the reader to experience Five Forks—the land, the smells, the cries—as if present there in 1865. Thus, he does not just describe a battle; he captures the spirit of all battles, all wars.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Alexander is a poet and writer living in Madison, Wisconsin, and Grand Marais, Michigan. He is author of White Pine Sucker River: Poems, 1970–1990 and was Creative Director of New Rivers Press.

Edition details

• Publisher: Michigan State University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0870136712
• ISBN 13: 9780870136719
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 158