The Tangled Web of the Civil War and Reconstruction: Readings and Writings from a Novelist's Perspective

This unique collection of writings by the celebrated author David Madden provides a multitude of reflections on the Civil War and Reconstruction, from nonfiction to fiction. Included are Madden’s examination of key works by historians James McPherson and Fletcher Pratt, the story of the effort to simultaneously burn nine bridges by nine unionist guerrilla bands in the most complicated and coordinated guerrilla tactic of the war, and rediscoveries of both classic and contemporary works of Civil War fiction from William Faulkner, Joseph Stanley Pennell, and more. Alongside these essays are pieces from Madden’s Civil War novel, Sharpshooter, which illustrate the interconnectedness of fiction and nonfiction.

This meshing of iconoclastic and controversial pieces includes varied perspectives on every aspect of the war and reconstruction, from culture and civilian life to an imagining of Abraham Lincoln’s critique of how historians have recorded the war and its aftermath. By exploring this web of perception, we can better understand the war and, in turn, shed greater light on the present and the future.

David Madden is the Chair of the SEESOX Steering Committee and Distinguished Friend
of St Antony's College, University of Oxford. A member of the UK Diplomatic Service for 34 years, he
has extensive experience of working in and with countries and places on the brink of break-up (former
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Yugoslavia), those seriously divided (Berlin in the 1970s, Cyprus, Bosnia & Herzegovina after the war),
and those where regional tensions run high (South-Eastern Europe generally). He was successively
British High Commissioner in Cyprus, and Ambassador in Athens before retiring in 2004. He was directly
involved in Yugoslav affairs as Deputy Head of Eastern European Department in the FCO 1984-6,
Deputy Head of Mission in Belgrade 1987-90, (briefly) member of ECMM at its inception, and Political
Adviser to EUFOR 2004-6. His most recent books include Balkan Legacies of The Great War: The Past
Is Never Dead (with Othon Anastasakis and Elizabeth Roberts, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).