Historian and educator Kevin M. Levin is currently researching the history of Confederate camp servants (slaves) and the myth of the black Confederate soldier. His published work in the area of Civil War history and historical memory can be found in popular magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals.
Levin offers something new and valuable in this book. His approach
of unpacking the complex telling and forgetting of the events
surrounding one battle allows him a focus and specificity that even
many very good treatments of historical memory often lack.
Remembering the Battle of the Crater stands to make a real and
lasting contribution to the field of Civil War memory studies."" -
Anne Marshall, author of Creating a Confederate Kentucky: The Lost
Cause and Civil War Memory in a Border State
""[ Remembering The Battle of the Crater] centers on the well
documented 'massacre' of the United States Colored Troops by
Confederate soldiers during and after the battle, carrying the
story on through the eras of the Lost Cause, Virginia's
Reconstruction and Readjuster Movement. Levin's work offers a
refreshing and inquisitive look at the battle and how the role of
the USCT's is now coming into light in subsequent preservation and
interpretation efforts."" - Chris Calkins, Former Chief of
Interpretation/Historian (Ret.), Petersburg National
Battlefield
""This is an important study of memory, race, and the Battle of the
Crater. Levin traces the troubled story of how the Mine Attack at
Petersburg was remembered by survivors and contemporary generations
alike, and he makes clear and frank judgments about the tortured
ways in which Americans have dealt with, or avoided, key racial
aspects of the battle. Levin offers significant and convincing
insights as he sheds light on our understanding of historical
memory."" - Earl J. Hess, author of Into the Crater - The Mine
Attack at Petersburg
""In this stunning and well-researched book, Kevin Levin catches
the new waves of the study of memory, black soldiers, and the
darker underside of the Civil War as well as anyone has. That
horrible day at the Crater in Petersburg, its brutal racial facts
and legacies, all tangled in the weeds of Confederate Lost Cause
lore, have never been exposed like this. Levin is both superb
scholar and public historian, showing us a piece of the real war
that does now get into the books, as well as into site
interpretation."" - David W. Blight, author of American Oracle: The
Civil War in the Civil Rights Era
""Levin offers something new and valuable in this book. His
approach of unpacking the complex telling and forgetting of the
events surrounding one battle allows him a focus and specificity
that even many very good treatments of historical memory often
lack. Remembering the Battle of the Crater stands to make a real
and lasting contribution to the field of Civil War memory
studies."" - Anne Marshall, author o f Creating a Confederate
Kentucky: The Lost Cause and Civil War Memory in a Border State
""This unique book is not another battle history but tells the
story of the Crater's history. This is a look at how and what we
chose to remember of an incident.... This book needs to be read and
remembered."" - TOCWOC
""An excellent book that more people should make an effort to
read."" - Those that can't write, Review
""Illuminates the roles of race and politics in shaping our
collective history of the war."" - Outrider Books
""Levin has given us a wonderful insight not only into the
ever-evolving nature of Civil War memory, but he has also helped
illuminate the interplay between race and politics in our
collective rendering of the war."" - Civil War Monitor
""Levin addresses the shared recollection of a battle that
epitomizes the way Americans have chosen to remember and how the
racial component of the war's history was portrayed... illuminating
the social changes and challenges experienced by the nation as a
whole."" - McCormick Messenger
"" Remembering the Battle of the Crater is a well-researched and
well-written book. Civil War buffs should find it to be an
especially interesting read - one of the many important new studies
that are being published to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the
conflict."" - Journal of America's Military Past
"" Remembering the Battle of the Crater: War as Murder by Kevin
Levin offers a valuable addition to the growing body of scholarship
on the American Civil War and popular memory. Levin shows how, for
much of the post-war period, the story of the battle of the Crater
was explained in terms of the courage of the white combatants and
their honor in fighting for what they believed in. Minimizing and
ignoring the role of black troops at the Crater made it possible to
evade divisive issues arising from slavery and racism. While
acknoledging a debt to David Blight's Race and Reunion, Levin's
succint and thought-provoking book makes its own contributions to
our understanding of the Civil War's place in the public
conciousness.w"" - Civil War Book Review
""On the whole, Levin has produced a thoroughly researched and
carefully argued study... The result is a solid academic book that
firmly establishes Levin as an important scholar and public voice
on the Civil War, race, and memory."" - Journal of American
History
""Levin has done a superb job of charting a course through the
complex and sometimes perplexing details of this story. His
research is exhaustive, and his critical eye encompasses such
diverse elements as John Elder's famous painting of the battle, the
many reunions and reenactments held on the battlefield, the
creation of the Petersburg National Battlefield, and the ways in
which park personnel have tried to interpret the engagement to
succeeding generations since 1932... If Levin's study can inspire
further work along these lines, its value will be enhanced beyond
that of a mere case study, good as it is in that category alone.""
- Earl J. Hess, Journal of the Civil War Era
""This is a thoughtful and well-written work, based on solid
research."" - Blue & Gray Magazine
""Levin contextualizes the emancipationists interpretation within
Virginia politics and charts its ultimate triumph during the civil
rights movement of the 1960s.... Recommended."" - Choice
Magazine
""Levin, known to many historians for his acclaimed blog Civil War
Memory, deftly explores the role of race in this battle for
memory."" - Journal of Southern History
""[...] [A] well-researched and nuanced case study [....] [A]dds
valuable insightsabout race and site interpretation to the fields
of Civil War memory and public history.[...] Levin nonetheless
reinforces the idea that how human beings remember warfare is
justas important as the battles themselves."" - Journal of Military
History
Ask a Question About this Product More... |