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The Gentlemen and the Roughs: Violence, Honor, and Manhood in the Union Army

The Gentlemen and the Roughs: Violence, Honor, and Manhood in the Union Army

by Lorien Foote (Author)

  • New

    Paperback 2013

    $35.57
Synopsis

Finalist for the 2011 GilderLehrman Lincoln Prize A seminal work. . . . One ofthe best examples of new, sophisticated scholarship on the social history ofCivil War soldiers. -The Journal of Southern History Will undoubtedly, and properly, beread as the latest word on the role of manhood in the internal dynamics of theUnion army. -Journal of the Civil War Era During the Civil War, the Unionarmy appeared cohesive enough to withstand four years of grueling war againstthe Confederates and to claim victory in 1865. But fractiousness bubbled belowthe surface of the North's presumably united front. Internal fissures were rifewithin the Union army: class divisions, regional antagonisms, ideologicaldifferences, and conflicting personalities all distracted the army fromquelling the Southern rebellion. In this highly originalcontribution to Civil War and gender history, Lorien Foote reveals that these internalbattles were fought against the backdrop of manhood. Clashing ideals ofmanliness produced myriad conflicts, as when educated, refined, and wealthyofficers ( gentlemen ) found themselves commanding a hard-drinking group offighters ( roughs )-a dynamic that often resulted in violence and even death. Basedon extensive research into heretofore ignored primary sources, The Gentlemen and the Roughs uncoversholes in our understanding of the men who fought the Civil War and the societythat produced them.

$35.57

Quantity

10 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 256
 Edition: Reprint
 Publisher: New York University Press
Published: 25 Jun 2013
ISBN 10: 1479897841
ISBN 13: 9781479897841
Book Overview: Uncovers holes in our understanding of the men who fought the Civil War and the society that produced them

Media Reviews
A much as the Union army was at war with Confederate troops, according to Foote, it was also simultaneously internally at was along fault lines created by changing ideas of what it meant to be a man in a rapidly modernizing northern economy and social order. . . This book will undoubtedly, and properly, be read as the latest word on the role of manhood in the internal dynamics of the Union army. -Leeann Whites,Journal of the Civil War Era
Lorien Foote in The Gentlemen and the Roughs provides a fascinating perspective on the pervasive issues of manhood and honor that served to undermine the cohesion of the Union army . . . Her research, which looks at the social history of military relationships, is invaluable to broadening our overall undertanding of the American Civil War. -Ryan Keating,Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
Lorein Foote's study of conflict in the Union army makes an insightful contribution to our understanding of the military experience of the common soldier -Keith P. Wilson,Journal of American History

From hazing with mule urine to pistols at ten paces, Foote provides a lively portrait of `conduct unbecoming' and offers new insights into American masculinity in post-Civil War America.
-Catherine Clinton,author of Mrs. Lincoln: A Life


Foote's monograph is complex and well written, and focuses the lens of gender and manhood studies on the Civil War North . . . Manditory reading for any scholar of 19th-century masculinity. -A.R. Todd,Choice Magazine
Foote is to be commended for drawing attention to the much-neglected 'roughs,' and for offering a means by which to study their behavior...Foote has delivered a far more substantive presentation of this group than has heretofore existed...this is an important and provocative study. -Steve Tripp,The North Carolina Historical Review
The Gentlemen and the Roughs is an interesting book, carefully researched and covering an area of the Civil War that has been virtually ignored. -J.W. Thacker, The Daily News-Bowling Green Kentucky
Lorien Foote's new book is another innovative attempt to rewrite American military history using the methodology of social history. -Jonathan D. Sarris,American Historical Review

It is commonplace to observe that war is the ultimate test of the `manhood' of soldiers. But in the Civil War-as probably in all wars-the meaning of manhood was contested, as Lorien Foote makes clear in this fine study of Union soldiers. Making intelligent use of regimental reports and court-martial records, among other kinds of evidence, she teases out the various perceptions of manhood in this study that offers stimulating new interpretations of the values of soldiers in the broader context of American Victorian culture.
-James M. McPherson,author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era


This might be the first `military history' to take gender seriously, as well as the first gender history to accord military history its due.
-Amy S. Greenberg,author of Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire


This book is one of the best examples of new, sophisticated scholarship on the social history of Civil War soldiers. -Anne J. Bailey,The Journal of Southern History
Foote reveals as much about the nature of the army and daily regimental life as she does about the competing concepts of manhood . . . This is a refreshing book that offers new ways of looking at the Union army, which overcame more than just the ineffectiveness of its generals and the skill of its Confederate opponents in order to preserve the nation intact. -Judkin Browning,H-Net Reviews
Author Bio
Lorien Foote is Professor of History at Texas A&M and the author of Seeking the One Great Remedy: Francis George Shaw and Nineteenth-Century Reform.