编辑推荐From the Author125 Civil War Songs with Historical Notes Songs of the Civil War Compiled and edited with historical notes by Irwin Silber When ""Songs of the Civil War" was first published in 1960 by Columbia University Press, America was preparing to commemorate the centennial of our country's most profound military-political conflict. At that time, the story of the Civil War was traditionally told principally by recounting the military exploits of its generals and the political considerations of its most prominent figures. Of course, historians had not completely overlooked the cultural memorabilia -- diaries, letters, songs, photographs, drawings -- through which one glimpsed the human dimensions of that titanic struggle. But the approach generally taken to such expressio ns (with a few noteworthy exceptions) was largely antiquarian, more suited to the preservation of "precious memories" than to deepening our understanding of the main currents that shaped the lives of those who lived in such perilous times. In bringing together this collection, I was determined to do more than provide an anthology of the most popular and most typical songs of that era. I envisioned a book which would situate those songs in the vast sea-change America was then undergoing in the period leading up to and including the Civil War. For this was the period in which a distinctively American cultural identity was fully emerging.The songs, of course, are all here. The ones you would expect -- inspirational songs like "Battle Hymn of the Republic," "John Brown's Body," "Dixie," "Battle Cry of Freedom," and "The Bonnie Blue Flag"; the sentimental songs like "Tenting Tonight," "Lor ena," "All Quiet Along the Potomac," Just Before the Battle, Mother" and "Somebody's Darling -- and many less familiar but no less significant: comic songs, abolitionist songs, songs written by soldiers themselves and many more, 125 in all and each with historical notes on the songs and The circumstances on which the songs are based. Here's what the Chicago Tribune said of "Songs of the Civil War" at the time: "A wonderful distillation of Civil War music for the modern reader and musician. . . a fine job of selecting the best and most singable of Civil War songs... the historical notes are full and accurate." The New York Times reviewer wrote: "Admirable. . . destined to becomethe standard collection of its period." When Dover Books asked to bring out a full-size paperback edition of "Songs of the Civil War" in 1995, I looked back at the original and decided there was no need to change a thing. -Irwin Silber |
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