War Stuff: The Struggle for Human and Environmental Resources in the American Civil War [Hardcover]

Focuses on the intense struggle over human and material resources between armies and civilians in the Civil War South.Focuses on the wartime struggle over resources between armies and civilians during the US Civil War. These resources included food, timber, shelter, and the skill and knowledge of the white population. Also addresses the political divisions inside the Confederacy and the inaccurate public memory of the conflict.Focuses on the wartime struggle over resources between armies and civilians during the US Civil War. These resources included food, timber, shelter, and the skill and knowledge of the white population. Also addresses the political divisions inside the Confederacy and the inaccurate public memory of the conflict.In this path-breaking work on the American Civil War, Joan E. Cashin explores the struggle between armies and civilians over the human and material resources necessary to wage war. This war 'stuff' included the skills of white Southern civilians, as well as such material resources as food, timber, and housing. At first, civilians were willing to help Confederate or Union forces, but the war took such a toll that all civilians, regardless of politics, began focusing on their own survival. Both armies took whatever they needed from human beings and the material world, which eventually destroyed the region's ability to wage war. In this fierce contest between civilians and armies, the civilian population lost. Cashin draws on a wide range of documents, as well as the perspectives of environmental history and material culture studies. This book provides an entirely new perspective on the war era.Introduction; 1. Old South; 2. People; 3. Sustenance; 4. Timber; 5. Habitat; 6. Breakdown; 7. 1865 and after.'Expertly researched and beautifully written, War Stuff is a must-read for anyone interested in the Civil War and for all who wish to understand the fascinating, complex ways that war (any war) can fundamentally alter the manner in which humal��