Southern Invincibility: A History of the Confederate Heart

by Wiley Sword

Book Overview

Southern pride-the notion that the South's character distinguishes it from the rest of the country-had a profound impact on how and why Confederates fought the Civil War, and continued to mold their... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312203667
• ISBN13: 9780312203665
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.6" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Well done - sometimes depressing

The historical perspective of this book is awesome. The author has done a very good job of capturing the essence of history. His narratives on the war, military strategies, and home life are just exceptional. The only criticism I have is the constant "it just couldn't get worse, but it did" followed by "it couldn't get worse, but it did". I understand that losing a war involves multiple negative events but I sometimes felt like quitting the book because it things just got endlessly worse for every person and event involved. A few happy endings might have lifted this book a bit.

Warning: Will spark your interest for the Confederacy

I'll put it bluntly: this book was great. The book flowed extremely well, starting out with the mindset before the war and progressing smoothly until the end. The way Sword brings the reader into the minds (and hearts, as the subtitle mentions) is amazing.The only drawback was that it seemed from Sword's choice of battles and his method of presenting them that, should the reader be unfortunate enough to know nothing about the Civil War, one reading the book would think that the Confederacy lost every battle. This naturally added at times to the effectiveness of what he was trying to present, and this is a MINOR flaw, but it is literally the only reason I did not rate this book as perfect.A must read for anyone even remotely interested in the U.S. Civil War. It's entertaining, short, and an easy read.

great book

as a southerner, born in south carolina and an avid civil war reader, i found this book wonderful. it clearly defines the sad, but early belief of most souterner's, that ended in almost ruin of the south. mr. sword's book's are excellent and offer a wonderful, if not debating issue of the south during the civil war. 10 members of my family served in the civil war, and reading their letters, etc., at the start and later as the war ended is quite revealing of changing fortunes of war.