History of American Civil War Literature

This book is the first omnibus history of the literature of the American Civil War, the deadliest conflict in US history. A History of American Civil War Literature examines the way in which the war has been remembered and rewritten over time in prose, poems, and other narratives. This history incorporates new directions in Civil War historiography and cultural studies while giving equal attention to writings from both northern and southern states. It redresses the traditional neglect of southern literary cultures by moving between the North and the South, thus finding a balance between Union and Confederate texts. Written by leading scholars in the field, this book works to redefine the boundaries of American Civil War literature while posing a fundamental question: why does this 150-year-old conflict continue to capture the American imagination?

'… a timely and much overdue book that will prove invaluable to students and teachers alike. … A History of American Civil War Literature is an important volume, featuring many of the finest scholars working on literary representations of the war. It will doubtless become an essential guide to a conflict that, as many of the chapters attest, will continue to fascinate readers and writers alike.' Niall Munro, The Review of English Studies

Coleman Hutchison is Associate Professor of English at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the author of Apples and Ashes: Literature, Nationalism, and the Confederate States of America (2012) and the co-author of Writing about American Literature (with Karen Gocsik, 2014). Hutchison's work has also appeared in such journals as American Literary History, Common-Place, Comparative American Studies, CR: The New Centennial Review, the Journal of American Studies, The Emily Dickinson Journal, PMLA, and Southern Spaces.