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9781668034699

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Reviews

""Somewhere Toward Freedom is one of the most innovative studies of American emancipation in the Civil War we have ever seen, from the March to the Sea in Georgia and well beyond. An epic tale of movement, of collisions with nature, of military history of a new kind in the annals of American warfare, and of the great human drama--full of loss and tragedy and confusion--of an evolving freedom for former slaves across a vast landscape."" --David W. Blight, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Frederick Douglass ""A well-known episode in Civil War history viewed from a fresh, and illuminating, perspective."" --Kirkus Reviews ""In compelling prose, Parten dramatizes how Sherman's March catalyzed the Civil War's social revolution, as Southern Blacks fought 'their own version of the war' in the name of powerful visions of freedom. Rarely does a history book so completely and persuasively recast an iconic event. A must-read for all those who seek to understand the Civil War's meaning and legacy."" --Elizabeth R. Varon, author of Longstreet ""Stunningly original and comprehensive, this book boldly challenges the conventional understanding of a supposedly well-known episode in US History. Whereas historians have written at length about Sherman's March to the Sea, Parten offers a startling analysis of thousands of enslaved people who ran to the army, followed the army, and in due course turned his March through Georgia into a march of liberation. Lucid and thoroughly researched, the book grapples with the social, cultural, and political details of the March. Ultimately, Parten redefines Sherman's March to the Sea from a 'total' war of destruction into a war for emancipation and freedom. This valuable--indeed indispensable--work will transform the way we think about the Civil War."" --Orville Vernon Burton, author of The Age of Lincoln and Justice Deferred

Author Information

Bennett Parten is an assistant professor of history at Georgia Southern University. His area of expertise is the Civil War period. He was named a Distinguished Lecturer by the Organization of American Historians. He is a native of Royston, Georgia, and completed his PhD in history at Yale University. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, Zocalo Public Square, and The Civil War Monitor, among others. He currently lives in Savannah, Georgia.

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