By Charles P. Roland
Notes, index, 363 pp., 2007. The University Press of Kentucky, 663 S. Limestone St., Lexington, KY 40508-4008, $45 plus shipping.
Reviewer: Richard M. McMurry
Richard M. McMurry's latest book (edited) is An Uncompromising Secessionist: The Civil War of George Knox Miller, 8th (Wade's) Confederate Cavalry.
For several decades Charles P. Roland has been one of the leading interpreters of Civil War and Southern history. His 1964 biography of Albert Sidney Johnston, his history of the Louisiana sugar plantations during the war (1957), and his An American Iliad: The Story of the Civil War (1991), plus other books along with numerous articles and essays in various collections, have contributed much to our understanding of the conflict.
Roland’s works on the post-1930 South and his delightful memoirs My Odyssey Through History: Memoirs of War and Academe (2004) help us to understand much of Modern America as well as Roland himself.
In History Teaches Us To Hope (the title comes from a Robert E. Lee quotation) Roland brings together a collection of 18 essays. Three are autobiographical, 10 deal with the Civil War, and five cover the modern South. Some are previously published articles or selections from Roland’s books; other were originally prepared as talks to Civil War Round Tables or other groups. All reflect Roland’s considerable ability both as a scholar and as an engaging writer.
CWN readers will probably most enjoy the five essays that cover two of Roland’s favorite generals — Albert Sidney Johnston and Robert E. Lee. It will give nothing away to say that Roland has a very high opinion of both men.
Roland’s observations on character and leadership should be required reading — and not just for students of the Civil War.
The only disappointing section of the book is John David Smith’s “Introduction.” This piece quickly degenerates into little more than a catalog of Roland’s publications accompanied by quotations from reviews of them.
Smith, one of Roland’s Ph. D. students, simply missed a chance to show us much about Roland the man and Roland the teacher. None of his gregariousness comes through in Smith’s often plodding writing. As those of us fortunate enough to know Charlie are well aware, he is a real gentleman with whom it is a great pleasure to associate.