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Rating: 
Summary: Singing the New Nation
Review: I have to admit- I only acquired this book to do a little research and extract a few things from it but went on to read it cover to cover. Very enjoyable and I'd recommend it for historians, Civil War buffs and re-enactors, American music scholars and anyone else who likes a well researched history book on a subject overlooked for far too long!
Rating: 
Summary: A History Book That's a Pleasure to Read!
Review: I have to admit- I only acquired this book to do a little research and extract a few things from it but went on to read it cover to cover. Very enjoyable and I'd recommend it for historians, Civil War buffs and re-enactors, American music scholars and anyone else who likes a well researched history book on a subject overlooked for far too long!
Rating:
Summary: singing the new nation
Review: I wrote this book to show how Confederate music during the war reveals the social history of the South during the war. The book is not a bibliogrpahy of sheet music nor simply a collection of lyrics. Instead, it uses the lyrics and covers from various pieces of sheet music to illustrate what Southerns believed they were fighting for and the feelings they had about their families, homes and their fate. These songs bound Southerners from different classes and different regions together, thereby creating a collective sense of nationalism. The songs also provided an outlet for people who were otherwise restrained in their emotions, to express their feelings in public. It also traces the history of some of the better known Southern songs such as "Dixie" and the "Bonnie Blue Flag" and describes the integral place of field music and brass bands in the war effort.
Rating:
Summary: Singing the New Nation
Review: This is a study of music and songwriting in the Confederacy.Abel sees nationalism as consciously spearheaded from above, a "goal" aimed at by the higher classes and imposed upon the hoi polloi (sic). Though some of the more propagandistic songs may certainly reflect such a deliberate effort, it's noteworthy that this view of Confederate nationalism contradicts the analyses of scholars such as McPherson and Gallagher. Abel's discussion of field calls is useful, and he's certainly picked an under-discussed topic. Though I didn't find his analysis entirely convincing, the history of individual songs (I was glad to know I'm not the only person who thinks the words of "Dixie" are lame) was interesting. I'd have liked to see a bit more on ballads and traditional music which would have been known to soldiers of the period, but then that's not the focus of the book. Probably a "get from the library" rather than a "buy" book for most readers.
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