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City of Sedition: The History of New York City During the Civil War

Review

City of Sedition: The History of New York City During the Civil War

New York City was nearly frayed apart during the Civil War. Contrary to popular belief, the North was not nearly a united front for Lincoln, evidenced by the chaos portrayed in the United States’ most populous city by John Strausbaugh in CITY OF SEDITION.

Powerful leaders of media and industry, beggars, preachers, artists and movement forerunners are all characterized in a New York City that seems oddly relatable, though far more scandalous than the one we know today. Strausbaugh serves a similar role to the itinerant street preacher we meet in chapter nine who roams the waterfronts and protests by establishing himself atop a pile of timbers at the shipyard --- holding his position to report with the utmost accuracy as to the truth of the matter happening in the city. And in telling his saga, he draws a crowd and speaks the truth as he sees it. The book is a success in correcting common misconceptions about northern purity in opposition to slavery during the war, but you can be Boss Tweed and decide for yourself.

"Irrespective of whether you are the descendant of a recent immigrant or a proud Know-Nothing, this balanced and varied account will transport you back to a lively New York City during the times of the Civil War."

There are people on both sides of the war within New York’s borders. Also, there is a strong anti-war element that spread throughout the sprawling city and startlingly spewed some of the most virulent racism around. It is an amalgam of stories: men of treason and mobs alongside immigrants and great American figures as well, all interacting within the city limits and surveyed by the author north to south, east to west along its borders. People familiar with New York City will recognize history taking place in locations they know today, like Wall Street or the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Those who are not will still recognize the famous individuals residing there or passing through, such as Walt Whitman and Herman Melville.

CITY OF SEDITION is a page-turner organized into 42 chapters --- each brief, revealing and exciting. The brunt of the material revolves around the central years of the Civil War. Radical Republicans and abolitionists lead a push into full-fledged war with a South already in open rebellion, while northern industrialists do whatever they can to sabotage the Union war effort due to their reliance on southern cotton and slavery. Some Confederate rebels even go so far as attempting to burn the city to the ground from within. It was Lincoln’s win in New York during the presidential election of 1860 that carried him to the White House, but at the same time, a sizable portion of the state and city never approved of him. Lincoln had to fight the Confederacy, notwithstanding the northern scoundrels scheming loudly and brazenly against him. New York City was the center of northern controversy, to say the least.

John Strausbaugh applies his familiarity with New York City built up by years of cultural and historical writing, and adds the framework of the Civil War, to provide a unique piece of scholarship on the city, the war and the nation. Irrespective of whether you are the descendant of a recent immigrant or a proud Know-Nothing, this balanced and varied account will transport you back to a lively New York City during the times of the Civil War.

Reviewed by John Bentlyewski on August 19, 2016

City of Sedition: The History of New York City During the Civil War
by John Strausbaugh

  • Publication Date: July 3, 2017
  • Genres: History, Nonfiction
  • Paperback: 432 pages
  • Publisher: Twelve
  • ISBN-10: 1455584177
  • ISBN-13: 9781455584178