February 2, 1998
As he did in What They Didn't Teach You About the Civil War, Wright proposes here to tell the "human story" behind the conventional narrative of dates, names and battles that ostensibly destroyed general interest in history. His background as a TV writer and producer is reflected in a work that is the printed equivalent of sound bites. That Wright presents little original or unfamiliar material is not a crippling weakness. He describes this work as an "appetizer to the banquet of the war's history," and targets a general audience presumably unfamiliar with that history. Just such an audience, however, is likely to face bewilderment when confronted by two dozen chapters whose topics appear to have been selected virtually at random and that are presented in no discernible order. A chapter on submarines is followed by one on Pearl Harbor, which is in turn succeeded by a discussion of censorship. Two chapters consist entirely of capsule summaries of the wartime experiences of public figures ranging from George Bush to Marcel Marceau. Even the chapters with a stated theme as a rule consist of anecdotes that are juxtaposed rather than integrated. Some focus entirely on the American experience; others incorporate material from other Allied and Axis states, again with no explanation. The result is not the recovery of untaught history, so much as a literary equivalent of channel-surfing. Photos not seen by PW.
January 1, 1996
Instant coffee was invented during the Civil War for use by Union troops, who hated it; holding races between lice was a popular pastime for both Johnny Reb and Billy Yank; 13% of the Confederate Army deserted during the conflict.These are three of the hundreds of bits of knowledge that Mike Wright makes available in his informative and entertaining What They Didn't Teach You About the Civil War, which focuses on the lives and ways of ordinary soldiers and of those they left behind. Photos not seen by PW.
November 1, 1996
Award-winning television writer Wright wants to make the Civil War fun in the misguided belief that American history instruction needs more entertainment. The result is a patchwork of amusing anecdotes and ill-assorted "factoids" about spies, sports, sex, starvation, good and bad soldiering, the misdeeds and missteps of generals and politicians, and more. Wright has an eye for the odd detail, but he lacks vision. His "book" is aptly titled, because no teacher in good conscience would try to pass off this series of one-liners as history. The few laughs Wright provides do not compensate for his lack of narrative coherence and historical argument of his undisciplined and sometimes uninformed writing. For example, his chapter on slavery and culture is outdated and has errors. Indeed, Wright's "book" marches around to no purpose, much like the inept generals he spanks in his text. Only for libraries that want everything on the war.-Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia