Photo by Brady: A Picture of the Civil War

Armstrong, Jennifer. Photo by Brady: A Picture of the Civil War. 2005. 147pp. Lexile 1200.

Mathew Brady, a successful photographer known for his photographs of Lincoln, documented the Civil War in a way no previous war had been recorded.  Armstrong's narrative gives an overview of the war in vivid terms, with an emphasis on the photographs, how they were taken, and their effect. She incorporates dozens of photographs from his studio as she describes how Brady sent his photographers out to record battles.  Brady's exhibit of “The Dead of Antietam” in New York City in 1862 gave the public their first photographic view of the dead and wounded, a shock to those who attended. The New York Times described it as bringing “home to us the terrible reality” of the war.  Armstrong makes a case for the idea that Brady’s images caused a major shift in attitudes towards the war.  Notes, bibliography, index.

Reading Std #8: Delineate and evaluate argument and specific claims in a text, assessing reasoning & evidence.  Have students evaluate Armstrong’s assertion that the photographs changed attitudes towards the war.  Students could compare this book and its photographs with books about wars that preceded photography such as Jim Murphy’s A Young Patriot: The American Revolution as Experienced by One Boy, which is illustrated with etchings and other similar artwork.

The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War

Murphy, Jim. The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War. 1990. Lexile 1060.
 
At the start of the Civil War, both armies had rules against younger teens enlisting; the Union age limit was eighteen. But in an era before ID cards, many boys in their early and mid teens either looked old enough or talked their way in.  This chronological account of such young enlistees, with many quotes from diaries and letters home, tells a lot about life for any soldier during the war. It opens with enlistment, training--such as it was--and the scramble to get uniforms.  It goes through their shocking first encounters with battle and violent death, and their struggles to get enough food and shelter. One chapter focuses on drummers, a role for the youngest soldiers. The narrative wraps up with the horrible illnesses and injuries young soldiers experienced, the brutality of prisoner-of-war camps, and finally the return home for those who survived. The young soldiers' own voices give a great feeling of immediacy as do the black-and-white photographs.  Bibliography and index.

Web Tie-in:  While Murphy includes a handful of photographic portraits of young soldiers, most of the photos are group shots or landscapes. To see more photos of young soldiers, consult the Library of Congress's remarkable collection, Liljenquist Family Collection of Civil War Photographs at  http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/lilj/project.  Searching by the word "young" brings results that include teenage soldiers.

The Dark Game: True Spy Stories from the Revolution to the 21st Century

Janeczko, Paul B. The Dark Game: True Spy Stories from the Revolution to the 21st Century. 2010. 256pp. Lexile 1200.

This YALSA Nonfiction Award Honor Book will appeal to spy and war buffs alike.  Of the twelve chapters about spies, some highlight individuals such as Civil War spy Rose O'Neale Greenhow and CIA agent Aldrich Ames.  Other chapters describe a group or project including the 1950s Berlin spy tunnel.  Between chapters are extensive sidebars on specific topics related to spying: invisible ink, gadgets and gizmos, spy satellites, and more.  Janeczko's smooth writing incorporates intriguing details about people and danger in each story.  The chapters can be read separately, in conjunction with a time period from the Revolutionary War to the 1980s, or read in order to get a sense of the changes over time to the dark game.

Nonfiction Tie-ins  A number of other nonfiction titles expand on topics in this book.  Readers interested in reading about Revolutionary War spies in more depth should try Thomas Allen's excellent George Washington, Spymaster.  The chapter on Benedict Arnold can be paired with Jim Murphy's The Real Benedict Arnold or Steve Sheinkin's The Notorious Benedict Arnold.  Janeczko also has an earlier book titled Top Secret: A Handbook of Codes, Ciphers, and Secret Writing.

Fiction Tie-in  Fans of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series, which begins with Stormbreaker, might enjoy this book.