Shadows of the Storm: The Image of War, 1861-1865, Vol. 1

By William C. Davis

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385154666
• ISBN13: 9780385154666
• Release Date: July 1981
• Publisher: Doubleday
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 4.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Civil War Opens -- in Pictures

This book was published nearly 20 years ago, as volume 1 of 6 of "The Image of War: 1861-1865." Even though it appeared before computers could be used to clean up and enhance photographs, it's still an astonishingly worthwhile book of pictures. Perhaps its most valuable aspect is that the illustrations were drawn from so many varied sources -- 27 are listed -- and the views are not at all the usual public domain material. Text and captions are informative too. The quality of the photographic reproduction varies as that of the originals does. Some images are as crisp as modern film and equipment could produce. In general, damaged edges of the prints have been cropped off, but there has been no attempt to eliminate defects otherwise. The impression lingers that important subjects or better views were omitted because their photographs didn't meet the generally high standards of the editors. An isolated example: the Gosport Navy Yard scene has an awkwardly posed figure (artist Alfred Waud, I learned) in the center, staring aggressively away from the subject. There's a better but somewhat damaged view readily available and without a figure. Although the book doesn't claim to be 100% photographs, most illustrations are. One exception among several: the portrait of Gen. Jeff Thompson, very poorly reproduced from an engraving in "Battles and Leaders." But these are minor complaints. "Shadows of the Storm" - perhaps a sweetly ambiguous reference to the long-gone heroes of the war - is important, useful and intensely interesting.