Book 16: Rally 'Round the Flag

Rally 'Round the Flag: Chicago and the Civil War

Theodore J. Karamanski

Though it has recently become apparent that I will soon be leaving my recently adopted town, I still feel a strong connection to Chicago and its history. After attending a library-sponsored event about Camp Douglas and realizing that I should keep up on my American history, I picked up Rally 'Round the Flag. All told, I wasn't really disappointed, which is kind of an endorsement. Though the book does have some fundamental flaws (alas), it doesn't fall prey to many of the pitfalls of that particular brand of nonfiction that aims academic inquiries toward the general public. What author Theodore J. Karamanski does is make the war era accessible, conjuring the muddy streets of Chicago and its people despite focusing on a few standout themes and individuals. Though he spends quite a bit of time focusing (probably unnecessarily so) on the Republican Party convention of 1860 and the kind of favors and bargaining that drove mid-century, he manages to do so in a way that is interesting and more or less understandable to the uninitiated. Throughout the book, Karamanski's descriptions of war-era Chicago are vivid and accessible, and he is always careful to attempt to place the people and events of his narrative in their proper historical context.

It is a shame, then, that Karamanski allows the book's thematic organization to overshadow some of the narrative threads he so carefully develops. The book is littered with non-sequiturs occurring both after and without section breaks; whether the printers simply missed a few page-ending breaks is unknown, but as a result the book often becomes choppy and confusing. Its most egregious error comes at the end of the Camp Douglas chapter, where Karamanski builds suspense (yes, nonfiction historical accounts can thrive on suspense (and the good ones often do!)) only to dissipate it by shifting abruptly away into another chapter. His thematic organization is a great idea given his general audience and does follow a general timeline that serves his story, but here he strangely adheres to chronology where he could have continued the story within the chapter or moved the chapter entirely- after all, it and the opening installment are the pieces that stand strongest on their own. Nonetheless, Karamanski is an academic who is refreshingly aware of his audience without condescending to him, and his history is explanatory without being condescending. If even I am on board with the descriptions of economic affairs, you know the author is doing something right. All told, Rally 'Round the Flag is, apart from a few non-sequiturs, a well-researched and engaging history of one of the country's fastest-emerging cities during its most troubling times.

Grade: B+