Thomas F. (hardtack) -
This is an interesting book in more than one way.
First, I think it does a very good job telling the story of the regiment and the men who served in it. I've read a number of books about African-American units in the Civil War and this one, while short, made for entertaining and instructive reading. More than one man in this regiment was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Second, if you deduct the pages of notes and the index, this book is only 179 pages long. But only 99 pages are text. The rest of the pages are full of statistical tables and charts about the regiment. The author must be a frustrated statistician. For example, not only does he create a table and bar chart on the different ages of the men who made up the regiment, but he also created pie charts on their ages for every company within the regiment. And then he does the same for the occupations of the men before they enlisted. And that is only the beginning.
First, I think it does a very good job telling the story of the regiment and the men who served in it. I've read a number of books about African-American units in the Civil War and this one, while short, made for entertaining and instructive reading. More than one man in this regiment was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Second, if you deduct the pages of notes and the index, this book is only 179 pages long. But only 99 pages are text. The rest of the pages are full of statistical tables and charts about the regiment. The author must be a frustrated statistician. For example, not only does he create a table and bar chart on the different ages of the men who made up the regiment, but he also created pie charts on their ages for every company within the regiment. And then he does the same for the occupations of the men before they enlisted. And that is only the beginning.
