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Gettysburg: A Meditation on War and Values
Gettysburg is a book about values - the values of the Civil War generation and those we live by today. Theirs was a generation willing to die in great numbers for a principle as abstract as union. What motivated them? What have we done with the heritage that they bequeathed to us? This book asks whether America in the 1990s knows what its present character, economics, and society cost, and whether the country's present battles have as noble a purpose and as hopeful a prospect as the great cataclysm of July 1863 - the Battle of Gettysburg. Walt Whitman perhaps said it ""Will the America of the future - will this vast, rich Union ever realize what itself cost back there, after all?"" This is, in effect, the story of two Gettysburg during July 1863 and Gettysburg during the 1990s. Following Thoreau's dictum that ""it is the province of the historian to find out, not what was, but what is, "" the author has searched for contemporary America among the famous places of Gettysburg's historic McPherson's Woods and the Seminary, where the Iron Brigade made its decisive last stand and defined the economics of glory; the town itself, now a monument to the grim struggle of the past and the commercialism of the present; Cemetery Hill, where German gunners defended their pieces with rammers, water buckets, and unintelligible oaths; Seminary Ridge, where a young division commander pondered the meaning of the war and the will of God; Little Round Top, where the 15th Alabama nearly accomplished the humanly impossible; the Peach Orchard, where determination and heroism saved a day that, in the words of Bruce Catton, ""needed a lot of saving""; the wheat field, where a Yankeecolonel got a deathly glimpse of his future; the field of Pickett's Charge, where Lee's chief lieutenant first had to fight out his own lonely battle, and where a doomed and disgraced general then fought and won his battle with history and honor; and finally the battlefield after July
288 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 8, 2023
Kent Gramm's Reflections On Gettysburg
I became interested in Kent Gramm's writings after reading his essay in the collection "The Gettysburg Nobody Knows" edited by Gabor Boritt. In that essay, Gramm discussed in a historically informed and reflective way the famous charge of the Second Minnesota to defend the Union center at a critical moment during the second day of the battle of Gettysburg.
I moved from that essay to this reissue of Gramm's 1994 collection of essays "Gettysburg: A Meditation on War and Values." This collection has many of the characteristics that I found admirable in Gramm's essay on the Second Minnesota. Gramm is a long-term and devoted student of the battle of Gettysburg. He writes well and simply about the events of that pivotal battle. But unlike many accounts, Gramm's book doesn't purport to be a history of the battle. Rather, it consists of highly personal reflections on the battle and its significance with discussions of the events of July 1 -- 3, 1863 interwoven with Gramm's thoughts.
In eighteen short essays, Gramm discusses particular events of the battle such as the fighting at McPherson's woods, the seminary, and in the town of Gettysburg itself during the first day. He discusses the action at the Round Tops, the Wheatfield, Culp's Hill, and, of course, Pickett's charge. He teaches the reader about the ground and the ambience of Gettysburg then and now and about the personalities that made the battle.
Gramm's reflections are many layered. He is preoccupied with theology and meaning. He writes from a non-denominational, non-fundamentalist Christian perspective that shows a great deal of influence of Eastern religious thought. I found what he had to say moving and thoughtful and tied in well to his reflections on Gettysburg, death, suffering, and war.
Gramm also writes from a topical perspective. He is critical of what he sees as the increasing materialism and shallowness of American culture. His book, first published in 1994, is also critical of the first President Bush's war in Iraq and of what he perceives as other large shortcomings in American political life of the day. Some of this material is tied in well with Gramm's discussion of the battle, but some of it seems to me unrelated, rambling, and unduly partisan.
This book, unlike Gramm's essay on the First Minnesota (which does not appear in this volume) is thus a mixture of the wise and the irritating. Although I don't agree with everything Gramm says or with Gramm's own political agenda, I found his book worthwhile as a way to approach the battle of Gettysburg. Gramm emphasizes the valor of the troops on both sides of the line and their devotion to ideals. To be valuable, the study of a great historical event must be infused with meaning and Gramm helps the reader see how to go about this -- even if the reader disagrees with some of Gramm's conclusions and some of his partisanship. While reading these essays, I was reminded of William James's essay "The Moral Equivalent of War" which explains what James saw in the American Civil War and the importance of transmitting some lessons of its study to everyday life in peacetime. Gramm does not discuss James, but he uses heavily and well the works of Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman.
I particularly enjoyed Gramm's discussion of Confederate General Dorsey Pender, fatally wounded during the second day at Gettysburg, who, for Gramm, epitomizes many of the values to be learned from the conflict. I also learned a great deal from Gramm's discussion of Pickett's charge and from his essays on the Union Iron Brigade during the first day of the battle. Gramm evidences a particular fondness for the Iron Brigade which, like the First Minnesota, suffered on a heroic scale during the battle of Gettysburg.
This is a book for the reader who knows something of the facts of the Battle of Gettysburg and wishes to join Gramm in the process of reflection and meditation.
Robin Friedman
I became interested in Kent Gramm's writings after reading his essay in the collection "The Gettysburg Nobody Knows" edited by Gabor Boritt. In that essay, Gramm discussed in a historically informed and reflective way the famous charge of the Second Minnesota to defend the Union center at a critical moment during the second day of the battle of Gettysburg.
I moved from that essay to this reissue of Gramm's 1994 collection of essays "Gettysburg: A Meditation on War and Values." This collection has many of the characteristics that I found admirable in Gramm's essay on the Second Minnesota. Gramm is a long-term and devoted student of the battle of Gettysburg. He writes well and simply about the events of that pivotal battle. But unlike many accounts, Gramm's book doesn't purport to be a history of the battle. Rather, it consists of highly personal reflections on the battle and its significance with discussions of the events of July 1 -- 3, 1863 interwoven with Gramm's thoughts.
In eighteen short essays, Gramm discusses particular events of the battle such as the fighting at McPherson's woods, the seminary, and in the town of Gettysburg itself during the first day. He discusses the action at the Round Tops, the Wheatfield, Culp's Hill, and, of course, Pickett's charge. He teaches the reader about the ground and the ambience of Gettysburg then and now and about the personalities that made the battle.
Gramm's reflections are many layered. He is preoccupied with theology and meaning. He writes from a non-denominational, non-fundamentalist Christian perspective that shows a great deal of influence of Eastern religious thought. I found what he had to say moving and thoughtful and tied in well to his reflections on Gettysburg, death, suffering, and war.
Gramm also writes from a topical perspective. He is critical of what he sees as the increasing materialism and shallowness of American culture. His book, first published in 1994, is also critical of the first President Bush's war in Iraq and of what he perceives as other large shortcomings in American political life of the day. Some of this material is tied in well with Gramm's discussion of the battle, but some of it seems to me unrelated, rambling, and unduly partisan.
This book, unlike Gramm's essay on the First Minnesota (which does not appear in this volume) is thus a mixture of the wise and the irritating. Although I don't agree with everything Gramm says or with Gramm's own political agenda, I found his book worthwhile as a way to approach the battle of Gettysburg. Gramm emphasizes the valor of the troops on both sides of the line and their devotion to ideals. To be valuable, the study of a great historical event must be infused with meaning and Gramm helps the reader see how to go about this -- even if the reader disagrees with some of Gramm's conclusions and some of his partisanship. While reading these essays, I was reminded of William James's essay "The Moral Equivalent of War" which explains what James saw in the American Civil War and the importance of transmitting some lessons of its study to everyday life in peacetime. Gramm does not discuss James, but he uses heavily and well the works of Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman.
I particularly enjoyed Gramm's discussion of Confederate General Dorsey Pender, fatally wounded during the second day at Gettysburg, who, for Gramm, epitomizes many of the values to be learned from the conflict. I also learned a great deal from Gramm's discussion of Pickett's charge and from his essays on the Union Iron Brigade during the first day of the battle. Gramm evidences a particular fondness for the Iron Brigade which, like the First Minnesota, suffered on a heroic scale during the battle of Gettysburg.
This is a book for the reader who knows something of the facts of the Battle of Gettysburg and wishes to join Gramm in the process of reflection and meditation.
Robin Friedman
May 24, 2024
A telling of the Battle of Gettysburg from a unique perspective.
August 14, 2021
An unusual book that's a hybrid of battle history, religious meditation and commentary on consumer society. There's enough about double canister, Minie balls and Pickett's Charge to satisfy any battle reenactor. But there's so much more. Gramm brings novelist storytelling skills and thoughtfulness to bear on questions that go beyond how each army or commander did on three busy days in July of 1863. He also looks at the seriousness of the men and the society that created them and asks how the fruits of their victory could have been the people and culture we enjoy or suffer today.
My one beef with Gramm is that he bends over backwards to praise Robert E. Lee before making some criticisms of his decisions and approach to the battles. A mitigating factor may be that the book came out in 1994, a time when memory of the Civil War was more controlled by the myth of the Lost Cause. If Gramm were writing today, he'd probably handle Lee less tenderly.
My one beef with Gramm is that he bends over backwards to praise Robert E. Lee before making some criticisms of his decisions and approach to the battles. A mitigating factor may be that the book came out in 1994, a time when memory of the Civil War was more controlled by the myth of the Lost Cause. If Gramm were writing today, he'd probably handle Lee less tenderly.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews