Jewish Soldiers in the Civil War: The Union Army

Mendelsohn (history, Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies, Univ. of Cape Town; The Rag Race: How Jews Sewed Their Way to Success in America and the British Empire) employs the Shapell Roster, a carefully researched database of Jewish soldiers who fought in the Civil War, together with soldiers’ letters, diaries, and Jewish newspaper reports to document the experiences of Jewish soldiers in the Civil War. The current book is the first volume in a proposed two-volume set on the topic. Even though Jews were the largest non-Christian group who fought in the war, they are difficult to identify, because many soldiers changed their name to hide their identity and avoid the bullying by other enlisted men and officers alike. Jews were wrongfully thought to be profiting from the war and becoming rich. Adam Barr does an adequate job reading the book, although his articulation of Jewish terms is inadequate.