Soldier Boys: Tales of the Civil War by Jack Matthews ( EPUB, PDF)

(15 mb zip file contains the epub and PDF)

Philosophical author Jack Matthews takes snapshots of teenage Civil War soldiers as they cheat death and mess around between battles. Without dwelling on the war's tragic dimension, these old-fashioned (and historically accurate) yarns are infused with irony and a youthful sense of adventure. They also ask you to ponder the human condition as people of that time might have done.

Over the decades, Jack Matthews collected memoirs and personal correspondence by actual U.S. Civil War soldiers. Eventually this interest led him to write a group of stories from the vantage point of teenage soldiers. The stories are less about specific Civil War battles or the horrors of war than about ordinary adventures and heartbreaks of young soldiers. One soldier constantly composes new epitaphs for himself (much to the irritation of his comrades). A wounded soldier finds himself abandoned by his regiment and accidentally strikes up a friendship with a soldier from the other side. One soldier starts seeing ghostly visions of his dead brother and wants to know why. In the opening story, a courier is sent by headquarters to deliver an urgent (and tragic) message only to learn that the local commander has forbidden him to deliver it. In the final story, two soldiers have to hunt down and stop a hidden sharpshooter nicknamed “Old Mortality” and in so doing have to face (and understand) their fears. Told in an accessible, humorous and even old-fashioned way, these stories have a philosophical bent and give readers a sense of how 19th century young Americans must have pondered their world. This 8th story collection (published posthumously) is the first Jack Matthews story collection to be published in 23 years. This special ebook edition is illustrated by Barbiel Matthews-Sanders (the author’s daughter) and includes two introductory essays by Personville editor Robert Nagle.  The author’s website (www.ghostlypopulations.com ) also contains a study guide for teachers and an annotated bibliography of Civil War fiction prepared especially for this ebook.

Main Ebook page: https://www.ghostlypopulations.com/2015/11/story-collection-soldier-boys/

"As a big fan of Civil War Era history, I LOVED this collection of stories. It doesn't show the battle part of the war, but rather, the non-battle portion, where the soldiers mingle with each other and the happenings that would go on in the encampments. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who loves history, of any kind!"

--mike1990, Reviewer on Librarything.com

"Mr. Matthews is a master of prose conversation and deadpan charm. He is ironic, cool, and shrewd, and he writes a lucid prose."

--Tom O'Brien, New York Times Book Review

"Few contemporary writers can - or want to - compose stories in the narrow tunnel of the interior, the rutted trail of memory between mind and heart, sometimes shutting out other people as well as time and place and usual props. Matthews takes us there, carrying a bright light."

-- Art Seidenbaum, Los Angeles Times