Book Log 2010 #24: The State of Jones by Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer

I remember hearing quite a bit during high school American history about copperheads, Northerners who wanted to end the Civil War. We did not hear much about Confederates who were against secession, if anything.

This book looks at one man, Newton Knight, and members of his family, who opposed the Confederacy, to the point where they deserted from the CSA army and, on occasions when the government tried to exert some authority over their corner of Mississippi, resort to violence.

The book reads very easily for a history, due I think to its creation as an offshoot from a movie project on the subject. And, as would also befit a book based on a movie (even a planned one), it likes to paint people into bright moral corners and not worry so much about factual nuances. There are plenty of places in the book where supposition has to take the place of actual events due to gaps in records, and the more I came across them the less enthralled I was with the book.

If you're really interested in the subject, I'd suggest finding one of the other books written about Knight and similar resisters. But if you want the overview without having to deal with grey areas, this might be OK.