Civil War Again, for Young and Old

Sally M. Walker's new book on Michigan's Anishinaabe Sharpshooters, the legendary Company K, is written for a young audience, especially ages 10 to 14, but like so many well-done treatments of history for young people (right away I think of The Story of Mankind, by Hendrik Van Loon, the very first Newbery winner, so popular with adults that a mass market paperback edition was issued), this one can serve as an introduction to the subject for anyone of any age, joining other new Civil War titles with Michigan themes that have come out this year. 

Deadly Aim: The Civil War Story of Michigan's Anishinaabe Sharpshooters is a narrative account of Company K, while Warriors in Mr. Lincoln's Army, by Quita V. Shier (see here), gives documentary detail on individual soldiers. A couple of more general parallel Civil War books are John Mitchell's Grand Traverse: the Civil War Era (narrative) and Michigan's War: The Civil War in Documents (archival detail) edited by John W. Quist. 

The author, who makes her home in Illinois, is a winner of the Sibert Medal for a previous book, Secrets of a Civil War Submarine. She makes clear to young readers that this particular group of Civil War soldiers joined the fight to end slavery and preserve the union even though they themselves were not citizens and despite years of broken treaties and harsh treatment (to put it mildly) of their people by the American government. 

Deadly Aim: The Civil War Story of Michigan's Anishinaabe Sharpshooters
by Sally M. Walker
Hardcover, 288pp w/ index
$19.99