| Reviews of Paddy Owen's Regulars |
| Don Ernsberger's PADDY OWEN'S REGULARS: A HISTORY OF THE 69TH PENNSYVANIA "IRISH VOLUNTEERS" is the best treatment of the Irish soldier in the American Civil War ever written. This is a work so well researched that we will never see its depth again. This is a book about the men. There are no flashing bayonets or ruffling flags. Don's work is character driven. We know the officers and men and the trials and wounds they overcome - with the warts still on. This is not a sophomoric glorification of war. This is a revelation of the true courage of a generation long dead. There are no celebrities, only men who signed their enlistment papers with an - X- . I would highly recommend this book that resurrects the immortal soul of a unit of the U.S. Army never praised in its lifetime because of "Nativist bigotry." Michael Kane - Irish-American Historian |