"Far more than the saga of the prolonged military investment by Union forces of an iconic Confederate city and critical port, Joseph Kelly’s America’s Longest Siege lays bare the decades-long campaign of rationalization and intimidation that revivified and reinforced the institution of slavery and dragged the United States into disunion and civil war. As well as a vividly written, deeply researched work of historical scholarship, this masterful study is a timely and important reminder of the consequences that result when ideological extremists succeed in drowning out the voices of reason." —Peter Quinn, author of The Hour of the Cat
"By placing Charleston at the epicenter of his study, Kelly's eminently readable history is in the company of a number of books that are devoted to exploring the peculiarity of South Carolina's antebellum politics. Throughout, Kelly's literary sensibilities are on display and he regularly humanizes such historical events." —Civil War Book Review
"Kelly brings a literary sensibility to this vivid and engrossing study of slavery in and around one of its trading hubs, Charleston, SC, site of the first and longest Civil War siege and a hotbed of political, economic, religious, and moral debates about importing, owning, and trading slaves. Well written and finely detailed, Kelly’s debut historical work is an important contribution to Southern antebellum history and is highly recommended to scholarly readers." —Library Journal
Advance praise for America's Longest Siege:
"An elucidating study by a Charleston historian who sees the shadow of nullification still looming." Kirkus Review
"Joseph Kelly's compelling new book, America's Longest Siege, vividly and accurately portrays Charleston as 'ground zero' in America's long struggle over slavery." Robert N. Rosen, author of Confederate Charleston and A Short History of Charleston
"Joseph Kelly has written a provocative and multilayered analysis of the siege mentality in Charleston and the South prior to the Civil War. Kelly, a professor of literature and American studies, brings a literary sensibility to the craft of history writing, and the result is a joy to read. In addition to the military aspects of siege during the years of civil war, America's Longest Siege addresses the siege of Africans and the siege of rhetoric, especially the ideological arguments of economic self-interest versus enlightened human rights. Original and illuminating, this book tackles profound questions of power and manipulation. This thoughtful and rewarding study should be taken seriously by scholars and enjoyed by general readers. It is an essential contribution to American history." -—Orville Vernon Burton, Professor of History, Clemson University, and author of The Age of Lincoln
09/01/2013
Kelly (literature, Coll. of Charleston; Our Joyce) brings a literary sensibility to this vivid and engrossing study of slavery in and around one of its trading hubs, Charleston, SC, site of the first and longest Civil War siege and a hotbed of political, economic, religious, and moral debates about importing, owning, and trading slaves. The author explores the popular ideological arguments for and against slavery in the only American city (and state) in which black slaves outnumbered whites. Digging deeply into documentary evidence such as journals, letters, and printed public speeches to illuminate what both abolitionists and slave owners thought about using human capital to build wealth and maintain a power imbalance, Kelly frames the issue of slavery as a cultural battle within the South rather than of the South versus the North. Politically powerful pro-slavery "fire-eaters" such as John C. Calhoun and James Hammond claimed to use logic and reason in perpetuating the slave trade while painting abolitionists as dangerous idealists who failed to see that slavery was a "necessary evil" or even a "positive good." VERDICT Well written and finely detailed, Kelly's debut historical work is an important contribution to Southern antebellum history and is highly recommended to scholarly readers.—Douglas King, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia
A tenacious chronicle of the pernicious construction of South Carolina's slave-driven political orthodoxy. Kelly (Literature/Coll. of Charleston) thoroughly demonstrates how the "slaveocracy" of the state repeatedly swept away any elements of good conscience, from Charleston's founding in 1670 through Reconstruction, in favor of "unchecked greed" and the status quo. When rice became the colony's first cash crop, the use of slaves to do the "backbreaking, miserable, dangerous" labor of clearing the swamps that the white indentured servants would not do provided the first rationale for the importation of Africans. The wealth was held by a few very rich families on vast plantations, creating an entrenched, incestuous oligarchy. While the other American colonies were rallying around the idea that "all men were created equal," the handful of powerful Lowcountry dynasties was anxious to get back to the work of making a profit after the Revolution, resuming the suspended slave trade thanks to cotton production while institutionalizing the notion of "paternalism" to render their slave-owning more palatable. The Denmark Vesey Rebellion of 1822 "burned all liberal sentiment" from the hearts of South Carolina whites, Kelly eloquently writes, making room for arguments for "perpetual slavery" as a necessary evil (and even, as a civilizing force on Africans, a "positive good"), encouraging politicians like Charleston Mayor James Hamilton Jr. to expel free blacks and instigate police-state measures. As vice president under President Andrew Jackson, John C. Calhoun cast his deciding vote against the tariff of 1828, thus spearheading the nullification movement, which would strengthen the sense of states' rights and justification for secession. Kelly delineates the ideological straitening for a "lost generation" headed for war. An elucidating study by a Charleston historian who sees the shadow of nullification still looming.