Inasmuch as these figures normally get short shrift in the history of the period, it is commendable that Wert has undertaken to describe how their inclination, proclivities, persistence, motivation, and ambition laid the foundation for our nation’s postwar industrial expansion in the Gilded Age ... Wert has properly footnoted and cited his sources and included the traditional bibliography with sources from the electronic to contemporary newspapers, journals, and other documents. A highlight is the extensive photographic section, which has portraits of many of the subjects of the book as well as period photographs, illustrations and engravings of their products and contributions to Union success. Taken in sum, it is not hard to understand why the industrial and agricultural capabilities of the North could not be overcome by the Confederacy.
The most enjoyable anecdote in Mr. Wert’s book describes President Lincoln personally testing the rapid-fire, breech-loading repeating rifle invented by Christopher Miner Spencer ... Mr. Wert’s stories of innovation and economic accomplishment don’t tie into a narrative of the Civil War’s military and political progression, but rather assume that readers already grasp the basic outline of the war. The author also plays down the war-profiteering of many of his barons. Though they no doubt helped free slaves and preserve the Union, most gained great benefit from the war ... The history doesn’t lack for...examples.
Civil War Barons builds its case with punchy profiles of nineteen men, combining household names like Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt with others of dimmer memory like iron maker Edward Cooper and gun manufacturer Thomas Parrot. Much of the book's appeal lies in the variety of its subjects ... Wert clearly admires the men about which he writes, partly for their acumen and partly for their military importance, but he documents their foibles and failures, as well. Or at least he mentions them. As a result, a darker subtext familiar to twenty-first-century readers emerges in the crevices between the triumphs, though Wert leaves it largely unexamined ... Despite holding the cronyism at arm’s length, Civil War Barons offers a brisk gallivant through nineteen biographies in two hundred pages, and Wert's eye for the telling detail makes it an entertaining romp. Though most likely to engage those new to the story of Civil War business, it’s a solid paean to Northern innovation that is at least willing to peek at a darker narrative.
Wert categorizes the 'barons' as visionaries, inventors, dreamers, etc., for each chapter. This organization aids the reader to draw connections between the similar actions of the persons he is discussing. This book is not an overview of how many pounds of meat were produced or miles of rail tracks built, but a much deeper look into the lives and the social and political connections of the men behind the companies that contributed significantly to the war effort ... Wert provides opposing points of view of these men. While he provides praise for these giants from many sources at the time, he also presents information on the baron’s controversies with the public and the government about excess profits, contract disputes, and corruption ... His writing style is very easy to follow and a quick read. The book is intended for an audience familiar with the Civil War. This would be a good book for those interested in the U.S. strategic-industrial base as some of the same characteristics and needs arose during World War I.
Wert glances over some key moments: for instance, the abolitionist sympathies of the Californians who would become transcontinental railroad barons, thwarting Jefferson Davis’ push to take that railroad first across the South. Still, he turns up some fine nuggets, such as repeating-rifle inventor Christopher Spencer’s failure to keep his fortune ... Diverse character studies that give a broad view of the sweeping economic revolutions of the era.
