Windows to the Past: A Virginian's Experience in the Civil War (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781544265766)

Driven by passionate philosophy, not conquest and power, civil wars are radically different from all others. They tear mercilessly at the very fabric of families and leave a landscape littered with not just the dead but the shattered hopes and dreams of hundreds of thousands. Still, though civil wars bring out the worst in the human psyche, they raise a person to heights he once viewed as unattainable.

In 1861, the North and the South were divided. The Southern states seceded from the Union, and the Confederacy was born. Racism and social discrimination thrived, as slavery was still legal and thought to be a fundamental right in Southern culture. Many men found themselves entangled in the mayhem of this divide, and Bobby Sullivan, a young man from Virginia, was one of them.

Growing up, Bobby was considered Southern gentry. His family was respected in their community, and although the Sullivans were opposed to slavery, they upheld many other Southern customs and principles regarding state's rights.

As the winds of secession blow through the South, the Sullivan family struggles with the reality of impending war that threatens to drive a divisive wedge between Bobby, his father and uncles while thrusting his mother into the depths of despair. Initially, Bobby objects to secession, creating a rift within his family. However, eventually, Bobby begrudgingly yields to his father's desire and joins the Confederate cause. Within the ranks of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, Bobby witnesses numerous examples of courage and dedication, but, also bloodshed and loss that haunt him for the rest of his life.

With each battle, beginning with the First Battle of Manassas through Appomattox Courthouse, Bobby confronts the miasma of rotting flesh emanating from the mangled corpses of the dead. Still, interwoven through the horrors of war are several levels of a love story. Childhood sweethearts become soul mates, a schoolboy friendship endures despite the scorn and ridicule of others, and the bonds of family love are sustained through each member's strength.

Told against the violent backdrop of the American Civil War, Windows to the Past: A Virginian's Experience in the Civil War is one man's journey toward redemption for the trauma he inflicted and the failings of his distant past. It exposes life lessons that hold just as much truth today as they did over 150 years ago. In the end, the reader will be asked to answer a single question: Did Bobby truly make a difference in the lives of those he encountered? The answer is as heartwarming as it is surprising.