Book Review: A House Divided Against Itself

A House Divided Against Itself, by Bob O'Connor

Paperback: 234 pages
Publisher: Infinity Publishing (October 21, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0741469375
Rating (1 to 5 *): *****

A House Divided Against Itself Book Review

The Civil War is often characterized as "brothers fighting against brothers." Not only was it tragic that countrymen fought against each other, but there were a few instances where family members actually fought against each other. One such case was Wesley and William Culp, who fought on opposite sides of the war and faced each other in battle twice.

A House Divided Against Itself follows four people: Wesley Culp, his brother William, his best girl Virginia "Jennie" Wade, and his friend Jack Skelly. Recreated from over 90 actual letters these people wrote and filled in with fictionalized dialogue and other details, a previously untold story is brought to life.

Although I do not normally read historical fiction, I thought this sounded interesting and jumped at the chance to read and review it. I really enjoyed it. I was not really familiar with the story of the Culps before, and I loved having this gap in my education filled in with such an entertaining story. The format did take a little bit of getting used to, because it jumped back and forth in time as the perspective switched from person to person. However, this allows the reader to experience some of the events from multiple perspectives. The amount of research author Bob O'Connor put into the book was astonishing, and thanks to that research he was able to include photos of the real-life characters, documents, buildings, and grave markers. I found A House Divided Against Itself to be a great read.

Disclosure of material connection: I received a free copy of this book for review as this author is currently on tour with my company, Walker Author Tours. I tried to be as accurate and objective in my review as possible.