Excerpts from the journals, letters, and memoirs of the Barton and Jones families of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley provide a firsthand glimpse of ordinary people caught up in the hardships of the Civil War In this work, Colt, a direct descendant of the Bartons, shows how one Virginia family was affected by the Civil War. The Bartons were a sizable family living in Winchester; they sent eight sons into battle, losing four. Using family letters, journals, and memoirs, Colt reveals the effects of battle on those who went to war and, for those left behind, the struggle to survive under wartime conditions and military occupation. She also shows the various acts of subversion against the Union occupiers of Winchester, bent on exacting submission. As this book views the war from an uncommon perspective, it is a worthy addition to any Civil War collection. Robert A. Curtis, Taylor Memorial P.L., Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. Everyone has heard of the importance of the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil W^r and how the war decimated many Southern families. This is the story of the valley at war from the point of view of two such families, the Bartons (Colt's ancestors) and the Joneses, who were connected by marriage. None of them were pro-slavery enthusiasts, all believed in the right of secession, and few escaped being in one of the most heavily contested arenas of the whole war and paying the price in life, limb, health, property, bereavement, imprisonment, or something less drastic. Indefatigably assembled from primary documents, especially family letters, Colt's effort is as gripping as any historical novel, accessible to the range of readers interested in the Civil War, and ample evidence, if any more is needed, that even the comparatively gentlemanly American Civil War was brutally hard on noncombatants. Roland Green