Library Journal
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New York Times best-selling author Jenkins (It's Not About the Bike) and Stauffer (history, Harvard Univ.) here tell the story of Newton Knight, a Jones County, MS, farmer who spearheaded a quasimilitary insurrection against the Confederacy at the height of the Civil War. Actor/narrator Don Leslie (American Prince) skillfully and convincingly reads this unique work of historical nonfiction; his delivery is lively but not overly dramatic. Largely unknown or forgotten outside the state of Mississippi, this event as recounted here will fascinate all those interested in American history and the Civil War era. Highly recommended.-Kristen L. Smith, Loras Coll. Lib., Dubuque, IA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

The myth of the Lost Cause persists: a unified South stood valiantly against Northern efforts to degrade and ultimately destroy Southern rights and culture. In an unabashedly subjective work, the authors attempt to deal a deathblow to the myth. Their focus is Jones County, Mississippi, a hotbed of anti-secessionist sympathy before and during the Civil War. There, pro-Union men resisted Southern conscription, aided and sometimes joined the Union army, and fought a guerrilla war against Confederate militia and regular forces. Jenkins and Stauffer make clear from the outset where their sympathies lie, and they paint the Jones resisters in a rather heroic light. At the center of their narrative is a farmer, Newton Knight, portrayed credibly as a man of immense physical and moral courage. Knight, descended from slave owners, despised slavery. Like many other Southerners, he viewed the Confederate cause as a rich man's war, poor man's fight, and he fought valiantly against it. Despite occasional lapses into hyperbole, this is an excellent work that casts light on an obscure aspect of the Civil War.--Freeman, Jay Copyright 2009 Booklist