Review
It takes courage to write about one's family the way that Betsy Howell has in her book Acoustic Shadows: Men at War and a Daughter Who Remembers Them. Using her great-great-grandfather's Civil War journals as a catalyst, Howell physically traced his wartime travels throughout Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. Digging deep with her research, she visited her great-great-grandfather's Illinois home and took part in grueling modern-day Civil War reenactments. As a result of her journey, Howell gained an understanding of her father, an alcoholic World War II and Korean War veteran whose passing from colon cancer is also a part of this story. Do not confuse this author with the millions of others who have written about their ancestors and their own lives. Howell has worked very hard to learn the storyteller's craft, making this book a captivating read as she moves back and forth between past and present. For those who want to write a memoir or family history, a reading of Howell's story first will give such writers an excellent example for how it's done. --Kathie Meyer, Port Townsend Leader Arts Editor
To better understand her father and great-great-grandfather, a daughter unravels their lives as soldiers. Acoustic shadows refers to a phenomenon in which, due to geographic anomalies, an observer cannot hear sounds, such as those of battle, even though they are taking place a short distance away. Similarly, Howell spent her entire childhood living under the same roof as her father but felt she hardly knew him. To the world, her father was a handsome, good-natured veteran, but to his family, he was a hopeless alcoholic, often withdrawn and extremely reticent about his experiences during World War II and the Korean War. To understand and eventually accept her father and his weaknesses, the author set out to learn everything she could about his life during war. Howell contacted surviving members of his unit and pieced together a chronology of his experiences through the memories of others. Simultaneously, through her great-great-grandfather's Civil War journals, she gained insight into his soldiering experiences. She even donned facial hair and engaged in Civil War re-enactments, retracing her ancestor's route with the 72nd Illinois, a unit that took part in the Battle of Franklin and the Siege of Vicksburg. During these sections, Howell's writing is at its most expressive. She has an eye and ear for nature, readily conjuring the wildlife surrounding her as she travels down the Mississippi River and through the South. She writes beautifully about the Civil War as well, using her ancestor's eyewitness accounts to frame vivid evocations of a Civil War campaign. Graceful and memorable. --Kirkus Discoveries
Recommended & Reviewed in "The Mindquest Review of Books"--The heartfelt book helps readers relate, through a third party experience, to life with family members in the military. The author reconciled many conflicting feelings while researching her alcoholic father's World War II experience and her great-great-grandfather's Civil War military service. A must-read for military family members and friends of military families. --Lightword Publishing
About the Author
Betsy L. Howell is a writer and wildlife biologist for the U.S. Forest Service on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Her essays have appeared in the Oregonian, Clackamas Literary Review, an anthology entitled, The Back Road to Crazy (University of Utah Press, 2005), South Loop Review, and two online journals, Women in Natural Resources and the Apple Valley Review. She lives in Port Townsend, Washington.