Kommentar: With the publication of The Life of Johnny Reb in 1943 and The Life of Billy Yank in 1952, Bell I. Wiley established the modern study of the Civil War common soldier. Wiley favoured eyewitness accounts over regimental histories and preferred the spontaneity of letters and diaries to the afterthoughts of published memoirs. He also drew a distinction between the perspectives of the common soldier and the commander and focused on the previously unheard voices of ordinary people. An ardent collector of neglected source material and a skilled shaper of individual testimonies, Wiley created enduring collective portraits of the Tankee and Confederate armies.
