Dennis K. Boman . Lincoln and Citizens' Rights in Civil War Missouri: Balancing Freedom and Security . (Conflicting Worlds: New Dimensions of the American Civil War.) Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. 2011. Pp. ix, 356. $45.00.

Abstract

Dennis K. Boman's study is an invaluable contribution to Civil War scholarship and also lives up to its provocative subtitle by offering a subtle meditation on how democratic governments can best treat civil liberties in wartime. Boman only briefly mentions Woodrow Wilson in World War I and never alludes to JapaneseAmerican internment in World War II or contemporary conflicts, but his study includes military tribunals that try civilians, loyalty oaths, summary executions of guerrillas, military commissions, detentions and prison camps, and the laws of war—all of which have a familiar ring. Missouri during the Civil War was embroiled in a violent guerilla and partisan struggle that dragged civilians and their freedoms into direct conflict with military authorities. In the hands of his Missouri commanders, Abraham Lincoln's policies resulted in the sharp curtailment of basic rights under systematic military rule to the extent that “nothing like it before or since has ever been created in United States history” (p. 278).