About the Author

Paul Taylor is an insurance professional and award-winning author of five books pertaining to the American Civil War, including Orlando M. Poe: Civil War General and Great Lakes Engineer.

Reviews

Drawing heavily from primary sources including newspapers, correspondence, and legislative records, this is a well-researched book by a scholar who is clearly deeply knowledgeable about the city and its history.--Michael T. Smith "American Historical Review"

Taylor's "Old Slow Town" (named for a derisive comment about Detroit at the beginning of the war) is a thoughtful, well-researched, and accessible study. It is replete with carefully-chosen historical quotations and includes numerous vignettes illustrative of the volume's themes. Interesting photographs of Detroit individuals and scenes of the era are scattered through the text. A period street map of Civil War Detroit is reproduced inside the front and back covers. Scholars or other interested parties wishing to go further will find Taylor's extensive bibliography to be an essential first stop. A very helpful index rounds out the volume. Readers will find that, in spite of the title, this book is anything but slow reading.--Roy E. Finkenbine "Civil War Book Review"

This smoothly-written and well-researched narrative is strongly recommended for anyone with an interest in the Civil War's impacts on the home front or in the many crosscurrents that affected the residents of an increasingly important urban center.--John Foskett "Civil War News"