Joseph Glatthaar’s Forged in Battle is

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Joseph Glatthaar's Forged in Battle is not the first excel-
lent study of Black soldiers and their White officers in the
Civil War, but it uses more soldiers' letters and diaries-
Line including rare material from Black soldiers- and concen-
(5) trates more intensely on Black-White relations in Black
regiments than do any of its predecessors. Glatthaar's title
expresses his thesis: loyalty, friendship, and respect among
White officers and Black soldiers were fostered by the
mutual dangers they faced in combat.
(10) Glatthaar accurately describes the government's discrim-
inatory treatment of Black soldiers in pay, promotion, medi-
cal care, and job assignments, appropriately emphasizing
the campaign by Black soldiers and their officers to get the
opportunity to fight. That chance remained limited through-
(15) out the war by army policies that kept most Black units
serving in rear-echelon assignments and working in labor
battalions. Thus, while their combat death rate was only
one-third that of White units, their mortality rate from
disease, a major killer in this war, was twice as great.
(20) Despite these obstacles, the courage and effectiveness of
several Black units in combat won increasing respect from
initially skeptical or hostile White soldiers. As one White
officer put it, "they have fought their way into the respect
of all the army."
(25) In trying to demonstrate the magnitude of this attitude-
nal change, however, Glatthaar seems to exaggerate the
prewar racism of the White men who became officers in
Black regiments. "Prior to the war," he writes of these
men, "virtually all of them held powerful racial prejudices."
(30) While perhaps true of those officers who joined Black
units for promotion or other self-serving motives, this state-
ment misrepresents the attitudes of the many abolitionists
who became officers in Black regiments. Having spent
years fighting against the race prejudice endemic in Ameri
(35) can society, they participated eagerly in this military exper-
iment, which they hoped would help African Americans
achieve freedom and postwar civil equality. By current stan-
dards of racial egalitarianism, these men's paternalism
toward African Americans was racist. But to call their feel
(40) ings "powerful racial prejudices" is to indulge in genera-
tional chauvinism-to judge past eras by present standards.

The passage mentions which of the following as an important theme that receives special emphasis in Glatthaar's book?
(A) The attitudes of abolitionist officers in Black units
(B) The struggle of Black units to get combat assignments
(C) The consequences of the poor medical care received by Black soldiers
(D) The motives of officers serving in Black units
(E) The discrimination that Black soldiers faced when trying for promotions

OA:B
Fiza Gupta

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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Sat Jan 14, 2017 10:59 am
fiza gupta wrote:Joseph Glatthaar's Forged in Battle is not the first excel-
lent study of Black soldiers and their White officers in the
Civil War, but it uses more soldiers' letters and diaries-
Line including rare material from Black soldiers- and concen-
(5) trates more intensely on Black-White relations in Black
regiments than do any of its predecessors. Glatthaar's title
expresses his thesis: loyalty, friendship, and respect among
White officers and Black soldiers were fostered by the
mutual dangers they faced in combat.
(10) Glatthaar accurately describes the government's discrim-
inatory treatment of Black soldiers in pay, promotion, medi-
cal care, and job assignments, appropriately emphasizing
the campaign by Black soldiers and their officers to get the
opportunity to fight. That chance remained limited through-
(15) out the war by army policies that kept most Black units
serving in rear-echelon assignments and working in labor
battalions. Thus, while their combat death rate was only
one-third that of White units, their mortality rate from
disease, a major killer in this war, was twice as great.
(20) Despite these obstacles, the courage and effectiveness of
several Black units in combat won increasing respect from
initially skeptical or hostile White soldiers. As one White
officer put it, "they have fought their way into the respect
of all the army."
(25) In trying to demonstrate the magnitude of this attitude-
nal change, however, Glatthaar seems to exaggerate the
prewar racism of the White men who became officers in
Black regiments. "Prior to the war," he writes of these
men, "virtually all of them held powerful racial prejudices."
(30) While perhaps true of those officers who joined Black
units for promotion or other self-serving motives, this state-
ment misrepresents the attitudes of the many abolitionists
who became officers in Black regiments. Having spent
years fighting against the race prejudice endemic in Ameri
(35) can society, they participated eagerly in this military exper-
iment, which they hoped would help African Americans
achieve freedom and postwar civil equality. By current stan-
dards of racial egalitarianism, these men's paternalism
toward African Americans was racist. But to call their feel
(40) ings "powerful racial prejudices" is to indulge in genera-
tional chauvinism-to judge past eras by present standards.

The passage mentions which of the following as an important theme that receives special emphasis in Glatthaar's book?
(A) The attitudes of abolitionist officers in Black units
(B) The struggle of Black units to get combat assignments
(C) The consequences of the poor medical care received by Black soldiers
(D) The motives of officers serving in Black units
(E) The discrimination that Black soldiers faced when trying for promotions

OA:B
The key line: appropriately emphasizing the campaign by Black soldiers and their officers to get the opportunity to fight. The answer is B
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