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Title: Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James M. McPherson ISBN: 0345359429 Publisher: Ballantine Books (Trd Pap) Pub. Date: January, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.75
Rating: 5
Summary: Riveting
Comment: Although I love history and have an MA in ancient history, I have never been a Civil War buff. I'm one of those people who considers "modern history" to be everything after 1200 BC (No, that's not a mistake, I did say BC!) However I recently took a class on Civil War history---mostly because it was the only history course in the context offered that I hadn't already taken---and Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson was the primary course text. All I can say is "I'm converted!" The book well deserves the Pulitzer prize it received. It reads like a novel, pulling one from chapter to chapter through all of its 862 pages with a "can hardly put it down" forcefulness. Even though I know the outcome, as who doesn't, the events described create an ambiance of "being there" that leaves the heart thumping.
The author underscores the critical importance of the inability of the US founding fathers to deal head on with the incongruity of slavery in the midst of the world's first democracy. When framing the Constitution in the 18th Century, they chose to skirt the issue of slavery publically, while privately hoping that it would go away by deferring the problem to a later generation. Having undergone a war of revolution with the sacrifices that it entailed, these men were loath to force their new constituency to make further sacrifices. They also left the Constitutional document itself vague enough to produce a variety of interpretations; both the Constitution's greatest strength and its greatest weakness. This flexibility left the issue of the preeminence of states' rights versus federal sovereignly open for debate. And debates there were, to the point of violence in the halls of Congress!
The author discuses the early 19th Century social, demographic, and political background of the war, setting the stage for the drama that follows. His narrative describes a vigorous young country expanding in all directions, many times with that characteristic lack of concern over the rights and well being of others of many adolescents. Like a skilled novelist, McPherson introduces the central characters of the Civil War conflict as they arose on the scene during the Mexican-American War. This venue was a good choice. Nearly all of the Civil War generals of significance had also participated in this event. Furthermore the Mexican-American war itself and the territory it gained the young country were key to setting the stage for the lengthy struggle that was to follow. Both the issues of slavery and that of States' Rights were forced into the public eye by the possible addition of new states to the union as slave or free. The outcome of this process had the potential of imbalancing the US legislature in favor of one political entity or the other. Almost every event of political importance in the US, both foreign and domestic, occurring between the years after the Mexican War and before the Civil War arose as a result of this political reality.
Although the author devotes a goodly amount of his narrative to the discussion of the chief Civil War personalities, he does not neglect the common soldier. He discusses the character, motivation, and responses of the recruit and quotes from personal letters of the common man as well as from the correspondence of the more noted players in the conflict. Battle sites and the movements of personnel on them are described but not belabored. The development of Lincoln's stand on the slavery issue is also discussed in some detail, not in a block as a topic but within the body of the narrative against the backdrop of events within which it occurred.
The bibliography is extensive and written in narrative form, giving titles according to topic with some comments on them by group. As the author states, the subject of the Civil War is a popular one, with some 50,000 books and pamphlets available on the war years, and "more works in English on Abraham Lincoln than on any other persons except Jesus of Nazareth and William Shakespeare (p. 865)." For those, like myself, who have only just developed an interest in the subject, this will be a gold mine of sources for further reading.
Although the book is a little lengthy and complex, it might well make a good focus for a senior high class in American and world history. One might look at the development of US world politics and the part that the Civil War played in that development; how these years effected subsequent and more recent relations between the US and various countries, most particularly Cuba and Nicaragua. There were a number of changes in technology that presaged the modern world during this time and one might investigate the way in which these developments brought about our own way of life. One might also discuss whether slavery might have died out in the United States, without the major loss of human life, as it had in other countries, and the subject of racial equality and its path from Emancipation Proclamation to the Civil Rights movements of the 1960s.
In all, a suburb book.
Rating: 5
Summary: A classic
Comment: It is a little disappointing that the excellent Oxford History of the United States is progressing so slowly, with only four of a projected ten or so volumes published as yet. Not one of these books is less than superb, and this one fits in well in the series.
As indicated on the cover, this book is the volume that covers the Civil War era. McPherson, however, does not start with Fort Sumter. Instead, he spends around a quarter of the book looking at the events that led to the war; only after an in-depth review of items such as the Great Compromise of 1850 and the Dred Scott decision does the book get into the actual war.
McPherson is pretty objective in his writing. He may lean a little towards the North, but I believe that has much to do with the distastefulness of the South's principal cause, the protection of slavery as an institution. And if there is a hero in McPherson's history, it must be Lincoln, whose strong leadership - as well as his gifted use of language - guided the North to victory and led to the downfall of slavery. Had he not been assassinated, the Reconstruction Era (not covered in this book) may have been quite different.
There have been thousands of books written on the Civil War; some are comprehensive while some cover a single battle or individual. I have read only a few, but I agree with the consensus opinion: this is the best single volume work on this period. But I could state that about any volume in this series, which is why I look forward to the next one coming out, whenever that might be.
Rating: 5
Summary: Comprehensive look at the Civil War
Comment: James M. McPherson is one of the top Civil War scholars in the world, and in the Battle Cry of Freedom, he provides one of the best comprehensive histories of the entire period ever written. McPherson begins the book well before the Civil War and describes the societal and political situation that led to the war. This allows the reader to truly gain a feel of the time and grants an understanding of why the people fought the war. The military history McPherson provides is more from a grand strategy perspective, but he gives plenty of personal descriptions of the battles that allows the reader to appreciate the tactical situations the soldiers faced.
If you are looking for a great one volume treatment of the Civil War, this is your book.
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Title: Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam (Pivotal Moments in American History) by James M. McPherson ISBN: 0195135210 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution by James M. McPherson ISBN: 0195076060 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: May, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: April 1865: The Month That Saved America by Jay Winik ISBN: 0060930888 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 26 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Civil War: A Narrative: Fort Sumter to Perryville, Fredericksburg to Meridian, Red River to Appomattox by Shelby Foote ISBN: 0394749138 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: December, 1986 List Price(USD): $75.00 |
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Title: Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 by Eric Foner ISBN: 0060937165 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: February, 2002 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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