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Title: Coming Fury, Volume 1 by Bruce Catton ISBN: 0-385-09813-8 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 20 September, 1961 Format: Hardcover List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A must read for Civil War Buffs
Comment: I've read my fair share of Civil War books and this was my first Catton book. I'm ashamed to say I waited this long to read one of his works, it was fantastic. His writing style is an engaging, comforting read that was informative and well structured. This is the first in a trilogy and as the title alludes to, it lays the foundation for the ensuing war. The period covered is approximately a year before the war starts to First Bull Run, covering the political, societal and military events leading to the war.
I can't recommend this book enough.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Poet of History
Comment: Jim Gallen has, in an earlier review, summed up quite well the content of Catton's first volume in his centennial history of the Civil War. What I will say is that having read this book, and the two that follow, more than 30 years ago, and having read numerous works on the Civil War since then, I keep coming back to these three volumes. Why? Because more than any other writer on the Civil War (Shelby Foote included) Bruce Catton has produced a book that is almost poetic in its style. His prose makes the people who fought the war or who were otherwise affected by it come alive. From the very first pages of The Coming Fury he gives us a sense of forboding, for the tragedy, the senselessness, and the inevitibility of what lay just down the road for the celebrants at the Republican and Democratic conventions of 1860. Catton is one of the first, I think, to truely take advantage of the letters and diaries of soldiers, sailors, and civilians, and not just official unit histories and canned secondary accounts. If more recent historians have surpassed Catton in digging up details of virtually every aspect of the Civil War, none can touch him in the poetic sweep of his narrative. For anyone interested in a good introduction to our most costly war, Catton is the one to start with.
Rating: 5
Summary: An Outstanding Introduction to Our Great National Tragedy
Comment: "The Coming Fury" is a powerful rendition of the sad tale of the disintegration of the Union from the political maneuvers of 1860 to the aftermath of the First Battle of Bull Run.
In this, the first of the Catton trilogy, we are show how the breakdown of the spirit of compromise, which had held together a house divided for four score and four years, contributed to the conflagration to follow.
The major theme of this book is that nothing was inevitable about the lines on which the Union would fracture. The lines of division resulted from a multitude of decisions made by the actors in this national tragedy.
For many with only a superficial knowledge, history is the story of conflict between right and wrong, heroes and villains. When I read history I enjoy books which permit us to see the stories and characters with all their triumphs and failures, virtues and faults. "The Coming Fury" ranks high on the list of such books.
The first casualty of the failure of compromise was the Great Democracy, the Democratic Party, which split into its Northern and Southern wings in 1860, making the election of Abraham Lincoln inevitable that fall.
The election of Lincoln convinced many southerners that the Union was no longer provided a suitable home for them. This book tells the story of how the breakup occurred.
We see James Buchanan, trapped by a cabinet which was as divided as the nation, presiding over the rejection of the Constitution and the dissolution of the Union which he was sworn to preserve and protect and who, incredibly, retired in the belief that he had done a good job under the circumstances.
We see Abraham Lincoln, whose eloquence and political magic are the stuff of legends, stumble his way into Civil War. We learn that the speeches along his route from Springfield to Washington contain nothing of the inspiring rhetoric which now adorns his Memorial.
We see that the South did secede in one monolithic movement. The first seven states seceded nearly in masse, while the remaining slave states waited to see whether a compromise would permit the survival of the nation.
We all know about the firing on Fort Sumter, but how many know what was really at stake? The truth is that the main issue was over the possession of forts. In fact, there were several forts which could have provided the spark which set the nation ablaze, but the honor fell to Sumter and South Carolina.
Although the issue of Fort Sumter revolved around the possession of real estate, the implications were much greater. Several of the Border states swung toward the Confederacy after the attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter. It can be said that Lincoln's first crucial decision, that being to reinforce Fort Sumter, lead to the secession of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas, with Maryland and Missouri being held in only by military force. It was Lincoln's political decisions which almost transformed the Confederacy from a rump nation with virtually no chance of survival into state with an excellent prospects.
I was interested in the treatment of General Winfield Scott. I had always thought of him as an old soldier who occupied his chair until he was pushed aside for younger men. In fact, Scott played a major role in the preservation of the country during the period of transition as well as in the formulation of the battle plan which eventually restored its unity.
After the succession of the states, the focus shifts to the preparations for war, both in the north and the south. In the north, the challenge was to organize the forces with which to subjugate the rebellious states. In the south, the simultaneous establishment of both government and army was a truly incredible accomplishment.
With the early preparations completed, the First Battle of Bull Run tested the expectations of all contestants. The battle proved the ineptness of both sides. Bull Run dispelled many notions. Both sides now realized that they were in for a long and hard struggle. Both now realized that the lack of compromise, which had rendered asunder the Democracy in 1860, had rendered any chance of a political resolution null and void. Bull Run had set the stage for the long and bitter struggle which Catton would report in his subsequent two books.
This is a outstanding introduction to our great national tragedy.
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Title: Terrible Swift Sword by Bruce Catton ISBN: 0385026145 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 24 April, 1963 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Never Call Retreat by Bruce Catton ISBN: 0385026153 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: June, 1965 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: This Hallowed Ground: The Story of the Union Side of the Civil War by Bruce Catton ISBN: 078581552X Publisher: Castle Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $9.99 |
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Title: A Stillness at Appomattox : The Army of the Potomac Trilogy by Bruce Catton ISBN: 0385044518 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 October, 1953 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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