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Title: Phoenix: Never Call Retreat: Volume Three in the American Civil War Trilogy by Bruce Catton ISBN: 1-84212-291-6 Publisher: Phoenix Press Pub. Date: December, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: From Fredericksburg to Appomattox
Comment: In "Never Call Retreat", the third volume of his Centennial History of the Civil War, Bruce Catton writes of the last two years of that horrendous conflict. As he did in his first two volumes in the Centennial triology, Catton effectively covers the social and political aspects of the war, as well as the military. A work of this scope is, of necessity, a top-down view of the Civil War, focussing on the principal commanders and their subordinates. Yet, Catton is able to impart to his readers the confusion of battle; we can almost smell the powder smoke and hear the racket of musketry. As always, he writes with an elegance and an eloquence that many historians aspire to, but most cannot hope to match. Catton never loses sight of the war's ultimate, and higher, purpose and he poignantly brings home to us the human cost of our bloodiest conflict. Perhaps nowhere is this sense of loss brought home more forcefully than in this passage about Lincoln's assassination:
"No one will ever know what Abraham Lincoln would have done--with Stanton's scheme for military government, with radicals like Wade and Sumner and Stevens, with any of the separate aspects of the intricate problem that lay ahead--because it was at this delicate moment (about half-past ten on the night of April 14) that Booth came on stage with his derringer. Booth pulled the trigger, and the mind that held somewhere in cloudy solution the elements that might some day have crystallized into an answer for the nation's most profound riddle disintegrated under the impact of a one-ounce pellet of lead: the heaviest bullet, all things considered, ever fired in America. Thinking to destroy a tyrant, Booth managed to destroy a man who was trying to create a broader freedom for all men; with him, he destroyed also the chance for a transcendent peace without malice and with charity for all. Over the years, many people paid a high price for this moment of violence".
Four decades after its publication, this book, and the two that precede it, still stands as one of the best introductions to the war that defines us to this day.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Winding Down of A War; The First Steps of Peace
Comment: "Never Call Retreat" concludes Bruce Catton's trilogy of the Civil War in the same excellent fashion which the reader enjoyed in the first two volumes, "The Coming Fury" and "Terrible Swift Sword" (see my Amazon reviews). Once again, Catton explains the war from all aspects, Northern and Southern, Military and Political, Social and Economic.
Beginning in December, 1862, this volume takes us through the siege of Vicksburg, the battles of Gettysburg and those around Atlanta, the March to the Sea and the destruction of the Army of Northern Virginia and the dissolution of the Confederacy. Each theatre of the War is covered in its turn. The campaigns are described, not only as battles but as the wars of supply, command staffing and maneuver. The gradually increasing role of U.S. Grant is apparent as the book progresses.
The war is shown, not only as a military contest, but as a political struggle as well. Abraham Lincoln is seen in his struggles against Copperheads, such as Clement Vallandingham. The pressure from the Radical Republicans forced Lincoln had to balance the need to advance the rights of blacks while maintaining the support of Unionists who were not willing to accompany Emancipation with political enfranchisement. The contending forces within Lincoln's cabinet as well as those in Congress and in the states are carefully studied.
Jefferson Davis' vain efforts find the right combination of generals and to rally his countrymen in support of the war merits our sympathy. The twin challenges of despair and desertion were beyond even Davis' impressive powers of persuasion.
One figure who earned some admiration from me is General George B. MacClellan. I had always viewed MacClellan as an unsuccessful general and a political opportunist. Through this trilogy I came to see MacClellan as, a poor general, to be sure, but a politician who adhered to a consistent platform of support for the war and Union, but without any support for emancipation or equality for blacks.
One figure who did not improve his standing in my estimation was General Ben Butler, the Massachusetts Pro-War Democrat whose combination of military incompetence and arrogance was tolerated only so long as it was outweighed by his political usefulness. Once Lincoln was reelected, Butler was given a well earned ticket home.
Throughout this book, as in the first two volumes, we see Union Wars aims gradually shift from that of Union, regardless of Emancipation, to Union with Emancipation. Catton skillfully weaves the story of the inexorable shift in Northern opinion on the subject of Emancipation which forced this shift in war aims.
At the end of the book we see the wrap-up of the War and a hint at the challenges of Reconstruction and healing, the effects of which we still struggle with today.
At the end of this book I have a much deeper understanding of the Civil War than I had when I started the trilogy. For this, among other reasons, I recommend this book and series to everyone.
Rating: 5
Summary: Catton worthy of his subject matter
Comment: The third book in Catton's centennial trilogy of the Civil War, "Never Call Retreat" is a moving account of the war from Fredericksburg (Dec 1862) until the end of the war.
Catton does not devote the amount of ink to events that Shelby Foote did in his trilogy, for example, but Catton more than compensates by his beautiful writing style. As a work of literature, if nothing else, "Never Call Retreat" is worth the read.
But there is more. Because of his eloquence, and his passion for the subject, Catton has produced an account truly worthy of the poignant subject matter. If the reader does not weep as Catton describes Lincoln's assassination, or Stonewall Jackson's death, then he cannot be moved to tears by written words.
Catton portrays the war as a living organism, which, like Frankenstein's monster, got loose from its creators, and almost pulled the house down with it.
Catton's centennial trilogy ("Coming Fury," "Terrible Swift Sword," "Never Call Retreat") is an admirable place for the average person to begin a study of the Civil War.
Because of its poetic qualities, however, it is also a must read for the professional historian. All too often, historians have no heart in their writing. Perhaps a good dose of Catton might cure that
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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: Coming Fury, Volume 1 by Bruce Catton ISBN: 0385098138 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 20 September, 1961 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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Title: Glory Road by Bruce Catton ISBN: 0844667900 Publisher: Peter Smith Pub Pub. Date: January, 1995 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
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