Review by Booklist Review
The Civil War endures as a topic of fascination for scholar and buff alike. The latest "gift" --as we, his grateful readers, perceive it--from one of our finest Civil War historians is a collection of essays, all but one of which previously appeared in various journals and as book chapters and are now updated. The essays are gathered under five general headings, including "Origins of the Civil War" and "The Enduring Lincoln." Within these categories appear such specific titles as "The Glory Story," a critique of the well-received movie Glory, about a black regiment in the Union army; "Antebellum Southern Exceptionalism," a fresh look at whether the South before the war was a unique and separate entity from the rest of the nation, and if so, why and how; and "Lee Dissected," a separation of the real from the mythical Robert E. Lee. Clear, luminous writing matched by incisive, original thinking makes this collection irresistible to anyone interested in U.S. history. --Brad Hooper
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
McPherson's scholarly breadth and intellectual depth place him in the front rank of Civil War historians. All but one of the 15 pieces in this anthology have appeared elsewhere, but in a spectrum of publications so wide that their appearance between one set of covers is especially welcome. They cover four themes: the war's origins, its social consequences, the reasons for its outcome and Abraham Lincoln's central role. Topics range from an analysis of Uncle Tom's Cabin to an argument that the Confederacy almost won. The essays are, however, connected by McPherson's conviction that the Civil War's origins and outcome were in no way predetermined: the campaigns, battles and elections that determined the war's course were shaped by specific contingencies. The final piece, provocatively dissecting the failure of contemporary academic historians to reach general audiences, is by itself worth the price of a book that belongs in all Civil War collections. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Historian McPherson (Battle Cry of Freedom, LJ 3/1/88) has compiled a series of thoughtful essays on some of the most thought-provoking questions of the Civil War. All of the essays were published earlier but have been updated and revised for this compilation. The topics deal with such subjects as the origins of the Civil War, the slavery question in both North and South, why the North won the war and why the South lost, President Abraham Lincoln, and the change in historical writing. In these essays the author has proven that history can be accurate, informative, and interesting. For informed readers.W. Walter Wicker, Louisiana Tech Univ., Ruston (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Thoughtful essays on the Civil War by one of its foremost contemporary students. Princeton historian McPherson (Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution, 1990, etc.) takes a synoptic view of the Civil War and its lessons. He traces, for instance, the growth of the concept of ""total war,"" involving civilians and combatants alike, in the border-state guerrilla operations that preceded the main war, when abolitionist and slaveholder bands seemingly vied with each other to inflict the greatest number of atrocities on innocents. He also charts the evolution of the war from a conflict meant, on the federal side, to restore the old Union into a war of republican virtues meant to impress the cause of industrial democracy upon an agrarian civilization. In discussing this change of purpose, he examines the notion of ""Southern exceptionalism"" advanced by many other students of the war, arguing that in many cases the commonalities between South and North outweighed their regional differences, save that ""the North--along with a few countries in northwestern Europe--hurtled forward eagerly toward a future of industrial capitalism that many Southerners found distasteful if not frightening."" Occasionally, in an effort to make the Civil War meaningful to modern readers, the historian makes anachronistic stretches: ""George Orwell need not have created the fictional world of 1984 to describe Newspeak. He could have found it in the South Carolina of 1861."" Still, McPherson is successful in explaining why popular interest in the Civil War endures, and indeed why it should endure. Fine historical writing, and required reading for both Civil War buffs and scholars--divided audiences, as McPherson notes. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
