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Summary
Summary
Filled with fresh interpretations and information, puncturing old myths and challenging new ones, Battle Cry of Freedom will unquestionably become the standard one-volume history of the Civil War. James McPherson's fast-paced narrative fully integrates the political, social, and military events that crowded the two decades from the outbreak of one war in Mexico to the ending of another at Appomattox. Packed with drama and analytical insight, the book vividly recounts the momentous episodes that preceded the Civil War--the Dred Scott decision, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry--and then moves into a masterful chronicle of the war itself--the battles, the strategic maneuvering on both sides, the politics, and the personalities. Particularly notable are McPherson's new views on such matters as the slavery expansion issue in the 1850s, the origins of the Republican Party, the causes of secession, internal dissent and anti-war opposition in the North and the South, and the reasons for the Union's victory. The book's title refers to the sentiments that informed both the Northern and Southern views of the conflict: the South seceded in the name of that freedom of self-determination and self-government for which their fathers had fought in 1776, while the North stood fast in defense of the Union founded by those fathers as the bulwark of American liberty. Eventually, the North had to grapple with the underlying cause of the war--slavery--and adopt a policy of emancipation as a second war aim. This "new birth of freedom," as Lincoln called it, constitutes the proudest legacy of America's bloodiest conflict. This authoritative volume makes sense of that vast and confusing "second American Revolution" we call the Civil War, a war that transformed a nation and expanded our heritage of liberty.
Author Notes
James M. McPherson is the author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, which won a Pulitzer Prize in history, and For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War, a Lincoln Prize winner. He is the George Henry Davis Professor of American History at Princeton University in New Jersey, where he also lives.
His newest book, entitled Abraham Lincoln, celebrates the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth with a short, but detailed look at this president's life. (Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Likely to become the standard one-volume history of our Civil War, this vivifies, with palpable immediacy, scholarly acumen and interpretive skill, events foreshadowing the conflict, the war itself and its basic issue: slavery. Photos. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
McPherson follows the course of American history from the cessation of hostilities with Mexico in 1848 to the termination of armed conflict between North and South in 1865, offering not only engaging description of events, but also discerning explanation of the issues and attitudes that stood behind them. A robust, glittering book. [BKL Ja 15 88]
Choice Review
An important modern interpretation of the Civil War era by one of its leading historians. McPherson deftly combines the latest research with traditional understanding of the issues to produce the most readable single-volume history of this period. He relies generally on recent studies of the war, but rejects the conclusion of a new work (Why the South Lost the Civil War, by Richard E. Beringer, Herman Hattaway, Archer Jones, and William N. Still, CH, Nov '86) that minimizes the importance of the Union blockade, and accepts the more traditional view that emphasized its role in helping to defeat the South. McPherson devotes the first third of his work to the political history of the decade before the war, agrees that slavery was the ``fundamental issue'' that caused the war. In his treatment of the war years, McPherson concentrates on the military effort itself. Armies and navies become his framework for discussing political, economic, social, and diplomatic events. Readers-professional historians, buffs, and nonspecialists-will be impressed with McPherson's fine prose, thorough research, and forceful interpretations. This is an indispensable work for all academic libraries.-E.K. Eckert, St. Bonaventure University
Kirkus Review
With this major work, McPherson (History/Princeton; Ordeal by Fire) cements his reputation as one of the finest Civil War historians. The volume begins with a deft description of the ragged American army trudging into Mexico City in 1847. From there, the narrative speeds through 28 chapters that draw a precise and lively picture of what America and Americans were like in mid-19th century. McPherson delineates the issues that galvanized and divided the American public from the end of the Mexican War in 1848 to the opening of the Civil War in 1861, providing thorough explanations of the pre-war period's gravest crises--the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the prairie guerrilla war it started; the national clamor over the Dred Scott case; anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant violence and the brief life of the nativist Know-Nothing Party; and the panic over John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. And McPherson's coverage of the Civil War is just as strong and clear. The author also addresses arguments about the root origins or that war and pinpoints major causes: hatred of slavery and blind regional prejudice. What distinguishes McPherson's work is his fluid writing style and his able use of anecdote and human interest to flesh out his portrait of the times. Social history and verified gossip abound and are used to good effect: the 1851 racing victory of the US yacht America over 14 British vessels in the Royal Yacht Squadron became the talk of the sporting world and, also, heralded this nation's emergence as an industrial and technological force; talk of U.S. Grant's drinking problem and how he struggled to control it is shown to have shaped the general's personality in many positive ways; etc. McPherson also works in many bits of trivia that, while they may not be of historical import, make his treatment nearly effortless reading. This new volume in the Oxford History of the United States series should become a standard general history of the Civil War period--it's one that will stand up for years to come. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Table of Contents
| Editor's Introduction | p. xvii |
| Prologue: From the Halls of Montezuma | p. 3 |
| 1. The United States at Midcentury | p. 6 |
| 2. Mexico Will Poison Us | p. 47 |
| 3. An Empire for Slavery | p. 78 |
| 4. Slavery, Rum, and Romanism | p. 117 |
| 5. The Crime Against Kansas | p. 145 |
| 6. Mudsills and Greasy Mechanics for A. Lincoln | p. 170 |
| 7. The Revolution of 1860 | p. 202 |
| 8. The Counterrevolution of 1861 | p. 234 |
| 9. Facing Both Ways: The Upper South's Dilemma | p. 276 |
| 10. Amateurs Go to War | p. 308 |
| 11. Farewell to the Ninety Days' War | p. 339 |
| 12. Blockade and Beachhead: The Salt-Water War, 1861-1862 | p. 369 |
| 13. The River War in 1862 | p. 392 |
| 14. The Sinews of War | p. 428 |
| 15. Billy Yank's Chickahominy Blues | p. 454 |
| 16. We Must Free the Slaves or Be Ourselves Subdued | p. 490 |
| 17. Carry Me Back to Old Virginny | p. 511 |
| 18. John Bull's Virginia Reel | p. 546 |
| 19. Three Rivers in Winter, 1862-1863 | p. 568 |
| 20. Fire in the Rear | p. 591 |
| 21. Long Remember: The Summer of '63 | p. 626 |
| 22. Johnny Reb's Chattanooga Blues | p. 666 |
| 23. When This Cruel War Is Over | p. 689 |
| 24. If It Takes All Summer | p. 718 |
| 25. After Four Years of Failure | p. 751 |
| 26. We Are Going To Be Wiped Off the Earth | p. 774 |
| 27. South Carolina Must Be Destroyed | p. 807 |
| 28. We Are All Americans | p. 831 |
| Epilogue: To the Shoals of Victory | p. 853 |
| Abbreviated Titles | p. 863 |
| Bibliographic Note | p. 865 |
| Index | p. 883 |
