Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States)

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States) | James M. McPherson | Great Civil War Book

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Battle Cry of Free...

	Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States) James M. McPherson Oxford University Press, USA, 2003 - 952 pages average customer review:based on 175 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Now featuring a new Afterword by the author, this handy paperback edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom is without question the definitive 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 including the Dred Scott decision, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. From there it moves into a masterful chronicle of the war itself--the battles, the strategic maneuvering by each side, 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.

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Oxford History of U.S.

Calling an edition the "Oxford" requires it to be the finest! And this books definitely is. It came on time and is in exceptionally good condition.

Great Civil War Book

If your a Civil War Buff this is one of those books you cannot put down. It covers more of the the political aspect and skimps on the battles. This book put me in the frame of mind of how I would feel living in the 1860's reading the Daily news about how the war was progressing. Instead of cursing Bush I would be cursing Lincoln.

Good colegiate book

If you like the Civil War, you will like this book. This is not one of Mr. McPhearson's better books though. I felt that it's place is in a High School or College Corriculum though. It seemed as though the Mr. McPhearson could have liven up the text and made it less technical. While I enjoyed all of his referances the booked lack something.

I felt that Mr. McPhearson missed the Civil War's most vital aspect; The Naval Operations. With out them from either side, the war could have turned out diferently.

I felt as though I had to put it down and come back to several times. I do think it is a must for all histirans, civil war enthusist, teachers, etc. Please beware that it is a little dry.

If you want a general knowledge on the civil war, you might be better off with any book by Shelby Foote, Bruce Caton, or The Civil War a History by Harry Hansen.

Enjoy

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A SHRILL ARGUMENT - THEN BLOOD

James McPherson has written a fine history of the Civil War. This dramatic period of American history can be treated as a numbing series of military and political events, but McPherson's narrative approach permits the reader to work smoothly through the material. The volume aims to be comprehensive and contains photos and maps of military campaigns and battles.

McPherson opens the curtain on the nation in 1850. In this way he is able to identify the cause of the war: a shrill sectional argument about the extension of slavery across the American continent. The final phase of this generations-old debate began when President Polk started a war with Mexico in order to secure Texas. Henry Clay and other Whigs, including a one-term ex-congressman from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, objected to the acquisition of additional territory unless slavery was prohibited. Polk's critics insisted that human slavery was incompatible with the westward expansion of the nation. Southern leaders insisted that the slave-holding South must survive even at the cost of separation from the other states. The extreme Southern position enabled the enemies of slavery to win over the electorate by arguing that slavery posed a deadly threat to free labor and secession an equally dangerous threat to the future of the nation. The cogency of this attack propelled Lincoln into the White House in 1860.

Why did the North win the war? McPherson gives his reasons, including superior northern leadership, a strategy of total war employed by Grant and Sherman, and the industrial and numerical advantages enjoyed by the North. One of the greatest values of the book is its interpretative key: contingency. McPherson indicates how the course of events might have been changed at different points and leaves the reader to speculate. Suppose Robert E. Lee had developed a larger military vision than the Virginia countryside? Suppose England had not been so wary of French influence in America and had recognized the Confederacy right away? Suppose Lincoln had not issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, a gesture that transformed the struggle into a fight for human freedom? Suppose Lincoln had been motivated more by expediency than by principle and had not pressed the issue to ultimate military victory?

What were the consequences of the war? Among the most important were that the principal of secession was killed along with slavery. After 1865, the central government began to dominate the life of the nation. McPherson points out that eleven of the first twelve Constitutional amendments limited the central government before the Civil War and that six of the next seven amendments expanded federal governmental authority. Federal court jurisdiction was expanded, a national currency and banking and tax systems were created. A truly national economy began to develop.

McPherson also points to a shift in political power from South to North, which made the United States less like the rest of the world. War-stimulated industrial development laid the foundation for United States world leadership for the next one hundred years. McPherson suggests that many of these changes were symbolized as "the United States" became a singular noun. "Nation" replaced "union" in Lincoln's vocabulary and in common parlance.

This book is part of the Oxford Press series of the history of the United States edited by the late C. Vann Woodward. What a pleasure to read an important and thoughtful book that combines valuable insights with clear, fluid writing. (In 1989, this book received the Pulitzer Prize in History.)

This review has been published in a collection of reviews and articles, That's What I'm Talking About (Nativa 2008). THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT

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Extremely valuable

I can't imagine someone doing a better job with that subject matter than McPherson. He covered all the important events and policies that led to the Civil War, going back to war with Mexico, and he provided a great history of the Civil War era that is sure to turn readers into Civil War buffs who will seek out more books on the time period. Because there is so much information packed into these 800-plus pages, it was not a remarkably quick read; everything is so important, it's hard to breeze along. But his style of writing is outstanding, mixing in humor and emphasizing the right points. It was very valuable for me.

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