James M. McPhersonJames M. McPherson
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States Book 6) 1st Edition, Kindle Edition
by James M. McPherson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 2,995 ratings
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Part of: Oxford History of the United States (13 books)
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.
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The greatest danger to American survival at midcentury, however, was neither class tension nor ethnic division. Rather it was sectional conflict between North and South over the future of slavery.
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The emergence of industrial capitalism from 1815 to 1860 thus began to forge a new system of class relations between capitalists who owned the means of production and workers who owned only their labor power.
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James K. Polk presided over the acquisition of more territory than any other president in American history.
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"Deftly coordinated, gracefully composed, charitably argued and suspensefully paid out, McPherson's book is just the compass of the tumultuous middle years of the 19th century it was intended to be, and as narrative history it is surpassing. Bright with details and fresh quotations, solid with carefully-arrived-at conclusions, it must surely be, of the 50,000 books written on the Civil War, the finest compression of that national paroxysm ever fitted between two covers."--Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Immediately takes its place as the best one-volume history of the coming of the American Civil War and the war itself. It is a superb narrative history, elegantly written.--The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Matchless.... The book's political and economic discussions are as engrossing as the descriptions of military campaigns and personalities."--Library Journal
"McPherson cements his reputation as one of the finest Civil War historians....Should become a standard general history of the Civil War period--it's one that will stand up for years to come."--Kirkus Reviews
"Robust, glittering history."--Booklist
"The best one-volume treatment of [the Civil War era] I have ever come across. It may actually be the best ever published.... I was swept away, feeling as if I had never heard the saga before.... Omitting nothing important, whether military, political, or economic, he yet manages to make everything he touches drive the narrative forward. This is historical writing of the highest order."--Hugh Brogan, New York Times Book Review
"The finest single volume on the war and its background." --The Washington Post Book World
Review
"Anyone interested in Texas and the republic to which it belongs should set some weeks aside for this big, smart porcupine of a book" -- Patrick G. Williams , Southwestern Historical Quarterly "Deftly coordinated, gracefully composed, charitably argued and suspensefully paid out, McPherson's book is just the compass of the tumultuous middle years of the 19th century it was intended to be, and as narrative history it is surpassing. Bright with details and fresh quotations, solid with carefully-arrived-at conclusions, it must surely be, of the 50,000 books written on the Civil War, the finest compression of that national paroxysm ever fitted between two covers."--Los Angeles Times Book Review "Immediately takes its place as the best one-volume history of the coming of the American Civil War and the war itself. It is a superb narrative history, elegantly written."--Philadelphia Inquirer "Matchless....The book's political and economic discussions are as engrossing as the descriptions of military campaigns and personalities."--Library Journal "McPherson cements his reputation as one of the finest Civil War historians....Should become a standard general history of the Civil War period--it's one that will stand up for years to come."--Kirkus Reviews "Robust, glittering history."--Booklist "The best one-volume treatment of [the Civil War era] I have ever come across. It may actually be the best ever published....I was swept away, feeling as if I had never heard the saga before....Omitting nothing important, whether military, political, or economic, he yet manages to make everything he touches drive the narrative forward. This is historical writing of the highest order."--Hugh Brogan, New York Times Book Review "The finest single volume on the war and its background."--The Washington Post Book World "There is no finer one-volume history of the Civil War than Jim's book. I certainly will adopt it again when I teach my Honors course next time. The students found the book well organized and instructive in the way events were presented."--George Rolleston, Baldwin-Wallace College
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Product details
ASIN : B002NXOQLQ
Publisher : Oxford University Press; 1st edition (11 December 2003)
Language : English
File size : 12225 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
Print length : 947 pagesBest Sellers Rank: 51,903 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)6 in American Civil War History
14 in History of the U.S. Civil War
44 in 19th Century U.S. HistoryCustomer Reviews:
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 2,995 ratings
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James M. McPherson
James M. McPherson is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University. He has published numerous volumes on the Civil War, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom, Crossroads of Freedom (which was a New York Times bestseller), Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution, and For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War, which won the Lincoln Prize.
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Top reviews from Australia
Brian Simpson
5.0 out of 5 stars Very clear exposition and balance.Reviewed in Australia on 25 February 2022
Verified Purchase
I was impressed with the overall balance of information covering the immediate circumstances leading to
secession and conflict, and the exposition of the political, social, economic and military dimensions of this
era.
HelpfulReport
Newton Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Great account of the American Civil WarReviewed in Australia on 10 June 2015
Verified Purchase
Great account of the Civil war, the years leading up to it as well as the war itself. I found myself not being able to put the book down which is unusual for a non fiction history book. The book does not try to comprehensively detail every battle or political intrigue. That would be impossible to do and keep in one book of this length. Well worth reading.
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Uwe Ohlrogge
5.0 out of 5 stars batttlecry of freedomReviewed in Germany on 2 March 2024
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It has been pleasure reading. one of the best history books I ever read--phantastic!
Report
Liam Kelleher
5.0 out of 5 stars An awesome, and highly readable, broadbrush account of the American Civil WarReviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 April 2022
Verified Purchase
Trawling through the masses of Civil War books, it became difficult to choose one alone. I finally settled on Battle Cry For Freedom by James McPherson and am entirely satisfied with the book - it is a brilliant summation of the economic, political and military details before and during the war.
The first 300 pages of the book are the best in my opinion, where McPherson draws a magnificent line between the end of the Mexican War in 1848 and the first shots of the Civil War (some papers referenced as early as 1851 "first shots of Civil War at Christiana"). McPherson makes the excellent point that the expansion of the "Union" south and westwards swallowed up new slave states. "Mexico will poison us". That swing the balance towards a Union where there were more slave states than non.
The rise of the Lincoln and the newly formed Republican Party put the south on edge, with their principles, rather than policies, of being anti-slavery. States wanted to secede from the Union and not be beholden to the whims of Washington DC. McPherson tries to be sympathetic to the Confederate view that the war was not about slavery but rather freedom (indeed one must ask the question if Battle Cry for Freedom does actually allude to both sides). However, it seems quite clear that is about the freedom to have slaves or not.
Soon after the war begins, the freeing of slaves from Confederate territory is really what settles the context of the war. Although Lincoln, and many of his soldiers, did not think the war was about that, in essence the matter was inescapable. The increasing casualties and the decision (need) to enlist black soldiers fully swung the war that way. It is quite interesting that Democratic voters, particularly the Irish contingent, were very reluctant to the join the fight to free southern slaves (the Irish were afraid cheap labour would then flood the north and deprive them of work).
I would say I lost some interest when the war began, as the book goes into considerable detail on the battles and the significant escalation in the amount of casualties as battles progressed. The launch of the rifle resulted in a major increase in casualties with old school tactics. There are some great outlines of the generals of Ulysses Grant and Robert E. Lee. After all the hullabalooh about Robert E. Lee, the book doesn't paint him out as any monster, but a many who was a hero in the Mexican War, and himself was against the idea of slavery. In fact, he wished to grant freedom to any slave who would take up arms in the Confederate army (which never came to pass).
There is also a huge amount of economic detail in the book that made it clear the south could never win, both in terms of financial, technological capabilities and manpower. The blockades of southern ports by the superior naval capabilities of the north choked the south. The complicated relationship between the south and Britain is well told. The south suffered terrible inflation, with huge shortages of much needed salt in particular. The cotton industry collapsed, of which it had little else, as most of its machinery etc was made in the north.
Lincoln actually gets surprisingly little personal coverage in the book, nor indeed is there a huge amount of politics. The second half of the book largely follows the armies around on horseback for the war. The book ends quickly with a mentioning of the dispatch of Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, unimpressed by black people gaining citizenship.
As much as I would like a slightly abridged version, this book has bucket loads of information for anyone interested in the many aspects of the Civil War. It's a superbly written book too, highly readable. It deserves it's place near the top of any "must read" list on the American Civil War.
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7 people found this helpfulReport
Asanu
5.0 out of 5 stars Gran estudio sobre la Guerra Civil americanaReviewed in Spain on 21 July 2019
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Lectura necesaria para comprender la historia de EEUU.Muy bien escrito y a un precio muy asequible
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Robert Obbard
5.0 out of 5 stars ExcellentReviewed in France on 13 October 2018
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Really covers all the angles from the horrors of slavery, through the politics, battles, the role of women, economics, technological innovations and far more. A really gripping story, well told.
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Eugenio Marogna
5.0 out of 5 stars Great historical bookReviewed in Italy on 28 August 2017
Verified Purchase
One of the best book to fully understand the reasons behind such a cruel and long war.
Professor McPherson explains covering a lot of topics, deepening all the various aspects.
Report
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==
==
From Australia
Brian Simpson
5.0 out of 5 stars Very clear exposition and balance.
Reviewed in Australia on 25 February 2022
Verified Purchase
I was impressed with the overall balance of information covering the immediate circumstances leading to
secession and conflict, and the exposition of the political, social, economic and military dimensions of this
era.
Helpful
Report
Newton Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Great account of the American Civil War
Reviewed in Australia on 10 June 2015
Verified Purchase
Great account of the Civil war, the years leading up to it as well as the war itself. I found myself not being able to put the book down which is unusual for a non fiction history book. The book does not try to comprehensively detail every battle or political intrigue. That would be impossible to do and keep in one book of this length. Well worth reading.
Helpful
Report
From other countries
Uwe Ohlrogge
5.0 out of 5 stars batttlecry of freedom
Reviewed in Germany on 2 March 2024
Verified Purchase
It has been pleasure reading. one of the best history books I ever read--phantastic!
Report
Brian Maitland
5.0 out of 5 stars as exhausting as the war but worth the time put in
Reviewed in Canada on 16 June 2015
Verified Purchase
It took me ages to get around to reading this as it is a daunting task. Once you get started it does grip you as well it should. Also, given I'm Canadian and we don't study the Civil War at all in school, it was eye opening to learn so much beyond the main battles and issues. Full credit for McPherson in delving into the pre-Civil War fights especially in Kansas which are mind blowing. Throw in the politics, armies' supply logistics, what life was like on the homefront in both North and South as well as the whole prisoners-of-war and prisons situation and the book is all encompassing.
Where I felt it needed more was clarification. I think some chapters needed sort of asides or maybe a whole appendix with short breakdowns on who was who as after awhile beyond Sherman, Grant and Lee, it was at times hard to tell the generals without a scorecard let alone the various politicians. Also, as nice as the individual battle maps were, I would have liked a broader mapped-out timeline to look at on one or two pages to follow the war visually as well.
These are minor quibbles, though, as if you're going for a one-volume history of the U.S. Civil War, you can't do any better than this.
5 people found this helpful
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Liam Kelleher
5.0 out of 5 stars An awesome, and highly readable, broadbrush account of the American Civil War
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 April 2022
Verified Purchase
Trawling through the masses of Civil War books, it became difficult to choose one alone. I finally settled on Battle Cry For Freedom by James McPherson and am entirely satisfied with the book - it is a brilliant summation of the economic, political and military details before and during the war.
The first 300 pages of the book are the best in my opinion, where McPherson draws a magnificent line between the end of the Mexican War in 1848 and the first shots of the Civil War (some papers referenced as early as 1851 "first shots of Civil War at Christiana"). McPherson makes the excellent point that the expansion of the "Union" south and westwards swallowed up new slave states. "Mexico will poison us". That swing the balance towards a Union where there were more slave states than non.
The rise of the Lincoln and the newly formed Republican Party put the south on edge, with their principles, rather than policies, of being anti-slavery. States wanted to secede from the Union and not be beholden to the whims of Washington DC. McPherson tries to be sympathetic to the Confederate view that the war was not about slavery but rather freedom (indeed one must ask the question if Battle Cry for Freedom does actually allude to both sides). However, it seems quite clear that is about the freedom to have slaves or not.
Soon after the war begins, the freeing of slaves from Confederate territory is really what settles the context of the war. Although Lincoln, and many of his soldiers, did not think the war was about that, in essence the matter was inescapable. The increasing casualties and the decision (need) to enlist black soldiers fully swung the war that way. It is quite interesting that Democratic voters, particularly the Irish contingent, were very reluctant to the join the fight to free southern slaves (the Irish were afraid cheap labour would then flood the north and deprive them of work).
I would say I lost some interest when the war began, as the book goes into considerable detail on the battles and the significant escalation in the amount of casualties as battles progressed. The launch of the rifle resulted in a major increase in casualties with old school tactics. There are some great outlines of the generals of Ulysses Grant and Robert E. Lee. After all the hullabalooh about Robert E. Lee, the book doesn't paint him out as any monster, but a many who was a hero in the Mexican War, and himself was against the idea of slavery. In fact, he wished to grant freedom to any slave who would take up arms in the Confederate army (which never came to pass).
There is also a huge amount of economic detail in the book that made it clear the south could never win, both in terms of financial, technological capabilities and manpower. The blockades of southern ports by the superior naval capabilities of the north choked the south. The complicated relationship between the south and Britain is well told. The south suffered terrible inflation, with huge shortages of much needed salt in particular. The cotton industry collapsed, of which it had little else, as most of its machinery etc was made in the north.
Lincoln actually gets surprisingly little personal coverage in the book, nor indeed is there a huge amount of politics. The second half of the book largely follows the armies around on horseback for the war. The book ends quickly with a mentioning of the dispatch of Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, unimpressed by black people gaining citizenship.
As much as I would like a slightly abridged version, this book has bucket loads of information for anyone interested in the many aspects of the Civil War. It's a superbly written book too, highly readable. It deserves it's place near the top of any "must read" list on the American Civil War.
7 people found this helpful
Report
John Alexander
5.0 out of 5 stars Headline (required)
Reviewed in Japan on 8 September 2018
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A complete and (and sometimes exhaustive) narration of the American Civil War. The first one-third of the book is devoted to the period prior to the war. Why the war happened is arguably more important to study than the climatic violence that concluded those tensions. Unless you are a hard core civil war buff who will read Shelly’s 3000 page rendition, or pour over primary sources and piecemeal accounts, this book is the best way to get an extensive narrative of the entire conflict in a single volume. The writing is very objective and very no-frills, so a pre-existing passion for the subject is required.
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Digital Rights
5.0 out of 5 stars I wished I had read this 20 years ago!
Reviewed in the United States on 3 December 2011
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In the 150th anniversary of the start of the US Civil War I've continued to read on the topic with great interest. BATTLE CRY of FREEDOM has been recommended to me so many times and I truly truly regret not reading it sooner.
The near 1000 page masterpiece by James McPherson delivers a comprehensive, thoroughly researched, well reasoned and gripping story of the American Civil War. The book begins with the struggle in the US since the revolution to fit the contraction of slavery within a shared vision of freedom and representative government which anchors much of what America builds from.
The first, middle and last discussion centers of course on slavery. McPherson shows how opinions hardened and changed often violently in the 60 years since the Constitution to the 1850's. While Jefferson, Madison, Mason and Washington all owned slaves they all spoke or wrote of their desire to restrict it and hopes that it would soon, somehow disappear. But by the outbreak of the Civil War slave holding states saw virtue in themselves, Manifest Destiny was coined by southerns looking to expand slavery westward. Fillibustering meant invading weakened, poorer countries with the intent of further colonizing regions to expand slavery into Central America, Cuba, Mexico and potentially South America. It is all very hard to fathom now.
The war itself is covered in all aspects; battles, strategies, politics, the economy, espionage, immigration. While we know the outcome there is so much to illuminate and keep the reader turning the pages. I think I annotated over 100 different points that merited interest: William Walker's invasions of Nicaragua to expand slavery, the horrific fight over Kansas, the Douglas-Lincoln debates, the South's delicate dance with ambiguity on the reasons for secession, papal infallibility announced by Pius IX in the 1850's and the subsequent anti-liberal movement, Catholics against abolition, the savagery of Jesse and Frank James, development of hospitals and medical care, horrors of POW camps particularly Andersonville, McClellan's inexplicable unwillingness to fight, initiation of income taxes, the amazing productivity of the 37th Congress, Taney's Supreme Court, the Fugitive Slave Act, McPherson's dramatic argument that perhaps it was New England that was unique and not the South. And of course the heroism and suffering of millions of soldiers on both sides.
I cannot help but appreciate more and more the genius Lincoln. He's brilliant, witty, open minded, steadfast in the face of every challenge and with the courage and intelligence to have and articulate a vision of better Union. How fortunate that such a man showed up between Buchanan and Johnson!
McPherson poses all the questions that have previously been raised and many new ones. He challenges the common assumptions and brings fresh perspective. Was this really a 'rich man's war/poor man's fight'? Was this really about States rights and not slavery as many Confederates had wanted to believe? Again and again we are presented with evidence, quotes and the actions of Jefferson Davis, Lincoln, the Generals, the political opponents, the influential newspapers and then the perspective of time to evaluate the results.
This is a great history book. It deserves it's place on the mantle. Included in the current edition are follow up comments by McPherson made in 2003 roughly 15 years after first publication.
16 people found this helpful
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Asanu
5.0 out of 5 stars Gran estudio sobre la Guerra Civil americana
Reviewed in Spain on 21 July 2019
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Lectura necesaria para comprender la historia de EEUU.Muy bien escrito y a un precio muy asequible
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Carlos Ulises Roldán
5.0 out of 5 stars "Mexico will poison us"
Carlos Ulises Roldán 5.0 out of 5 stars "Mexico will poison us" Reviewed in Mexico on 7 July 2015 Verified Purchase Without a doubt the most complete book on the legendary and tragic civil war of Uncle Sam. Mcpherson does an impeccable job of bringing together all the smallest details in the run-up to a conflict that has been very little studied in our country but is of great importance for the entire continent. This highlights the importance of the war against Mexico prior to the conflict between southerners and northerners (Yankees and southerners). But that is a minimal episode of the entire epic that led to an armed conflict so bloody that today it still affects American citizens (They say that civil wars are the worst diseases that a nation suffers from) Quick and friendly reading, highly Recommended for history enthusiasts and the general public. And thanks to Amazon Mexico for bringing these jewels that a few years ago were impossible to get...
One person found this helpful
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Eugenio Marogna
5.0 out of 5 stars Great historical book
Reviewed in Italy on 28 August 2017
Verified Purchase
One of the best book to fully understand the reasons behind such a cruel and long war.
Professor McPherson explains covering a lot of topics, deepening all the various aspects.
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BALAN Suresh Babu
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in India on 9 December 2015
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i just say its a fantastic way of writing.... i got some fabulous infos as well.
Suresh Babu BALAN
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Robert Obbard
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in France on 13 October 2018
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Really covers all the angles from the horrors of slavery, through the politics, battles, the role of women, economics, technological innovations and far more. A really gripping story, well told.
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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Thumbs up! Aprovado!
Reviewed in Brazil on 26 October 2016
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The best book ever written about the American Civil War. James M. McPherson demonstrates great knowledge and a joyfull read. I recommend this book to any person interested on the war between the states.
O melhor livro já escrito sobre a Guerra Civil Americana! James M. McPherson demonstra grande conhecimento e uma leitura agradável. Eu recomendo esse livro a qualquer pessoa que tenha interesse na Guerra de Secessão.
3 people found this helpful
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Pete Laviolette
5.0 out of 5 stars Brings a new perspective
Reviewed in Canada on 12 March 2022
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Fascinating history from a comprehensive perspective, political, social, economics, in a very easy to read format. Not just about war and battles.
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gloine36
5.0 out of 5 stars Dated, but still a powerful and relevant history on the Civil War
Reviewed in the United States on 11 July 2013
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This volume of the Oxford History of the United States came out in 1988 and was the second volume to be published in the series. James McPherson, George Henry Davis '86 Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University, won a Pulitzer Prize for penning this outstanding contribution to American Civil War history. At the time of its release, Battle Cry was immediately acclaimed at the definitive one volume work on the Civil War. McPherson, a lifelong student of the Civil War, managed to compile an outstanding overview of the lead up to the conflict as well as what happened during the war in 900 pages. The downside was that it was only an overview, not a detailed in depth series of volumes on every aspect of the war. Of course, that project would be one in which several historians, specialists in researching various aspects of the Civil War, would rival any history of the war to this date.
There are two major problems with this work. One is that as an entry in the Oxford History series it focuses almost exclusively on the Civil War itself. It does not cover other aspects of American history from 1848 to 1865 except as they relate to the central conflict. Yes, the conflict was the central story of that time period, but there are other stories that need to be included in an American History volume covering that period. McPherson does mention class, race, and gender in this history, but he doesn't go into them except as pertains to the war. Granted, he would not have had a great amount of research available during the 80's to work with comparable to now, 2013. As a result, the book appears to be dated from a modern historiographical point of view.
In addition, the book is now twenty-five years old and is showing its age in spots where newer research has changed the interpretation of the facts. This is not McPherson's fault because it is the fate of all historical works. However, while I think the book could stand a good revision to keep it current, McPherson decided in 2003 that he would not write a revised version. Looking at McPherson's body of work, it is clear that he has written many works on the Civil War for more than forty years and added to his own legacy. I think he is going to leave the project to other historians. We also have to consider whether a one volume book should exceed 1000 pages which would almost certainly happen if Battle Cry were to be revised.
Even with these two criticisms, Battle Cry remains an excellent condensed Civil War history. What really made this book stand out from others was the amount of detail given to the cause of the war itself. When we recall the period of time McPherson was working on the book, we have to remember that the Lost Cause myth was still prevalent as the dominant explanation of the war. Battle Cry helped end that erroneous and racist interpretation which deliberately obscured the real history of the war and its cause. McPherson had done extensive research on the United States Colored Troops earlier in his career and he made good use of that knowledge in Battle Cry. The subject was not shoved under the rug, nor was the massacres and murders that took place when black troops surrendered. He also brought up the fact that Confederates hated the USCT with a passion which only serves to drive home the racism of the period.
Those looking for a detailed analysis of the battles will be disappointed as McPherson devotes most of the pages to why the battles took, and what the results and effects were after them. Since Battle Cry is an overview of the conflict, deeper analysis of the battles awaits the reader in over books. Instead, McPherson weaves the history of the conflict in the various theatres around the battles to show the overall tempo and pace of the war. This strategic analysis results in a book that is not bogged down in battles, but rather one where the flow of a campaign is laid out as it affected everything around it. Commanders get quite a bit of attention as well as politicians. The anti-war effort of the Copperheads and Peach Democrats are explored as is the last ditch attempt at national preservation in the South via allowing blacks to fight for the Confederacy which came too late for the few units to enter combat.
All in all, Battle Cry is still a worthy book to read and a good volume in the Oxford series. As already explained, a revision is necessary and without one over time another one volume history will eventually supplant this as the best overview of the war. It is far more likely that a double volume or trilogy will end up taking its place as it will incorporate additional subfields of American History as well as giving additional space to other historian's areas of interest. With that said, we must remember that McPherson's themes throughout the book are still just as relevant today as they were in 1988. Nothing has changed in that regard. Additional research over the last twenty-five years has only strengthened McPherson's assessment of the cause of the war as well as how the events played out. This makes Battle Cry a durable and still preeminent Civil War history.
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BEGHINI MARCO
4.0 out of 5 stars Professionale
Reviewed in Italy on 18 June 2019
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Scritto da un professore di storia e si vede. Purtroppo, non essedo americano, non riesco ad apprezzare alcuni richiami o rimandi a personaggi dell'epoca che evidentemente sono ben noti laggiù ma poco all'estero. Penso che sia come se un americano leggesse un libro sull'impresa dei Mille e vi trovasse richiamati gli influssi di Mazzini e della Giovine Italia. Molto interessanti anche i primi capitoli con l'inquadramento socio-economico della prima metà del '800 in USA.
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J. C. Bailey
5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF THE BEST CONCISE HISTORIES EVER WRITTEN
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 July 2002
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The present becomes history in the blink of an eye. Many people still think of "history" as something that by definition happened a long time ago; remote, dusty and boring. But history, real history, is everything that has gone into shaping "now" - that infinitesimally short span of time, that temporal singularity in which our consciousness resides.
In that sense, the American Civil War could be considered the purest chunk of history in the world:-
Firstly, because of its radical impact on the shape of the world today. The American Declaration of Independence and the ensuing Revolutionary War did more to change the global political map, but it can be argued that nothing, not the end of empire, not even the two World Wars, did more to change the world's social and economic order. It was the American Civil War that ultimately forged the USA into a nation rather than simply a union, that made aristocracy and serfdom obsolete (one day the rest of the world will catch up), that forced the pace of industrialisation to the point where mass production became the norm, and that in consequence of all this left America as a global superpower in waiting (waiting in fact only for WW1 fifty years later to make it formal).
Secondly, because it was history almost before it was over. This is no joke. This was the first truly modern total war, using (at least in its later battles) modern weaponry and modern tactics. The key psychological battles were fought in the press. Espionage, sabotage and guerrilla warfare played a vital role in the eventual outcome. The leading players were media heroes and villains throughout and after the war, and (with the obvious and tragic exception of Lincoln) they nearly all wrote lengthy self-congratulatory memoirs in the months and years after the war's conclusion. In consequence, and due also to the quality of federal and state archives, this is the earliest war in which the true history has not been obscured by myth: Every political debate and decision, every troop movement, every significant newspaper article and editorial despatch, most military casualties and even the majority of important spoken conversations were documented and preserved for the long process of research and academic argument that began before the war was even over and has been raging ever since.
Thus if you ever had the slightest interest in the past, or the faintest degree of inquisitiveness as to why the world is like it is, the American Civil War is of vital importance. This is true for anyone, not just for the Americans themselves. But with all the thousands of volumes, where do you start? The era has been drilled into in such obsessive detail that someone somewhere has probably written a thousand-page treatise on Kentucky state militia shirt buttons, or located the sites of Robert E. Lee's battlefield latrines through soil spectrum analysis. The American Civil War is almost too big to get into; even a relatively concise narration like Selby Foote's runs to three volumes.
In consequence, McPherson has done the whole world en enormous service in writing "The Battle Cry of Freedom". In one chunky paperback volume, the author tells the whole story of the war from its roots in the early 19th century through to its immediate aftermath. Every important angle is covered, including the political, economic, social, military, diplomatic and humanitarian perspectives. There are enough facts to satisfy the most demanding reader, but through skilful narrative technique and the copious use of footnotes the author never loses the shape of the story. The personalities of the leading figures such as Lincoln, Davis, Grant, McLellan and so on come through vividly. And for anyone who wishes to focus on some particular issue in greater depth, there are heaps of recommendations for further reading.
One of the most appealing facets of this book is the author's willingness to engage with the moral and ethical issues: slavery, taxation, the draft, army foraging, prisoner exchanges and so on. Another star for the warmth with which he deals with human suffering and deprivation (the book's title gives an advance clue to his personal convictions). In short, this is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read - so good I am sorry I have finished it - and it has inspired me to look around for other writings of this quality that will take me further in to this landmark era in history.
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JONAS RIBAS
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in Brazil on 21 December 2020
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Excelente revisão da guerra civil americana, leitura obrigatória sobre o tema, riquíssimo em referências bibliográficas.
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Alejandro Nieto Gonzalez
5.0 out of 5 stars Magnífico libro sobre la Guerra Civil americana
Reviewed in Spain on 3 June 2013
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Este es un magnífico libro sobre la Guerra Civil americana. Cuenta no sólo la Guerra en sí, sino el trasfondo político que la rodeó, explicando muy bien sus causas. Muy bien escrito.
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Tom
4.0 out of 5 stars Written all over with marker
Reviewed in France on 10 February 2021
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It's an AMAZING book, but (even if I do accept that I bought it 2nd hand) it was written all over in marker as it seems that it was previously owned by a student
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M Clark
5.0 out of 5 stars This 900+ page history of the civil war turned out to be a page-turner.
Reviewed in Germany on 24 October 2022
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Very much to my surprise, this 900+ page history of the civil war turned out to be a page-turner. One reason for this is the author's choice of using a narrative history focusing on the events within short blocks of time. A significant amount of the book is spent describing the key battles of the war. He does this superbly, making the battles understandable in ways that most other war books fail to do. Unfortunately, the maps in the Kindle edition are difficult to read.
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Artemus n'H
4.0 out of 5 stars Un must pour qui s'intéresse à cette période de manière scientifique
Reviewed in France on 22 November 2019
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Les illustrations sont tellement importantes pour s'imprégner d'une époque ! Dommage que le texte original (sans images) ait été raccourcis, j'ai dû acheter les deux. Sinon cette version apporte un relief énorme à l'ensemble, de part la variété des supports. Sublime.
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Fezziwig
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good One-Volume History of the Civil War
Reviewed in the United States on 21 May 2015
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This is a very good one-volume history of the Civil War. It is much more than a military history, an endless litany of battles and military campaigns and strategy. Although it is partly a military history, it is also a social, political, economic, and diplomatic history of the Civil War period. It is a scholarly history; McPherson documents his conclusions, opinions, and quotes with voluminous endnotes. (Since this was an e-reader edition, it is rather effortless to tap on the superscripted numeral and view the endnote.)
McPherson begins his history well before the outbreak of hostilities in 1861. The first chapter, “The United States at Midcentury,” takes a look at American society and politics in the 1850s. The American South “dominated the world market” for cotton. The industrial revolution was changing society, primarily in the North, as millions moved from farms to urban centers to work in factories. A religious awakening was sweeping the North generating moral and cultural reform movements, especially a push for the abolition of slavery, which would put the northern states on a collision course with the South. In the next few chapters, the author covers political events that were shaking the country in the turbulent 1850s. The Mexican War brought new territories into the United States, which exacerbated the ongoing debate over whether new states should be admitted to the union as slave states or free states. Pro-slavery and free-soil settlers were fighting and killing each other over slavery in the Kansas territory during the 1850s. And a new political party, the Republicans, arrived on the American scene and elected an unlikely western-born man named Abraham Lincoln as their candidate in the 1860 presidential elections. And to raise the stakes in this crucial election Lincoln was known to be an anti-slavery man.
It is not until the very end of chapter 8, when South Carolina starts the Civil War on April 12, 1861, by firing on the federal fort at the entrance to Charleston harbor, Fort Sumter. The first eight chapters of this history are dedicated to the all-important task of laying the groundwork for an understanding of the events and ideas that led to this tragic conflict.
Even for those very familiar with the battles that swept over the American landscape during the next four years, there is much to be learned from McPherson’s narrative. The author skillfully weaves into the war stories the social, political, and cultural context for these events. How did the war affect the people of the South where most of the battles were fought? How did they survive when their men went off to fight, when the value of their currency turned to almost nothing, when there was nothing in the stores to buy with their worthless money, when their slaves that did the hard work of growing their cotton and food crops ran away to follow the liberating Yankee army? And in the North, how did the people deal with the forced conscription that pulled young men from their homes, farms, and families? Many of these conscripts were recent immigrants. How did they cope with the demand that they risk their lives to save their new country? McPherson investigates all of these concerns in Battle Cry.
This long book (almost 1,000 pages) pulls the reader into its narrative almost immediately. I found it hard to put down. Even though we all know how the war turned out, surely its participants did not. Those who were certain of triumph at the beginning (Jefferson Davis and seemingly most of the secessionists) turned out to be wrong. Those who felt a sense of doom and wondered if even God had deserted them (especially, at times, Abraham Lincoln) often ended in triumph. The reader, even viewing these events in retrospect, becomes engaged with the drama and feels empathy for the emotions of the actors is this great national tragedy.
Note: I read this book on a Kindle. The battle maps in the Kindle edition are hard to read and of little use on my paperwhite Kindle, but show up clearly on a Kindle Fire.
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Bookfinder
5.0 out of 5 stars Diese Buch sollte jeder lesen, der sich für amerikanische Geschichte und Politik interessiert. Hervorragend geschrieben!
Reviewed in Germany on 3 December 2016
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Dieses Buch ist eines der besten, die je über amerikanische Geschichte und Politik geschrieben wurde. Für die Südstaaten beginnt auch heute noch die Geschichtsschreibung nicht mit Christi Geburt, sondern mit dem Beginne des Bürgerkrieges. Die mentale Spaltung zwischen dem Süden und den Yankees ist auch heute noch aktuell und äußert present. McPherson ist ein eminenter Historiker und ein wunderbarer Schriftsteller. Wer, wie ich, lange in den Süd- und Nordstaaten gelebt hat, findet in diesem Buch alle Erklärungen für den heutigen Zustand der amerikanischen Politik. Wenn Trump dieses Buch lesen würde, würde er sich und die Amerikaner auch besser verstehen.
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mcewin
5.0 out of 5 stars Pulitzer-prize text & Photos too !
Reviewed in Canada on 13 January 2018
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Lovely edition! The complete text of McPherson's Pulitzer-prize winning one-volume account of the Civil War, accompanied by a profusion of color and BW plates on almost every page. The quality of the paper leaves a little to be desired, but this is the go-to edition for those who don't have the original (and those of us who do).
[NB: McPherson the College Prof shines through in one passage: when Colonel Chamberlain must take charge of the situation on Little Round Top, McPherson credits has ability to bring Order out of Chaos to his having dealt with unruly students in his classroom. Now we see how Professors fight.]
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urko
5.0 out of 5 stars Un buen libro
Reviewed in Spain on 18 February 2013
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Muy buen libro, interesante y ameno sin perder por ello calidad histórica. Se lo recomiendo a cualquiera que esté interesado en la guerra civil de EEUU.
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M. Luthman
4.0 out of 5 stars Battle Cry of Freedom on Kindle
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 August 2012
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As an Englishman, this book gave me a fascinating insight not only into the US civil war but also its politics and the evolution of US politics in general. I am no academic historian and the book gave me real pause for thought as to the complexities of maintaining motivation for a long struggle in a democracy. There are several maps to explain battle engagements but they reproduce badly in the Kindle version; the screen is too small for the size and detail of the maps and they are difficult to make out. Where the maps have been divided up to make the detail legible it is difficult to keep the whole map in mind. There are many footnotes, and the Kindle is good for this, but the footnotes themselves are sometimes disappointing to follow; often they lead from a particularly interesting point in the text simply to a cross reference to source documents or other studies rather than to further explanation or context. Reading this literary work, one realises the differences between English and American in the use of language and even the words themselves and here the Kindle's US dictionary is helpful.
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Eugenio Gomez-acebo
4.0 out of 5 stars The rich man's war and poor man's fight
Reviewed in Spain on 1 December 2014
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A very detailed, comprehensive history book about the Secession war. Seldom in history has a counterrevolution so quickly provoked the very revolution if sought to pre-empt. From 1860 to 1865 American lives lost in the Civil War exceeded the total of those lost in all the other wars the country has fought added together, including World Wars. 600k soldiers plus many civilians lost their lives in a conflict between the old world and the new one, the rural societies and the new capitalism, the old vision of the founding fathers and the new United States concept, slavery and emancipation.
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R. M. M.
5.0 out of 5 stars Balanced, insightful, vivid
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 February 2014
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If I was to read only one book, I was particularly concerned to find one that avoided ahistoric value judgments and the bias that would follow. All of us now would say the South was in the wrong, monstrously so, but I didn't need to read a 900 page book to be told that. So I started by reading a lot of reviews in search of 'the best one volume book about the war' - which led to this one.
There is a Simpsons episode where Lisa is asked about the causes of the war; Lisa starts to give a long list but the examiner cuts her off with "just say slavery." In a sense this is true, of course, but in other ways it really isn't. The South was fighting for states' rights and limited government, fundamental principles of the foundation of the United States. The North presents an even greater problem for the simpistic 'slavery' view: while abolitionists were strong in New England, many if not most of the people of the North had absolutely no more concern for the rights of black people than their opposite numbers in the South. Quotation after quotation after quotation, liberally peppered with a certain word beginning with n, and coming from all manner of Northerners from Lincoln down to the humblest sort, make this abundantly clear. The North was fighting for the preservation of the union from 'traitors,' and that was it, for the first couple of years at least.
There is little doubt that, had the confederacy collapsed more quickly, things would have gone back to business as usual in the South. This produces the curious reflection that it was the extremely able leadership of the South (Robert E Lee being widely regarded as one of the greatest half dozen generals in all human history) that caused the destruction of the slavery cause.
My biggest reservation about this book, by far, is with the Kindle format. I adore Kindle and even prefer it to reading real books generally, but the maps just don't quite work; how can you get an overview when a map covers 5 or 6 electronic pages? Maps are so important to understanding of military campaigns that this is a real issue. Given my time over, I'd seriously consider getting the paperback rather than the Kindle version.
To sign off, an unimportant tidbit, the sort of fun thing you get in very long books: it was this war which popularized the sort of standard sizes in ready-made clothing we are used to today. Previously, clothes were home-made or bespoke tailored, but the need for industrial quantities of uniforms led to standard sizings.
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dmiguer
4.0 out of 5 stars A Matter of Principal
Reviewed in the United States on 3 October 2022
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“A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.” -Abraham Lincoln, 1858 accepting nomination for the US Senate
“I order and declare that all persons held as slaves within the designated states henceforward shall be free. Such persons of suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the United States. And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, as warranted by the Constitution and upon military necessity, I invoke the judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.” - Abraham Lincoln, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” - Abraham Lincoln, 1863 Gettysburg Address
************
James McPherson begins his Pulitzer Prize winning account of the American Civil War in 1848 after the attack on Mexico City and Santa Anna’s surrender, annexing the current states of California, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. Many of the lieutenants who fought in the Mexican-American war of 1848 went on to become generals who fought against one another in the Civil War; Ulysses Grant, George McClellan for the north, Robert E. Lee, PGT Beauregard, George Pickett and James Longstreet for the south. In the prior half century the US multiplied its territory four times, GDP seven times and population five times, one eighth enslaved. Growth had been built on the backs of Africans and at the expense of Natives.
A Peculiar Institution - Zachary Taylor 1849-50
Whigs had opposed the Mexican war, among them a young Congressman named Lincoln. Manifest Destiny had been a Democrat doctrine, and debate began if the Southwest would become free or enslaved. A proposal not to extend slavery to new territories divided votes between the south and north instead of on party lines, an ominous sign. California and New Mexico passed free state constitutions, challenging the balance of power in Congress. Taylor was a general who had fought in the war, owned 400 slaves and traded them while in the White House, but became a Whig candidate against expansion of slavery. He died 16 months into his term with an unconfirmed cholera diagnosis and theories of poison.
Yankee Ingenuity - Millard Fillmore 1850-53
Slavery had been abolished north of the Mason-Dixon Line, between Maryland and Pennsylvania in 1820, south of the line the economy was dependent on it. Territories west of the Mississippi were divided between slave or free at the 36th parallel. A Protestant revival had taken up the cause of abolitionism in the northeast. Inventions in communication and transportation transformed the pre-industrial economy. Universal suffrage for white males and education to 15 years of age contributed to technological innovations that rivaled Britain for industrial output and created the world’s highest standard of living by mid 1800’s. Fillmore forestalled civil war by a compromise preventing slavery in California.
A Rebel Yell - Franklin Pierce 1853-57
Transitions from master-journeyman to employer-employee and emerging capitalism challenged Jeffersonian ideals of liberty and self reliance. The new work model resembled slavery in the south with a different master. Disparity of income rose in the north between owners and workers that mirrored wealthy plantation owners of the south. Bank proliferation created a political controversy between the Whig party who favored a central bank and Democrats who saw banking as a tyranny. Republicans succeeded the Whig party in 1854 as standard bearers of anti-slavery, opposing the Democrats who favored limited government and state rights. Pierce was a staunch Democrat and anti-abolitionist.
A House Divided - James Buchanan 1857-61
Republicans of the era were progressives who stood for a free labor economy, infrastructure development, education and protective tariffs, while Democrats were reactionaries who argued that abolition would tear the Union apart. They had support by underclass artisans and farmers, outsiders such as Catholic immigrants from Ireland and Germany who resented the forced education and temperance promoted by Protestant northerners, as well as the rich slave holders of the south. It’s notable the relative positions of the parties have reversed in many ways over the years. Buchanan was a Democrat who intervened to deny black citizenship in the Dred Scott case and supported slave ownership in new states.
Against Itself - Abraham Lincoln 1861-65
A fugitive slave law had been passed in 1850 where owners could travel to free states and reclaim escapees, increasing political rancor between the north and south. Another cause for resentment in the south was economic. The south had a cotton monoculture that used northern shipping and mills to export both raw materials and finished textiles. In turn they bought manufactured goods from the north, everything from shoes to shovels. They could not keep up with the industrial and population growth of the north. Enslaved workers had little incentive to increase productivity and owners wealth was tied up in land and slaves. The ghost of Jefferson’s agrarian republic loomed large in the minds of the south.
Cannot Stand - Abraham Lincoln 1861-65
After his debates with Stephen Douglas in 1858, Lincoln was elected the first Republican president in late 1860 due to a split in the Democratic Party. The precursors to the south’s secession were the ‘Bleeding Kansas War’, waged between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces between 1854-61, and Virginia’s John Brown slave rebellion of 1859. Threats to split the Union over slavery rights in the new territories had been made for years and the election of an anti-slavery northerner ratcheted up tensions. In months seven southern states seceded and attacked Fort Sumter. It resulted in a war that killed as many US soldiers as WWI & WWII combined, more than all other wars from the Revolution until now.
This 20 year history is encyclopedic and thorough. It’s neither completely chronological or topical. There might have been a way to weave the themes into a narrative or break them into a time line without shifting back and forth. McPherson knows the Civil War period and demonstrates it clearly. It’s not a blow by blow battle account but the course of the war is covered. It is incomprehensible US institutional slavery existed until 1865. Political disputes are reminiscent of today; a hatred of northern coastal ‘elites’ and sidelining of southern blacks, arguments for states rights and against federal power. History lives on in our collective memories and national DNA, in our religious beliefs and daily lives.
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Matt
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“Both sides of the American Civil War professed to be fighting for freedom. The South, said Jefferson Davis in 1863, was ‘forced to take up arms to vindicate the political rights, the freedom, equality, and State sovereignty which were the heritage purchased by the blood of our revolutionary sires.’ But if the Confederacy succeeded in this endeavor, insisted Abraham Lincoln, it would destroy the Union ‘conceived in Liberty” by those revolutionary sires as ‘the last, best hope’ for the preservation of republican freedoms in the world. ‘We must settle this question now,’ said Lincoln in 1861, ‘whether in a free government the minority have the right to break up the government whenever they choose.’ Northern publicists ridiculed the Confederacy’s claim to fight for freedom. ‘Their motto,’ declared poet and editor William Cullen Bryant, ‘is not liberty, but slavery.’ But the North did not at first fight to free the slaves. ‘I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with slavery in the States where it exists,’ said Lincoln early in the conflict…Within a year, however, both Lincoln and Congress decided to make emancipation of slaves in Confederate states a Union war policy. By the time of the Gettysburg address, in 1863, the North was fighting for a ‘new birth of freedom’ to transform the Constitution written by the founding fathers, under which the United States had become the world’s largest slaveholding country, into a charter of emancipation for a republic where, as the northern version of “The Battle Cry of Freedom” put it, ‘Not a man shall be a slave.’ The multiple meanings of slavery and freedom, and how they dissolved and re-formed into new patterns in the crucible of war, constitute a central theme of this book…”
- James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
It is impossible to anoint any one book the “best” telling of a historical event, especially one as huge as the American Civil War. After all, you can’t compare a multivolume series to a single entry, or the biography of a general to the dissection of a battle. That said, there are certain touchstone volumes that tend to show up over and over, enduring long after their publication. They are lighthouses in a sea of words.
James McPherson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom is one of those landmark titles.
It is a massive, nearly nine-hundred page long distillation of the most fraught, deadly period in the fraught and deadly history of the United States. It’s a necessary work for any serious student of the Civil War, and also a go-to for anyone who is just getting started. By the time it ended, I was ready for another thousand pages.
***
The first thing to say about Battle Cry of Freedom is that it’s about the Civil War, but isn’t really a “Civil War book.” Its scope is much, much wider, spanning the years 1848 to 1865.
McPherson starts his masterpiece at the fall of Mexico City following the Battle of Chapultepec. With the end of the Mexican-American War, the United States wrested away huge swaths of territory that would eventually form six states, and parts of five others. This controversial triumph, however, disrupted the fragile compromise over slavery. The South wanted the territories open to slavery, arguing that it was a question of property rights above all. The North – for a variety of reasons – wanted the territory to be free.
The issue was debated in Congress, argued in the Supreme Court, fought over in Kansas and Nebraska, and eventually culminated in eleven states seceding from the Union.
***
One of the central pillars of the Lost Cause myth has always been the erasure of slavery as the chief cause of the Civil War. Instead, proponents argue that it centered on “state’s rights” or tariffs or northern aggression or any number of things besides the four million people held in bondage.
This is not only rank misdirection, but sloppy reasoning, as slavery underlay everything. Acknowledging this, McPherson takes us down the road to war methodically, step by step. He discusses the Wilmot Proviso, the Compromise of 1850, Bleeding Kansas, and the Dred Scott decision. This isn’t a summary either, meant to provide a bit of context. It is three-hundred solid pages of contentious debates, political realignment, and guerilla warfare. There is also a lot of dissembling, even more murders, and a caning in the U.S. Capitol.
McPherson deftly introduces a large cast of characters, and effectively uses their own words to describe their positions. Aside from the obvious stars, such as Abraham Lincoln, we meet lesser knowns, such as future Confederate vice-president Alexander Stephens, who proudly and explicitly declared the type of society he wanted. Given the expansive page count, McPherson is able to devote time to elements of the prewar years that are sometimes shorted, such as the numerous filibustering expeditions to places like Cuba, in order to secure the spread of slavery.
***
While it takes a while for it to start, McPherson’s coverage of the war itself is excellent. One of the most impressive things he is able to do is to present a clear vision of the overall strategic picture, rather than focusing on the Eastern Theater and its famous clashes. This is not a military history, like Shelby Foote’s The Civil War: A Narrative, but it handles the battles well. McPherson is also good with the personalities, and has trenchant critiques of the leaders. Ulysses Grant – before his recent renaissance – is noted to have a marvelous grasp of how all the moving parts fit into a whole. Robert Lee is given his due as a tactical genius, but faulted for his hyperfocus on Northern Virginia, and his inability to win battles away from his own backyard.
The chronology of the war provides Battle Cry of Freedom with its spine, but McPherson leaves it often for in-depth thematic disquisitions on a huge variety of topics, among them the drafts in both North and South; financing of the war; international diplomacy; prisoners of war; the role of women; and the enlargement of federal power.
Overriding this is the war’s transformation from one to secure the Union and preserve democracy, to one to end slavery. To that end, McPherson again focuses on both well-known personages such as Frederick Douglass, as well as unlikely champions of liberty like Benjamin Butler.
***
McPherson is an elegant writer. He delivers good set pieces and precise character portraits. Nevertheless, it must be noted that despite being a runaway bestseller, this isn’t really a popular history. It’s part of the Oxford History of the United States, which is notable for the brilliance of its authors, the weightiness of its tomes, the density of its contents, and the occasional dryness of its prose
I say this because there are sections of Battle Cry of Freedom that might prove somewhat stultifying if you are more interested in era’s martial aspects. For instance, early on, there is a lengthy rundown on the changing economic paradigm of the mid-nineteenth century, as a country of self-sustaining yeoman farmers began to transform into wage earners. Though interesting, it sure ain’t Gettysburg.
***
McPherson – or his editor – chose the title to this book quite deliberately. It refers to a song sung by both North and South, in two different forms. The Union version talks of putting down “the traitors” and ensuring that “although he may be poor, not a man will be a slave.” The Confederate version promises never to yield “to the tyrants.” Both “shout the battle cry of freedom.”
The lyrics are in keeping with McPherson’s chief theme: liberty. North and South each claimed this mantle, though they defined liberty in radically different ways.
In McPherson’s telling, the South could be classified as proactive conservative counterrevolutionaries who dumped the Constitution and tried to form their own country in order to keep things from changing. The North, on the other hand, generally viewed liberty through the prism of democracy, standing on the principle that elections matter, and if you decide to quit when you lose one, the whole project crumbles. As the war dragged on, though, the view expanded to include the literal freedom of enslaved persons. This shift is encapsulated by Lincoln’s second inaugural, where he spoke not just of a union, but of a nation, and in which he acknowledged that “every drop of blood drawn by the lash” might have to be “paid by another drawn by the sword.”
Though both North and South had a different perspective on the war, they are not equal in logical coherence or moral suasion. McPherson recognizes this. He gives voice to all the strands of this great and bloody war, but makes clear his judgments. Battle Cry of Freedom ends at a moment of profound triumph, when it seemed possible that freedom would be accompanied by justice, and that a reunified nation might make good on its lofty promises.
Unfortunately, that moment did not last, and the failure has echoed for one-hundred-and-sixty years.
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Mustafa Ahmad
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January 6, 2016
Being a young history buff, it took me 3 weeks and 3 days to read this. That is, 3 weeks of contemplating reading it and proceeding to finish it in 3 days. This book is undoubtedly the best 1-volume book on the war that divided and reunited America but ended some of our back-then traditions such as slavery. In other words, the Civil War. It has a good balance of the battles such as Gettysburg and Antietam while it does discuss the social, political, and economic factors that also fueled the war. It starts off at the end of the Mexican-American War and does so for the first 100 pages. Then, it starts off on the attack on Fort Sumter and what happened the rest of the time during the Civil War. McPherson's prose reads in the style of a novel. It's a very easy read and also very enjoyable. There are always other books on the subject that go in depth on different aspects such as the battles or the figures, but if you want a general overview of the Civil War from its origins to its aftermath, this is THE book!
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April 24, 2020
Embarking on reading or in this case rerereading McPherson's civil war at 800 plus pages feels like committing to refighting that four year conflict. One feels the need of a logistics corps to support the reading effort at the front as the page counts mounts and mounts. The book itself, particularly in a hardback incarnation, is virtually a civil war, it could be lobbed with hostile intent at a passerby, or laid on the ground to make a defensive position or strapped to the chest to protect the heart from musket balls or sabre blows.
McPherson paints a busy panorama, crowded with details finely drawn and occasionally even quotable, starting in the 1830s, going through the divergence in economic development in north and south - suggesting at the end that it was the north with it industrialising and increasingly capitalist society which was exceptional while the South was more broadly typical of mid-nineteenth century societies in being agrarian and reliant on tied labour, the Mexican war, land grabbing adventures in Nicaragua, the collapse of the Whig party and sectional violence everywhere, muskets, swords and walking sticks taken up in anger. As a reader there is a desire to kick back against this portentous handling which reads as though McPherson was writing with Wagner's Gotterdammarung playing in the background, Siegfried's death implying this conflict was inevitable, already perhaps in progress by other means long before Fort Sumter was fired upon. This naturally leads to wanting him to just get on with things rather than continuing to set out his stall for several hundred pages. The downside with this feeling of inevitability is that he then has to dismiss initial votes by Southern states against secession as merely 'conditional unionism' or equally praise Lincoln and the Republicans refusal to negotiate after his election as a realistic course of action. Perhaps, but these it seems to me are debatable points. Ultimately he comes down strongly in favour of contingency -pointing out the impact of victories and defeats in shifting public opinion and the sentiments and opinions of the major political actors.
McPherson pulls out the role of race and attitudes about race, not simply white vs black, but even within 'whiteness' - Saxon vs Norman in which reading the southerners were the gentle yet warlike descendants of the Normans, recognisable as the Cavaliers in the earlier English Civil War, while your Northerner was a rude mechanical (and Irish), which I suppose is the inevitable result of creating a concept of fictive kinship to justify a social position, but still one wonders as in Williamsion's The Penguin History of Latin America, how one gets from such divisive thinking to a nation of liberty, equality and fraternity, or even if this can be done in a reasonable time frame - say before the return of Jesus, the arrival of Maitreya Buddha who in a rare piece of good news can apparently be ordered from a well known internet bookseller, or the emergence of the Mahdi, not that this is the topic in hand for this book, simply for society.
McPherson discusses Unionism in Tennessee and West Virginia, divided sentiments in Kentucky and Missouri which interestingly and probably significantly have tended to become far more supportive of the Confederacy since the end of the war than at the time - a process which T.J.Styles describes beginning in Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War , mind you much of this is conjecture, just as after an election newspaper commentators explain the results, without actually asking people. More significant perhaps then is McPherson's roll call of individuals like George Thomas, Admiral Farragut or Pemberton who didn't side with their state or place of birth. Then again this whole issue of identity and identification was peculiarly intense possibly because anti-bellum America was very mobile, many people had moved away from place of birth to settle and make a living in new developing regions - elective affinities it seems are the fiercest of all.
For McPherson this was a second American Revolution and one which saw the birth of a nation rather than an untidy agglomeration of states who grudgingly had admitted it would make good sense to work together to some limited extent in the wake of their treacherous rebellion from poor old George III.
This account is not purely a muddy slog through an exceptionally violent conflict - McPherson regularly points to battles more bloody than various combinations of other American conflicts - but also shoots off to consider other issues, developing technologies, the role of the war in promoting the production of clothes in standardised sizes a regular feature of shopping that can be attributed to the need for uniforming hundreds of thousands of men without needing to tailor every shirt or pair of trousers. The introduction of income tax, not only the existence of war bonds but how they were marketed and rendered affordable to a broad public, in the North. Other elements of a Second Revolution included the creation of a transcontinental railway, a network of agricultural colleges, a Homestead Act to support the settlement of the West, the introduction of the 'greenback' national paper currency and changes to the prevailing system of local banks issuing their own bank notes, eventually the thirteenth amendment, the Freedman's bureau Freedwomen presumably had to just look out for each other, and moves towards universal male suffrage.
Another theme is the disruptive effect of war, providing new opportunities for women - who thanks to increasing mechanisation in the north at least could send off their sons to war confident they could still manage to bring in the hay, but also in industry and professionally, for immigrants, black people, and a host of middle aged men perhaps repressed by the structures and requirements of everyday life who got to have extravagant mid-life crises (and its hard for me not to think of the parade of civil war generals in that way, many of whom I struggle to imagine in civilian life outside of pantomime, apart from McCellan who to me fits perfectly with his Napoleonic pretensions as the prototypical rock-star CEO that he had been of a Railway company.
I get a sense of the overwhelming effort - implicitly implied by the solid heft of this book - required by the war in which both sides, having found themselves at war suddenly had to come up with the armies and logistics to fight it. Originally units elected their own officers, prominent persons with political clout held high commands, it was for almost everyone a learn on the job type war, and those who had combat experience from the Mexican war found that bayonet charges against entrenchments were now unpleasantly fatal given significant improvements in fire-power in the intervening years.
There is emphasis and space given to the politics of the home front on both sides as well as the international diplomacy and espionage of which McPherson occasionally drops heavy hints ought in a just universe be the subject of many rollicking novels. And also we are shown the shifts of opinion in Britain particularly, down to the debated attitude of Lancashire cotton workers towards the conflict
As a war, and whatever else is discussed here this is always the narrative history of a war, the American conflict seems to presage much which is still familiar - total war, the strategic importance of logistics, mobilisation of entire populations, highly technical, mechanised warfare side by side with house to house neighbour on neighbour brutality, massed artillery barrages and scalping.
The best one volume history of the American Civil War? I couldn't say, however I don't see the need to search for another one, yet. footnotes and a bibliographic essay however shows the paths into the apparently endless ink wars that have raged over it ever since
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Luís
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June 23, 2024
What any historical work should look like. Devoid of any ideological bias (quite a few French historians should take note), this abundantly documented book (the diversity of sources with which the author had to work is dizzying) depicts a slice of the history of mid-19th century America.
The first 300 pages delve into the political, economic, social, and cultural landscape of the Northern and Southern states, providing a thorough understanding of the differences in mentality between the future Confederate states and those of the future Union. The book skillfully reveals that the schism, with the question of slavery as its visible tip, was seemingly inevitable.
This "introduction" is relatively daunting (you should not hesitate to consult the internet or other works as a supplement alongside reading it) but necessary.
The other 600 pages concern the conflict itself. Better "paced," illustrated by numerous maps with multiple points of view, it is complete because it does not forget the political, economic, and geopolitical questions surrounding this fratricidal war.
Everything is covered, from the maritime blockade to prison camps (including the sinister Andersonville), medical problems, and conflicts between generals from the same camps. Each battle details its strategies, both from the point of view of decision-makers and ordinary soldiers.
This book is quite simply a reference work on the Civil War.
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Bryan Jones
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July 10, 2007
It is reported that there are 15,000 books on the Civil War in the Library of Congress, so the natural question is where do you start? Furthermore, Most of the "seminal" Civil War works are volumes and thousands of pages. Well in 850 pages, McPherson provides succint, yet thorough historical writing of the highest caliber. It unmuddies the waters as to the reasons for the country's schism and the start of the war and provides the necessary level of detail as to the prosecution of the war without going inot excruciating detail about troop movements and the like.
Perhaps the most remarkable piece of the book was the eiplogue in which McPherson presents an interesting point about America's notions of liberty and freedom. Whereas before the Civil War the nation was intent on keeping Americans free from things, the Civil War represented a shift in that the government was now thought of as a agent that gave people freedom to things.
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Ali
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March 3, 2022
I should mention that I don’t know a lot about the Civil War to write a proper review of a book as majestic as this, but I figure I can point out a thing or two.
I think one of the reasons that this book has been acclaimed so widely is that the author hasn’t missed that much and the book is sufficiently researched (even though the end-notes are not extensive and apparently not all the sources are mentioned). McPherson starts with a nostalgic prologue and works his way slowly but surely, through the aftermath of the Mexican war and the 1850s (the previous volume in the Oxford series covers the events up to 1848 and this one picks it up from there). The starting chapters contain a lot of material about a lot of different subjects — from balloon-frame houses and the American system of manufactures to the evolving roles of women in the society — and it can be a little bit overwhelming. But McPherson does not get bogged down in detail and deftly moves ahead. This background building and the general study of the economy in the midcentury America, kind of pays off in the end because it makes this one-volume all the more comprehensive and richer.
The writing is clear and never monotonous and time to time you even get a paragraph with flair:
“The Mexican War fulfilled for the United States its self-proclaimed destiny to bestride the continent from sea to shining sea. But by midcentury the growing pains of this adolescent republic threatened to tear the country apart before it reached maturity.”
To be sure I took my time reading this book because there is a lot of ground to cover and no matter how good McPherson is (or the Oxford series for that matter) I’m just starting to dip into this momentous period in U.S. history and as a non-American there is even more for me to unpack. But I’m positive that this book can serve as a solid springboard for the study of the interminable number of books and publications dealing with the subject.
Once the book gets to the Border War it gets all the more absorbing of course, and progresses chronologically to the bitter end. As McPherson himself points out in the preface, one of the reasons for writing this book is to present a big picture of the conflict and how like a giant web, an incident in one corner brought about an upheaval in the other — like the crucial military victories of the North that thwarted the Confederacy’s attempts to secure foreign recognition; the precarious situation of the Union administration near the elections and the victories that it had to achieve to justify waging a total war against the South.
The history books painting with broad strokes tend to be tedious yet McPherson strikes a tasteful balance:
“At one point Yankee troopers swam the river naked except for their cartridge belts and captured the bemused pickets. At another ford, blue horsemen waded dismounted through neck-deep water with their Spencer carbines. ‘As the rebel bullets began to splash around pretty thick,’ recalled a Union officer, northern soldiers discovered that they could pump the waterproof metal cartridges into the Spencer’s chamber underwater; ‘hence, all along the line you could see the men bring their guns up, let the water run from the muzzle a moment, then take quick aim, fire his piece and pop down again.’ The astonished rebels called to each other: ‘Look at them Yankee sons of bitches, loading their guns under water! What sort of critters be they, anyhow?’”
A. A. Hoehling, Last Train from Atlanta
McPherson has brought his narrative to life by finding these little stories and anecdotes and interspersing them throughout.
Another admiring feature is that the book doesn’t let you forget about the contingencies surrounding the contemporaries: McPherson does not believe in any inevitable outcome concerning the end of the war and aptly reminds you that Union victory was by no means certain just because of its industrial capacity or finer leadership; at numerous points it seems that victory barely eluded the Confederacy at the last moment. (He is able to present these ideas, combine them, and dismiss them, partly because he can rest on the shoulders of many historians that have grappled with these viewpoints in much more depth.)
Descriptions of battles are surprisingly good for a one-volume book that usually has only a few pages to spare for a battle as significant as Gettysburg. With one or two glances at the maps and focusing a bit I got a good sense of what was going on: how the flanking maneuvers took place (and usually failed), how the initiative switched sides, and how much the personalities of the commanders mattered when the fight started on the battlefield.
The book ends with the surrender of Lee’s army and provides a fitting epilogue that serves as a prelude to the next book concerning the Reconstruction. I’ll probably make do with a shorter work dealing with that era but it’s good to know that it’s there.
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November 10, 2009
If you want detailed discussion of battles, this is not the book for you. If you want detailed descriptions of key actors during the Civil War, this will not be the book for you. But if you want an all encompassing volume, linking the battles, economic issues, social life, culture, and politics, then this book will be a wonderful resource.
Where does the title of the book come from? A Civil War song, "The Battle Cry of Freedom," written in 1862. Illustrative lines:
"The Union forever, Hurrah boys Hurrah!
Down with the traitor and up with the star; While we rally round the flag boys,
rally once again, Shouting the battle cry of freedom."
McPherson addresses the purpose of this volume (Page ix): ". . .I have tried to integrate the political and military events of this era with important social and economic developments to form a seamless web synthesizing up-to-date scholarship with my own research and interpretations."
The book begins with background, the Mexican War, slavery, bleeding Kansas, and the election of 1860. We learn about the comparative economies in north and south as well as social and cultural and political issues. Then, as one chapter title says so well, "Amateurs go to war." Starting with untrained forces and many inept officers, the war began.
The difference between this and other histories can be noted in space devoted to battles. Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern) is covered in two pages; Shiloh is addressed in 11 pages; 11 pages on Vicksburg; 13 pages are devoted to Gettysburg. But the context in which these battles (and others) were fought provides a deeper view of the Civil War. For instance, a table on page 608 suggests that it was a "poor man's fight," with laborers, farmers, making up the bulk of the Union forces. But McPherson notes that this ignores demographic realities and that, in fact, there was greater representativeness among the Union military than has often been noted.
All in all, an impressive work, integrating the many aspects of the Civil War in just one volume, with 862 pages of text.
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Nick Borrelli
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March 9, 2017
As I have gotten older I have definitely become more interested in reading about history, especially books about the Civil War. My reading tastes have evolved from someone who only used to read Fantasy to someone who now reads a lot of non-fiction. Battle Cry of Freedom has been touted as the best SINGLE volume account of the Civil War. I have read Shelby Foote's magnum three-book, 3,500 page opus, found that to be an amazing experience and one that kept me engrossed for over a year. So I picked up McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom with similar expectations. I was not disappointed. I still like Foote's trilogy better, but I agree wholeheartedly that for a single volume account, this one is pretty comprehensive and well-written. Where the two differ is that Foote's trilogy focuses much more on the actual battle tactics, formations, troop movements, etc.... Battle Cry of Freedom delves more into the economic and political backdrop of the time. That's not to say that there aren't vivid descriptions of battles, because there are. But McPherson seemed to be more concerned with setting up the events that led to the war rather than jumping right in the way Foote did. So if you are looking for a wonderful account of the Civil War, and you are intimidated by reading a 3,500 page narrative, then McPherson's book is probably the way to go. You won't lose much because McPherson is a skilled writer who knows his subject well. You'll definitely get all of the necessary detail and the battles that you need to walk away feeling satisfied.
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RJ - Slayer of Trolls
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April 26, 2023
“The Civil War was pre-eminently a political war, a war of peoples rather than of professional armies.”
This Pulitzer-Prize winning single-volume history of the American Civil War might seem like a long book – and at 900 pages it definitely qualifies for Phone Book weight class – but when you think of how much sheer information had to be distilled down into those essence of those pages the result is nothing less than astonishing. McPherson managed to capture not just the battles and the oversized personalities who fought them, but also described the political and economic setting not just during the war but especially in the years leading up to the conflict. Each paragraph could be a chapter in a more expanded book series (for example, the battle more fully described in the 1989 Academy Award-winning film Glory is relegated to a few sentences in this book), and each chapter could be a book of its own; those interested in history will not want to miss this one.
“And in the final reckoning, American lives lost in the Civil War exceed the total of those lost in all the other wars the country has fought added together, world wars included.”
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Eric
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March 3, 2010
The times, they change so fast, and the Young People Today know nothing of drive-ins… of paper routes…of bizarrely racist street parades:
Indiana Democrats organized a parade which included young girls in white dresses carrying banners inscribed “Fathers, save us from nigger husbands!”
(p. 159)
A Democratic float in a New York parade carried life-size effigies of Horace Greeley and a “good looking nigger wench, whom he caressed with all the affection of a true Republican.” A banner proclaimed that “free love and free niggers will certainly elect Old Abe.”
(p.224)
And of course Frederick Douglass’ fame recommended him to white imagination as a spectre of Black Sexual Menace. Here’s Stephen Douglas doing his best, in the 1858 Illinois Senate race, to smear Lincoln as the candidate of most-dread “amalgamation”:
Why, in Freeport Douglas saw a handsome carriage drive up to a Lincoln meeting. “A beautiful young lady was sitting on the box seat, whilst Frederick Douglass and her mother reclined inside, and the owner of the carriage acted as driver. If you, Black Republicans, think that the negro ought to be on a social equality with your wives and daughters, whilst you drive the team, you have a perfect right to do so. Those of you who believe that the negro is your equal…of course will vote for Mr. Lincoln.(‘Down with the negro,’ no, no, &c.)”
(p. 185)
He hath lept into my seat! (The stenographer’s parenthetical capture of crowd comments is priceless.) Have you seen pictures of the young Frederick Douglass? Hot. Smoldering. Dark, needless to say. Brooding over a Tortured, ahem, Past. Daguerreotype pin-up. He’d have been an ideal heartthrob-villain of the smutty pulp Democrats used to terrify-titillate white voters back then. McPherson cracked me up with this description of the literature they distributed during the 1864 presidential campaign:
Numerous cartoons showed thick-lipped, grinning, coarse black men kissing apple-cheeked girls “with snow-white bosoms” or dancing with them at the “Miscegenation Ball” to follow Lincoln’s re-election. The “Benediction” of a leaflet entitled “Black Republican Prayer” invoked “the blessings of Emancipation throughout our unhappy land” so that “illustrious, sweet-scented Sambo may nestle in the bosom of every Abolition woman, that she may be quickened by the pure blood of the majestic African.”
(p. 789)
~
Most dramatic for me were the 300 pages before war even broke out. Is there anything more compelling than the death of an old regime? The gradual polarization of opinion…the slow gathering of anti-slavery (or at least anti-slaveholder) sentiment…the revolutionary emergence of the Republicans and the election of Lincoln in 1860…the south’s counter-revolutionary breakaway…a war to restore the Old Union becoming a war to destroy the Old South. And the military-industrial Titanism of the wartime North, and the Congress endorsing “the blueprint for modern America” by passing the Homestead Act, centralizing the nation’s banking system, and voting funds for the transcontinental railway and land-grant colleges, measures that had been successfully opposed by southern representatives while they remained in the Union. McPherson’s subtitle, The Civil War Era heralded this reader’s re-orientation: more than a neatly bounded conflict, the Civil War is a political process of decades, a revolutionary watershed. America 1846-1865 compares to France 1789-1804 or Russia 1914-1923.
I was surprised by the amount of violence that took place before war actually started. I knew about Bleeding Kansas, proslavery bushwhackers vs. antislavery Jayhawks, and John Brown and his broadsword-armed sons kidnapping proslavery men in the dead of night and then hacking them to pieces all Charles Taylor-style. But I knew nothing about the southern adventurers, would-be John C. Frémonts, who in the 1850s set out to conquer a Caribbean empire for slavery. At the head of small private armies—“hirelings picked from the drunken spew and vomit of an uneasy civilization,” said Charles Sumner—and with the tacit support of factions of the Federal government, these gringo conquistadors launched from New Orleans to go filibustering about the gulf (from the Spanish filibustero, freebooter; almost needless to mention their later, senatorial mastery of the art). Cuba was invaded, twice; also Nicaragua and Baja California. These ruffian forays came to naught. Cuban garrotters and Nicaraguan firing squads stayed busy. And Cuba wouldn’t be taken under American “protection” until 1898, when the Federal government dispatched its fleet and its army (those ranks filled with jobless men from the still-devastated south). In mid-nineteenth century America, Joe Average North dreamt of a homestead in the bountiful West, in the honey-glazed Bierstadt landscape, once the Indians were exterminated. Joe Average South dreamt of the annexation of Cuba. The island’s 400,000 slaves seemed to promise that every poor white man “would get some niggers too.” Aw, like a chicken in every pot!
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