With this major work, McPherson (History/Princeton; Ordeal by Fire)
cements his reputation as one of the finest Civil War historians.
The volume begins with a deft description of the ragged American
army trudging into Mexico City in 1847. From there, the narrative
speeds through 28 chapters that draw a precise and lively picture
of what America and Americans were like in mid-19th century.
McPherson delineates the issues that galvanized and divided the
American public from the end of the Mexican War in 1848 to the
opening of the Civil War in 1861, providing thorough explanations
of the pre-war period's gravest crises - the passage of the
Kansas-Nebraska Act and the prairie guerrilla war it started; the
national clamor over the Dred Scott case; anti-Catholic and
anti-immigrant violence and the brief life of the nativist
Know-Nothing Party; and the panic over John Brown's raid on Harpers
Ferry in 1859. And McPherson's coverage of the Civil War is just as
strong and clear. The author also addresses arguments about the
root origins or that war and pinpoints major causes: hatred of
slavery and blind regional prejudice. What distinguishes
McPherson's work is his fluid writing style and his able use of
anecdote and human interest to flesh out his portrait of the times.
Social history and verified gossip abound and are used to good
effect: the 1851 racing victory of the US yacht America over 14
British vessels in the Royal Yacht Squadron became the talk of the
sporting world and, also, heralded this nation's emergence as an
industrial and technological force; talk of U.S. Grant's drinking
problem and how he struggled to control it is shown to have shaped
the general's personality in many positive ways; etc. McPherson
also works in many bits of trivia that, while they may not be of
historical import, make his treatment nearly effortless reading.
This new volume in the Oxford History of the United States series
should become a standard general history of the Civil War period -
it's one that will stand up for years to come. (Kirkus Reviews)
This book covers one of the most turbulent periods of the USA's history, from the Mexican War in 1848 to the end of the Civil War in 1865. With a broad historical sweep, it traces the heightening sectional conflict of the 1850s: the growing estrangement of the South and its impassioned defence of slavery; the formation of the Republican Party in the North, with its increasing opposition to slavery; and the struggle over territorial expansion, with its accompanying social tensions and economic expansion. The whole panorama of the Civil War is captured in these pages, from the military campaign, which is described with vividness, immediacy, a grasp of strategy and logistics, and a keen awareness of the military leaders and the common soldiers involved, to its political and social aspects.
General
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