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For Cause and Comrades - Why Men Fought in the Civil War (Paperback, New ed) Loot Price: R361
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For Cause and Comrades - Why Men Fought in the Civil War (Paperback, New ed): James M Mcpherson

For Cause and Comrades - Why Men Fought in the Civil War (Paperback, New ed)

James M Mcpherson

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List price R447 Loot Price R361 Discovery Miles 3 610 You Save R86 (19%)

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A grunt's-eye account of the Civil War. Drawing on some 25,000 letters and 250 diaries from 1,000 Yankee and Rebel soldiers, Pulitzer Prize - winning historian McPherson (Battle Cry of Freedom, 1989; Drawn with the Sword, 1996; etc.) examines what it was that kept these men engaged in a horribly bloody, and often mismanaged, conflict. Pondering the suicidal assault at Gettysburg that history remembers as Pickett's Charge, McPherson asks at the outset: Why did these soldiers "go forward despite the high odds against coming out safely"? Why, despite frequent opportunities, did they not all cut and run for home, North and South alike? Comparing his findings to data from other wars, especially Vietnam and WW II, McPherson concludes that the seemingly quaint concepts of duty and personal honor motivated the fighters far more effectively than did ideas of patriotism, states' rights, or abolitionism, although those concepts were certainly powerful; and, he notes, "the motivating power of soldiers' ideals of manhood and honor seemed to increase rather than decrease during the last terrible year of the war." Brave though these men were, their letters and diaries, filled with expressions of the loneliness and terror of combat, make for sobering reading. Many of the young writers (the median age of the combatants was about 24) did not outlive the war, and it is touching to read their hopeful words, even at strange turns, as when a Confederate officer urges his wife to buy another slave, remarking that, if the South loses, the money spent would be worthless anyway, while if the South wins, the slave's value would certainly increase. McPherson's own narrative is somewhat flat, but he touches on many points of interest, not least of them a thoughtful exploration of combat stress and the madness wrought by unrelenting battle. McPherson's newest addition to a long roster of books is valuable not only for Civil War aficionados but for students of military history generally. (Kirkus Reviews)
James M. McPherson is acclaimed as one of the finest historians writing today and a preeminent commentator on the Civil War. Battle Cry of Freedom, his Pulitzer Prize-winning account of that conflict, was a national bestseller that Hugh Brogan, in The New York Times, called `history writing of the highest order.' Now, McPherson has brilliantly recreated the war and battle experience of that war from the point of view of the soldiers themselves, drawing on at least 25,000 letters written by over 1000 soldiers, both Union and Confederate. He shows that, contrary to what many scholars believe, these men remained highly motivated and idealistic about the cause for which they fought, regardless of the obstacles and deprivation that they faced.

General

Imprint: Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin: United States
Release date: November 1998
First published: November 1998
Authors: James M Mcpherson (Professor of History)
Dimensions: 204 x 136 x 13mm (L x W x T)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
Edition: New ed
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-512499-6
Categories: Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > General
Books > Humanities > History > World history > 1750 to 1900
Books > Humanities > History > American history > 1800 to 1900
Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Military history
Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > War & defence operations > Civil war
Books > History > American history > 1800 to 1900
Books > History > History of specific subjects > Military history
Books > History > World history > 1750 to 1900
Books > Biography > General
LSN: 0-19-512499-5
Barcode: 9780195124996

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