Essays and book reviews by a leading Civil War historian.The topics
that McPherson (History/Princeton; Hallowed Ground, 2003, etc.)
covers range from the conflict's roots in slavery to the postwar
Southern campaign to control how history is represented in
textbooks. A piece in Section I examines the careers of Harriet
Tubman and John Brown, who went beyond mere words in their
opposition to slavery. The author questions Tubman's claim of
personally having freed some 300 slaves, as well as other details
of her story, but he does not deny her importance as a symbol.
Section II, "The Lost Cause Revisited," looks at Confederate hopes
and myths: the European reaction to Antietam (which effectively
killed the chance for foreign intervention), Lee's intentions in
the Gettysburg campaign and the true character of Jesse James,
whose mythic status as a homegrown Robin Hood survives in spite of
ample and irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Section III groups
essays on the Union leaders, in particular Grant and Sherman, and
the harsher style of warfare they brought to bear on the South. Two
particularly illuminating pieces in Section IV concern the Boston
Brahmins who led some of the most effective fighting units in the
war and the impact of daily newspapers on the soldiers of both
sides; some observers reported men on picket duty with a rifle in
one hand and a paper in the other. The two final essays consider
Lincoln: One reviews several recent biographies, the other examines
his suspension of habeas corpus.Brings a critical intelligence to
central questions concerning the war. (Kirkus Reviews)
In the same tradition as Lincoln and the Second American Revolution
and Drawn with the Sword: Reflections on the Civil War,
Pulitzer-prize winner James M. McPherson has gathered an
illuminating collection of essays that reflect his latest thinking
on the Civil War. Filled with new interpretations and fresh
scholarship, these essays address many of the most enduring
questions and provocative debates about the Civil War. In some,
McPherson distills the wisdom of many years of teaching and writing
about the meaning of the war and about slavery and its abolition.
In others, he makes use of primary research that breaks new ground
on such topics as Confederate military strategy, foreign views of
the war, soldiers and the press, the failure of peace negotiations
to end the war, and Southern efforts to shape a heroic memory of
the war. The selection will include several never-before-published
essays, including one on General Robert E. Lee's goals in the
Gettysburg campaign, and another on Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief.
The book also features a typescript of McPherson's 2000 National
Endowment for the Humanities Jefferson Lecture about Lincoln's
legacy that has never been published in its complete form. As a
whole, these essays provide a rich interpretive history of the
Civil War and its meaning for America - indeed for the world.
General
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