This book introduced me, not only to the broad outlines of the war, but the factors that led up to it and the the various protagonists who charted the course of the nation during the period. Somehow I managed to get through an above-average secondary school education and obtain an Ivy League degree in the Humanities without learning much at all about the Civil War - which is almost a crime. But finally getting to this book, by whatever means, was an incredible treat.
So, this was one of those books (of which there are several) that I undertook to listen to on Audible, if only to assuage my own guilt and embarrassment at having so many books on my bookshelf that I had not read. I’ve owned the hardback version of this book for at least twenty years, but it went unread, if only due to the hefty size of the volume (and perhaps due to limited interest, on my part, in the American Civil War). And enough quotes and excerpts from letters and diary entries to personalize those affected by the war, North and South.Ī magnificent history and an enjoyable read Enough battle facts to satisfy you if you aren't studying military tactics. There is enough storytelling to bring characters like Grant, Jackson, Johnston, McClellan, and Sherman alive. If you're interested in the history of the time but have American primary and secondary school knowledge, this is a great book. I did not understand the significance of the Whig party and its relationship to the Republican Party. The Mexican-American war the role of Manifest Destiny in the expansion or curtailment of slavery is made clear. Now I understand the tension created by the Missouri Compromise that led to the Pottawatomie Massacre that led to the Lawrence Massacre. Before this, the war, in my limited knowledge, started with Dredd Scott and Harper's Ferry. The appeal of this narrative is that it paints a cohesive picture of the United States in the preceding decades before the war that helps to explain its causes.
0 kommentar(er)
