Novelist, historian, and critic Bernard De Voto calls this book the best
one-volume history of the Civil War I've ever read. David Madden,
Director of the United States Civil War Center in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, considers it the most powerful of all short histories of the
Civil War published since the Depression. These and many other
authorities have been won over by the author's profound grasp of the
great conflict, and also by his conceptual power, narrative drive, and
muscular prose.
Now Civil War buffs and general readers alike can enjoy the noted
historian's audacious, staccato-like style as he brings the events,
figures, and campaigns of the War Between the States vividly to life.
Beginning in Washington, D.C., on the day of Lincoln's inauguration, the
narrative moves swiftly on to the battles of Bull Run, Shiloh,
Vicksburg, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, the
Wilderness, and, ultimately, to Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox
Court House.
Avoiding footnotes and other academic trappings, the author describes in
absorbing, highly readable detail the drama of military campaigns and
battlefield strategies, studding his narrative with fascinating
anecdotes and asides on Lincoln, Grant, Lee, Sherman, Jackson, and other
leaders. Enhanced with 50 maps of battle sites, this fascinating popular
history will thrill any Civil War buff and will also appeal to a wide
audience of general readers.
