- Paperback: 512 pages
- Publisher: Harper Perennial (April 23 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0060928859
- ISBN-13: 978-0060928858
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.5 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 404 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,235,558 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Acclaimed and prolific historian Stephen B. Oates looks at the events leading to the American Civil War through the eyes and words of 13 historic figures. Beginning with the Missouri Crisis of 1820 and ending with the outbreak of hostilities, Oates presents the viewpoints of such famous personages as Henry Clay and John Brown. The author blends fact and fiction to bring the people and events to life, and this unique treatment makes the period's complicated history accessible to the general reader.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Acclaimed biographer and historian Oates (A Woman of Valor, LJ 4/1/94) draws on his earlier work concerning Nat Turner, John Brown, and Abraham Lincoln to script a series of dramatic autobiographical monologs relating 13 different voices and viewpoints on the coming of the Civil War, from Jefferson Davis's and Lincoln's agonizing over disunion in 1860-61. Turner, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Mary Chestnut, and others make cameo appearances, but Henry Clay, John Calhoun, Stephen A. Douglas, Davis, and Lincoln dominate the discussion. Oates's hybrid of You Are There and Mark Twain Tonight succeeds best when he squares off Lincoln and Douglas in their own words, but his Southern voices do not ring so true. In Oates's hands, the multiple-perspectives approach lacks the mystery and power William Faulkner gave it, but Oates does find "truth" in the method and reminds us that none of "the great men" (or women) controlled events. Their words tell us so. Recommended for college and major public libraries.?Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Monticello, April twenty-second, 1820, in the seventy-seventh year of my life. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Monticello, April twenty-second, 1820, in the seventy-seventh year of my life. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
No Better Way To Read History,
By Jay "jlvnbrg" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Approaching Fury (Paperback)
This is an incredible work deserving of the highest awards and accolades for scholarship and literature. What an exhilirating way to read history! The first person narrartives, so skillfully and beautifully written, drew me into the events and emotions in ways that I have never experienced reading other history texts. This is the way to learn and enjoy history and I hope parents and educators take note.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unique approach - very good reading,
By
This review is from: Approaching Fury (Paperback)
I first read Oates' Whirlwind of War and enjoyed that so much that I thought I'd give this one a try. My interest in the Civil War was broadened by this book into a desire to better understand the setting prior to 1860. I really liked Oates' "first person" writing technique. It takes an extremely good understanding of the person as well as the historic facts to do this and Oates carries this off well. Read both books!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Way to Understand What Led Up to the Civil War,
By A Customer
This review is from: Approaching Fury (Paperback)
I thought I knew a lot about this era but this book gave me even greater insight. I hesitated to read it at first because I'm a little skeptical of those "in their own words" treatments.But Oates presents a balanced (for the most part) account, using the speeches, letters, and diaries of the likes of Henry Clay, John Brown, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jefferson Davis, Mary Boykin Chesnut, Stephen A. Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln rather than creating monologues for them of his own design. He doesn't result to dramatic license, trying to make these folks conform to his idea of what they were like, but presents them as accurately as one can given the sources available. The only quibble I'd put forth is that he has Calhoun refer to his slaves as "niggers," even though there is no documentary evidence that he ever did so (even in private letters he referred to them as "negroes"). Anyone interested in the issues and events that led up to the Civil War must read this book! I recommend it most highly.
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