Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era: Amazon.ca: James M. McPherson: Books

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Published in 1988 to universal acclaim, this single-volume treatment of the Civil War quickly became recognized as the new standard in its field. James M. McPherson, who won the Pulitzer Prize for this book, impressively combines a brisk writing style with an admirable thoroughness. He covers the military aspects of the war in all of the necessary detail, and also provides a helpful framework describing the complex economic, political, and social forces behind the conflict. Perhaps more than any other book, this one belongs on the bookshelf of every Civil War buff. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Likely to become the standard one-volume history of our Civil War, this vivifies, with palpable immediacy, scholarly acumen and interpretive skill, events foreshadowing the conflict, the war itself and its basic issue: slavery. Photos.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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121 Reviews

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4.7 out of 5 stars (121 customer reviews)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best One-Volume History of the Civil War, Jun 19 2004

By

Michael H. Shirley (Tuscola, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Paperback)

It's amusing to read the various reviews that accuse McPherson of bias: they are based on the reviewers' own biases, and certainly not on any real understanding of history. Any one-volume history of this enormously difficult period will necessarily leave things out, but McPherson gets the overall flavor right, and is factually correct. The war was begun by the South, which had been fighting to extend slavery. Any other understanding is simply wrong, and is in fact a wilful misreading of history.
McPherson's writing is excellent, his research thorough, and his conclusions incontrovertable. His treatment of the political conflict leading up to the Civil War is clear, which is no mean feat in itself. This is the one indispensible book on the Civil War.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific One-Volume History, Mar 16 2004

By

M. L. Asselin (Bethesda, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Paperback)

I'm just a neophyte when it comes to Civil War history, but after moving to Maryland I thought it was about time I started getting better acquainted with it. Like many Americans, I was enthralled by the PBS Civil War series of some years back. Prior to that, I had exposure to the history of the period in a college class or two. Back then, the revisionist view of the War held that the hostilities stemmed predominantly from economic causes. McPherson's tome, which manages, adeptly, to be both readable and scholarly, reveals how complex this War and its causes were.

If you expect to join the battle within the first chapter or two, be forewarned. McPherson devotes considerable space to the lead up to the conflict. If one is patient, one will end up savoring McPherson's careful exposition of the events and circumstances of the first half of the nineteenth century that resulted in this horrific conflict. One learns that, yes, economic circumstances played a role, as did slavery from various angles (economic, sociological, social justice, etc.), the desire to preserve the Union, and the desire to preserve a way of life. One learns as the book progresses that the causes were not constant, nor were they pure; Lincoln seems a lot more real once one recognizes that his attitudes towards abolition, freedom, and black suffrage were nuanced, were not completely principled, and were affected by events.

I particularly enjoyed the brief treatment of the war at sea--not an aspect of the conflict that seems to get a lot of popular attention, aside from the armored ships. The battles, at land and on sea, were depicted with an economy of words; McPherson's narratives manage to be to the point and clear, and often moving. And it is fascinating to read how close the Republicans came to losing the election of 1864.

Like at least one other reviewer, I noted with alarm the pages dwindle before the war really seemed to be over. Lincoln's assassination is only briefly mentioned, and the reconstruction is left for another volume of the Oxford series. However that may be, this reader yearned for some discussion of the more immediate aftermath of the events described, and of the fate of more than one or two of the key players in the War.

But it should be a compliment to the author that after some 860-someodd pages the reader still wants more. Buy this book!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Great Unto Itself and as Part of the Oxford History Series, Jun 13 2010

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Jeffrey Swystun (Ottawa & New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Paperback)

Following on from What Hath God Wrought, this next in the Oxford series focuses on the American Civil War and the two sides who both claimed to be fighting for freedom. The book does a fantastic job educating the reader on the causes of the conflict in brisk detail (which sounds like an oxymoron). I have to confess that as a Canadian, I was never taught in detail what brought the conflict about so my personal thanks to McPherson for doing so in a very engaging way. And though it is characterized as a sectional conflict between North and South over the future of slavery - much more played into it. The economics of the North and South were another factor of which slavery played a commercial and societal role in the latter.

Of course, most of us (regardless of nationality) are aware of the shocking statistics of the dead and wounded in this conflict. What the author does is provide the reasons why the counts were so high by convincing us of strategic flaws in executing the war on both sides coupled with modern weaponry. I was shocked at how inept the Union General McClellan was and how long it took to take action against his leadership. The battles are well described and the horror of 700,000 combat casualties ably communicated. The Civil War confronted the fact that human bondage was incompatible with the founding ideals of the republic and a huge price was paid as a result. The Introduction to the book states that there are over 50,000 titles on this subject, I recommend this one as it truly is a superb effort.

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1.0 out of 5 stars My thoughts on Battle Cry of Freedom
This is the most boring book.. It will only be read by those younger than 40 through assignment or forced torture. *AHS* v

If I could give it a negative 500 stars... Read more

Published on July 18 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars A Standard in Civil War Research
I am not one of the many "experts" on the Civil War. I am a novice on the subject. But I must say that I think it will be hard for me to find a single volume work on... Read more