Review: McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom (1988)

[truepenny]

Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


One volume history of the American Civil War, soup to nuts.

I did not enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the Catton. McPherson is much drier than Catton and is not really trying for a NARRATIVE history; he has narrative chapters interleaved with thematic chapters, which enables him to cover a LOT of ground, but he does come off, just very slightly, like a textbook. (It's part of the Oxford History of the United States, so it's possible that should be considered a feature rather than a bug.)

On the other hand, if you want a comprehensive one volume history of the Civil War, McPherson is definitely your guy. He talks about just about everything, and his bibliographic note at the end points to more in-depth books. (Granted, it's thirty-five years out of date.) And although dry, he explains things well.

Four and a half stars, round up to five.



View all my reviews

Comments

[carbonel]

Many years ago, I asked Patrick Nielsen Hayden (who is a Civil War geek) for a reference for one comprehensive book I could read about the Civil War, and this is the one he recommended (and I read). It was, as you say, a bit dry, but it was sufficiently readable that I finished it, and thereby had a much better idea of the whole thing than I got back in high school.