James M. McPherson

The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States)

Battle Cry of Freedom

Arun Khanna

This was a great read and probably the best one-volume take on the Civil War. 

I particularly enjoyed the context provided for the two decades before the conflict happened where the author described the various political and social trends in that era. The author illuminated the stark differences between north and south including everything from literacy rates of whites (the North was exceptionally high, the South was fairly average) and rates of industrialization (the South sent most of its cotton to the North where value-added by linen factories was greater than the price of cotton itself). 

I found the description of the civil war as a "Northern Revolution" absolutely fascinating and compelling -- the South had control over the presidency, the judicial system, and the military for most of the time between the founding and the start of the civil war. As soon as it looked like the North would have some legitimate political power through Abraham Lincoln (who was fairly conciliatory in his campaign and the first years of war), the South attempted a counter-revolution by seceding. Of course, the long-term maintenance of slavery was the primary factor that led to secession, but also almost certainly to their downfall. Had the South not been so insistent on maintaining that evil institution, they would have almost certainly gained allies in the form of the British and the French and would have had access to legions of loyal black soldiers. But alas, it isn't useful talking about alternate histories as implausible as this one, for the issue of slavery was the cause of secession.

Jeremy Anderberg

Penned in 1988 as part of Oxford's somewhat maligned series on the History of the United States, Battle Cry of Freedom won a Pulitzer, and a number of admirers. I've not read much directly about the Civil War; I've just sort of absorbed it from biographies and documentaries and pop culture at large. So I decided it was time to get right into the war, and this book is a widely acclaimed starting point.

It starts with the Mexican-American War of the mid 1840s, and continues to the end of the war itself in 1865. Why begin 20 years before the war actually starts? Well, really, it could have started from the nation's founding. Right from the beginning there were North-South tensions revolving around slavery.

Anyways, the Mexican-American War was one of the first of many catalysts that led to the eventual conflagration of the war. Others included Bleeding Kanas and John Brown, the Wilmot Proviso and the Compromise of 1850, the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, and more. McPherson covers all of these in great detail, using almost a third of the book working up to Fort Sumter (the first shots of the Civil War).

From that point on, McPherson finds a way to cover just about every aspect imaginable of the Civil War: Northern and Southern politics (and elections), daily life for civilians and soldiers alike, important and not-so-important battles, the international impact of the war, the surprising (for me, at least) naval battles, and of course, some of the most interesting people in the history of history — Robert Lee, Ulysses Grant, Abraham Lincoln, Stonewall Jackson, George McClellan, Frederick Douglass, and more.

Given the broad nature of the war, and just how many different topics McPherson covers, there isn't a ton of depth given to any single subject. What this book really did was add a lot of follow-up books to my reading list.

That said, even though it's an overview, McPherson had some brilliant takeaways, including an epilogue that pretty well blew my mind.

It's dry at times (but not too often), nearly always taking a fairly scholarly approach. You could read this, do no further reading on the Civil War, and be far better informed than the vast majority of people out there. It's a style that's necessary and balanced when delving into this war; I intentionally read this before getting into Shelby Foote's more narrative, and controversial, style in his classic 3-volume set.

Anyways, for a history nerd like me, Battle Cry of Freedom served as a remarkable starting point.

Battle Cry of Freedom The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States)

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