James M. McPherson

Abraham Lincoln as commander in chief

Tried by war

Jeni Enjaian

This book blew me away. It was a breath of fresh air after the "tragedy" that was "The Lincolns:Portrait of a Marriage."

Even if I hadn't suffered through the above-referenced book, I know I would have enjoyed this one for the following reasons.

One, the narrator had a likable, appealing voice and obviously understood his craft. This is a huge deal when it comes to audiobooks.
Two, McPherson took a relatively unique approach to a well-discussed topic. He outlined his thesis well and supported it thoroughly throughout the book. I'm surprised at the number of books that claim to be "history" books fail at this simple, foundational point of historiography. (In fairness, I should blame the authors, not the books. ;) )
Three, I have limited familiarity with military history. Thus, McPherson taught me things about the civil war that I never knew before. I like that. :)
Four, when McPherson was faced with a lack of evidence for a particular event, he acknowledge that and thus avoided speculation. As much as we would like to know all aspects about major world events, some things were simply not recorded. I appreciate when a historian acknowledges that.

I highly recommend this book. In fact, I've already added it to my amazon wishlist.

Tried by war Abraham Lincoln as commander in chief

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