The Pulitzer Prize-winning author James M. McPherson is America's preeminent Civil War historian. Now, in this collection of provocative and illuminating essays, McPherson offers fresh insight into many of the most enduring questions about the Civil War. Topics include the Lost Cause Mystique, Peace Negotiations, Myths of the confederacy and Jesse James.
McPherson's essays ask; Why did the war come?, What were each sides objectives? How did each side try to obtain those objectives? How good was the leadership of both sides? What was the impact of the war on those who lived through it?A very interesting and thought provoking read.
April 1865 : The Month that Saved America by Jay Winik
The people and events of the last month of America's Civil War are described here lucidly and in great detail, making this an absorbing account of the final days of the conflict. Winik sheds light on the apparently serious Confederate plans to wage a prolonged guerrilla war. He suggests that the assassination of Lincoln could have triggered a coup in the North, and his insights into the on-again, off-again "peace" negotiations are incisive. Scholars and Civil War buffs may disagree with some of his assertions, but this fast moving, well-written chronicle will highlight obscure aspects of the war and stimulate further controversy. - Booklist
Winik's book is an successful attempt to understand not only why and how the American Civil War ended, but the reasons that its originating conflict was thereby laid to rest. Why the American Civil War unlike other conflicts like Bosnia or Northern Ireland, that continue to persist ended without the guerrilla war that Jefferson Davis wanted. - TB
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