The Illustrated Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

by James M. McPherson

Overview

The bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the Civil War is now available in this beautiful new edition that boasts some 700 illustrations, including 150 color images and 24 maps--plus period cartoons, etchings, woodcuts, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195159011
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/06/2003
Pages:	800
Sales rank:	680,480
Product dimensions:	11.20(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

James M. McPherson is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor of History at Princeton University and the President of the American Historical Association. Widely acclaimed as the leading historian of the Civil War, he is the author of Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam (a New York Times bestseller), For Cause and Comrades (winner of a Lincoln Prize), and many other books on Lincoln and the Civil War era.

Hometown:

Princeton, New Jersey

Date of Birth:

October 11, 1936

Place of Birth:

Valley City, North Dakota

Education:

B.A., Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, MN) 1958; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, 1963

Table of Contents

	Preface to the Illustrated Edition	ix
	Preface to the First Edition	xi
	Prologue: From the Halls of Montezuma	2
1	The United States at Midcentury	6
2	Mexico Will Poison Us	42
3	An Empire for Slavery	64
4	Slavery, Rum, and Romanism	92
5	The Crime Against Kansas	112
6	Mudsills and Greasy Mechanics for A. Lincoln	132
7	The Revolution of 1860	158
8	The Counterrevolution of 1861	184
9	Facing Both Ways: The Upper South's Dilemma	218
10	Amateurs Go to War	248
11	Farewell to the Ninety Days' War	276
12	Blockade and Beachhead: The Salt-Water War, 1861-1862	302
13	The River War in 1862	324
14	The Sinews of War	362
15	Billy Yank's Chickahominy Blues	382
16	We Must Free the Slaves or Be Ourselves Subdued	418
17	Carry Me Back to Old Virginny	434
18	John Bull's Virginia Reel	472
19	Three Rivers in Winter, 1862-1863	490
20	Fire in the Rear	512
21	Long Remember: The Summer of '63	538
22	Johnny Reb's Chattanooga Blues	580
23	When This Cruel War Is Over	604
24	If It Takes All Summer	624
25	After Four Years of Failure	662
26	We Are Going to Be Wiped off the Earth	682
27	South Carolina Must Be Destroyed	710
28	We Are All Americans	730
	Epilogue: To the Shoals of Victory	750
	Index	761

Editorial Reviews

"In this impressive book, famed Civil War historian McPherson revises his Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom, reducing the text by one-fifth in order to add a stunning array of over 700 illustrations from the Civil War era—photographs, cartoons, lithographs, etchings, woodcuts, and paintings—that give new life to an already vivid, engrossing history....Real value is added not only by the illustrations, which are neatly woven into the narrative, but also by the copious captions (which add some 35,000 words), which introduce new material and expand on subjects sometimes lightly touched in the original....One can smell the sweat and sulfur from McPherson's riveting narrative and can see the dangerous age as those who lived in it. Essential."—Library Journal

"If you read only one general history of the Civil War, McPherson's book should be it."—Houston Chronicle

"A handsome volume, much appreciated by any American history buff."—Seattle Times

"I could go on, but by now you get the point: The Illustrated Battle Cry of Freedom presents an outstanding set of images that will enrich anybody's understanding of the Civil War."—National Review Online

"Serious Civil War buffs will delight in this magisterial treatment."—PW Online

"For history buffs, the coffee-table book of the year."—Weekly Standard

"It would seem hard to improve upon a book that won a Pulitzer Prize, made bestseller lists and is widely considered the finest one-volume treatment of its subject, but McPherson's history of the Civil War has gained significantly from being reissued with illustrations. Except for being trimmed by about 20 percent and shorn of its notes, the text is virtually identical to that of 15 years ago. But the photographs, paintings, blueprints, cartoons and other illustrations—along with the author's lucid captions—add materially to the overall effect."—Washington Post Book World

From the Publisher

The best one-volume treatment of its subject I have ever come across . . . This is historical writing of the highest order.

New York Times Review

The Finest single volume on the war and its background.

Washington Post Book World

Immediately takes its place as the best one-volume history of the coming of the American Civil War . . .

Philadelphia Inquirer

Deftly coordinated, gracefully composed, charitably argued and suspensefully paid out, . . . as narrative history it is surpassing.

Los Angeles Times Book Review

In this impressive book, famed Civil War historian McPherson revises his Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom, reducing the text by one-fifth in order to add a stunning array of over 700 illustrations from the Civil War era-photographs, cartoons, lithographs, etchings, woodcuts, and paintings-that give new life to an already vivid, engrossing history. McPherson's text is a condensation rather than a reconsideration of his earlier work, but his original arguments stand up well even in the face of new scholarship on war, politics, and ideology because in the original he had anticipated much of that scholarship. Here, real value is added not only by the illustrations, which are neatly woven into the narrative, but also by the copious captions (which add up to some 35,000 words), which introduce new material and expand on subjects sometimes lightly touched in the original. Only the lack of a modern bibliographical essay mars McPherson's otherwise monumental achievement. One can smell the sweat and sulfur from McPherson's riveting narrative and can see the dangerous age as those who lived in it. Essential.-Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal