AMERICAN HERITAGE NEW ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES: VOLUME 8: THE CIVIL WAR by Robert G. Athearn

Published in 1971 by Fawcett Publications, Inc.

This book was part of a series intended to be a supplement to a history curriculum as part of a classroom library or in a school library. It is part of a multi-volume series. When I was a kid, I would see books like this used for extra credit (outline chapter X, etc.) when I was a kid.

Positives:

The pictures are great. The book title says it is illustrated and it does not lie. There are pictures on almost every page and many of them are the most famous photos, paintings, and drawings of the war.

There is an "Encyclopedic Section" at the end of the book. It has biographies of prominent people of the war and explanations of some of the big ideas, and events of the war. Before the internet, these little encyclopedias about a dedicated topic were extremely helpful.

There is an essay from Bruce Catton between the regular text and the Encyclopedic Section. It is excellent.

Negatives:

There is literally no explanation of the events that led to the Civil War. The first sentence of the book is: "The Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter sparked a great military conflagration that was to blaze in America for four bitter, bloody years." Then, it proceeds to talk about the post-Sumter military build-up. Page 2 discusses Bull Run and page 3 talks about Fort Donelson. Iti is almost like the war just happened. 

Slavery is almost entirely ignored. Because of this, I would describe this book is a "Lost Cause" lite history. The facts that are presented are accurate, but when you ignore the role slavery played in the Civil War, you are slanting things towards the Confederacy. It's not advocating "Lost Cause" points, but it lends itself towards that interpretation. This is not surprising for a book written in 1971.

The Reconstruction section is also tilted to the side of the former Confederates. 

I rate this mixed bag of a book three stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: AMERICAN HERITAGE NEW ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES: VOLUME 8: THE CIVIL WAR by Robert G. Athearn.

THE BATTLE of GETTYSBURG: AMERICAN HERITAGE SERIES (audiobook) by Bruce Catton

Published by Highbridge, a division of Recorded Books in January of 2017
Read by Eric Martin
Duration: 3 hours, 4 minutes
Unabridged

I love Bruce Catton's histories of the Civil War. As a rule, Bruce Catton (1899-1978) wrote histories that are easy to read, thorough enough to give the reader a solid grasp of the issues and peppered with well-told human interest stories. 

Confederate Major General
George Pickett (1825-1875)

This history of Gettysburg feels a bit disjointed, sort of like it was a knitted together from a series of articles that Catton wrote for American Heritage magazine. For example, it spends a lot of time looking at the events just before the battle and skips one of the more dramatic and important moments of the battle on the second day (Little Round Top).

However, the exaggerated emphasis on the first day did not bother me. Too often the first day is sort of skipped over and it's not like the second day was ignored - it just focused on Dan Sickles' horrible deployment and the danger it posed to his own army. That is also important. 

The third day, of course, focuses on the infamous Pickett's Charge. Catton's short history also includes a solid look at Lee's retreat back to Virginia, the consequences of this loss to the Confederacy and a peek at the ceremony in which Lincoln delivered his famed Gettysburg Address, including a reading of the speech itself.

Eric Martin did a nice job with the book. He has a pleasant voice.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: THE BATTLE of GETTYSBURG: AMERICAN HERITAGE SERIES by Bruce Catton.

 

GETTYSBURG: THE FINAL FURY by Bruce Catton

Published by Berkley Windhover in 1974

Bruce Catton was the most famous Civil War historian of his era and mastered the art of writing narrative history for the masses. I freely admit that I am an unabashed fan of Catton. I am quite sure that he kick-started my interest in the Civil War that has caused me to fill my shelves with over 100 Civil War books.

Catton tells the story of Gettysburg in slightly more than 100 pages His approachable style is in full display here. For example, his description of Confederate General A.P. Hill: "...a heads-down slugger always willing to take a blow in order to land one." (p. 20)   No one is better at telling a Civil War story than Catton and Gettysburg is the single biggest story of the war. He knows how to keep the story moving but to add just enough detail to make it feel like a special re-telling.

The book is full of great maps, illustrations and photographs and is well worth the time of a student of the Civil War or someone who is simply interested in learning more about Gettysburg.

I rate this history 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Gettysburg: The Final Fury by Bruce Catton.

Reviewed on March 5, 2015

This Hallowed Ground: The Story of the Union Side of the Civil War by Bruce Catton

An Amazing One Volume History of the Civil War

Originally published in 1956.

When I was a freshman in college, way back in 1986, I happened upon a Bruce Catton (1899-1978) book in the bookstore while buying all of my textbooks for my first semester. I picked it up just because I was in a mood to be educated with something that looked more interesting and less daunting than my economics and math textbooks. My fascination with all things Civil War began with that book. I traded it in a fit of stupidity a couple of years later at a used book store near campus. I read his trilogy, re-printed articles in American Heritage and then I moved on to other talented authors, such as James McPherson.

Bruce Catton
(1899-1978)

I had forgotten how truly gifted Catton was as a writer and I just assumed that because Catton was the historian of my childhood, he was an inferior writer. Why? I don't know.

I picked up this older copy (see picture above) of This Hallowed Ground: The Story of the Union Side of the Civil War to read on a family vacation. I was reminded, once again, that this man could truly write and he belongs right there in the pantheon of truly gifted storytellers who can tell the story of America in an entertaining, factual and compelling way. For those that scoff at narrative history in favor of "serious history" I say that the purpose of a historian is to tell his society their own story and make it seem that it matters. Bruce Catton did just that.

John Brown (1800-1859)

Catton begins with a single week in May of 1856. We have the beating of abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner by a pro-slavery Congressman in the Senate Chamber, the sacking of Lawrence, Kansas by pro-slavery forces and John Brown's brutal attack at Pottawatomie Creek. All within a few days of each other - all portents of things to come. One thing seemed to unhinge everyone in America - slavery and the disagreement over a state's right to declare a man to be another man's property.

Catton does tell the story almost completely from the Union perspective and it is clear that he is sympathetic to the Union cause in this book. He is not the only author of Civil War histories to have favorites, but he is clearly not disrespectful of the Confederate soldiers or of their efforts. He is also leery of some of the liberties Lincoln took in his effort to maintain the Union, as is clear in the section on Clement Vallandigham.

Mostly, though, Catton's strength is just his storytelling. It moves along crisply with a penchant for telling the odd, humorous and tragic little stories that make up the overall big story. Along the way, Catton produces some profound little gems, like this paragraph about 1864 the slow, bloody demise of slavery and what that meant for the country that concluded a chapter:

"It would be that sort of year: year of Jubilo, year of overturn and disaster and ruin, year infinite bloodshed and suffering, with the foundations of the great deep broken up; hard tramp of marching military feet, endless shuffle of splay-footed refugees running from something they understood little better than they could understand what they were running toward; the significance of their march being that it led toward the unknown and that all America, like it or not, was going to follow."

To sum up, this is a lovely little history - beautifully written, skillfully told by a master storyteller. It is not the only history that someone should read of the Civil War, but it is a great place to start. Also, I am thrilled that I went back and re-discovered Bruce Catton and found that he is not only as good as I remembered - he is better.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. Highly recommended.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: This Hallowed Ground: The Story of the Union Side of the Civil War by Bruce Catton.

Reviewed on June 3, 2011.