The Illustrated Battle Cry of Freedom The Civil War Era

by McPherson, James M.

• ISBN13: 9780195159011
• ISBN10: 0195159012
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-11-06
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

Winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for History and a New York Times Bestseller, Battle Cry of Freedom is universally recognized as the definitive account of the Civil War. It was hailed in The New York Times as "historical writing of the highest order." The Washington Post called it "the finest single volume on the war and its background." And The Los Angeles Times wrote that "of the 50,000 books written on the Civil War, it is the finest compression of that national paroxysm ever fitted between two covers." Now available in a splendid new edition is The Illustrated Battle Cry of Freedom . Boasting some seven hundred pictures, including a hundred and fifty color images and twenty-four full-color maps, here is the ultimate gift book for everyone interested in American history. McPherson has selected all the illustrations, including rare contemporary photographs, period cartoons, etchings, woodcuts, and paintings, carefully choosing those that best illuminate the narrative. More important, he has written extensive captions (some 35,000 words in all, virtually a book in themselves), many of which offer genuinely new information and interpretations that significantly enhance the text. The text itself, streamlined by McPherson, remains a fast-paced narrative that brilliantly captures two decades of contentious American history, from the Mexican War to Lee's surrender at Appomattox. The reader will find a truly masterful chronicle of the war itself--the battles, the strategic maneuvering on both sides, the politics, and the personalities--as well as McPherson's thoughtful commentary on such matters as the slavery expansion issue in the 1850s, the origins of the Republican Party, the causes of secession, internal dissent and anti-war opposition in the North and the South, and the reasons for the Union's victory. A must-have purchase for the legions of Civil War buffs, The Illustrated Battle Cry of Freedom is both a spectacularly beautiful volume and the definitive account of the most important conflict in our nation's history.

Author Biography

James M. McPherson is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor of History at Princeton University and 2003 president of the American Historical Association.

Table of Contents

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