Product Description

Written by a leading Civil War historian and Pulitzer Prize winner, this text describes the social, economic, political, and ideological conflicts that led to a unique, tragic, and transitional event in American history. The third edition incorporates recent scholarship and addresses renewed areas of interest in the Civil War/Reconstruction era including the motivations and experiences of common soldiers and the role of women in the war effort.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #261185 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 816 pages

About the Author
James M. McPherson is George Henry Davis ’86 Professor of American History at Princeton University where he has taught since 1962. He received his BA from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1958 and his PhD from The Johns Hopkins University in 1963. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, and a Scaver Institute Fellow at the Henry E. Huntington Library in San Marino, California. In 1999, McPherson received the Public Humanities Award of the New Jersey Council of the Humanities. A leading Civil War historian and Pulitzer Prize winning author, McPherson has written many books including most recently, What They Fought For, 1861-1865 (1994), Drawn with the Sword: Reflections on the American Civil War (1996), For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War (1997), and Is Blood Thicker Than Water? Crises of Modern Nationalism (1998).

Customer Reviews

One of the best books on the civil war that I've read.
I first became acquainted with this book twelve years ago when I was a college student taking an American Civil War course and have highly recommended it ever since. The serious history student will find the book to be very comprehensive, covering not only the war itself, but the antebellum years and the period of reconstruction as well. The social, economic, military and political causes and consequences of the war are all covered in great detail. Professor McPherson has also included many visual aids such as maps and charts which the reader will find quite instructive. Needless to say, it was, and has remained, one of my primary resources whenever I need to refresh my memory concerning just about any topic on the war. I wore out my first copy and recently was forced to replace it with a second. However, Ordeal by Fire is really a text book and subsequently not always an easy read. If you prefer your history in narrative form, I highly recommend McPherson's book Battle Cry of Freedom instead.

Outstanding textbook
While the general reader or Civil War buff might enjoy McPherson's popular "Battle Cry of Freedom," this book in a first rate textbook on the Civil War. McPherson spends ample time exploring the causes of war: the disputes over slavery in the territories, the attempts at compromise, and finally the start of the war itself. His military analysis of various battles is suscinct but comprehensive: satisfying to the military history buff, but not confusing to the lay reader.
Most importantly, McPherson incorporates a lengthy discussion of Reconstruction into the book (an element missing in "Battle Cry of Freedom"), thus describing the crucial aftermath of the war.

Second to None
McPherson's work here is quite comprehensive, notwithstanding The Battle Cry of Freedom, and quite detailed which makes it exactly the right text of choice for a Civil War classroom. The maps, charts, and photographs show without crowding the material the nature of the battles and campaigns the Union and Confederacy fought against each other. The photographs include gems that drive the ravaging, taxing, bloody hell of war home to readers. One cannot help but be shocked by the photograph on page 490 or many of the others depicting the horrors of war. That is one of many reasons that make this a book worth reading. Also worth mentioning is the meticulous amount of information and the methods by which it is organized. McPherson's text is mainly digested details of the war as he rarely refers the reader to other sources. There is an excellent organization to the text that makes it second to none.