Xix, 909 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps, portraits 25 cm. Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award, 1989.
Writing for The New York Times, historian Hugh Brogan described it as '.the best one-volume treatment of its subject I have ever come across.
This volume makes sense of that vast and confusing "second American Revolution" we call the Civil War, a war that transformed a nation and expanded our heritage of liberty. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era is a Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the American Civil War published in 1988 by James M. This "new birth of freedom," as Lincoln called it, constitutes the proudest legacy of America's bloodiest conflict. Eventually, the North had to grapple with the underlying cause of the war, slavery, and adopt a policy of emancipation as a second war aim. The book's title refers to the sentiments that informed both the Northern and Southern views of the conflict: the South seceded in the name of that freedom of self-determination and self-government for which their fathers had fought in 1776, while the North stood fast in defense of the Union founded by those fathers as the bulwark of American liberty. Particularly notable are new views 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. It then moves into a chronicle of the war itself, the battles, the strategic maneuvering on both sides, the politics, and the personalities. Repository: American Song Sheets Library of Congress Rare Books and Special Collections. Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book. Packed with drama and analytical insight, the book vividly recounts the momentous episodes that preceded the Civil War: the Dred Scott decision, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. Book/Printed Material The battle-cry of freedom. Alibris, the Alibris logo, and are registered trademarks of Alibris, Inc. This “new birth of freedom,” as Lincoln called it, constitutes the proudest legacy of America’s bloodiest conflict.Filled with fresh interpretations and information, puncturing old myths and challenging new ones, this fast-paced narrative fully integrates the political, social, and military events that crowded the two decades from the outbreak of one war in Mexico to the ending of another at Appomattox. Eventually, the North had to grapple with the underlying cause of the war, that is, of slavery, and adopt a policy of emancipation as a second war aim.
McPherson puts forward important views on matters such as the expansion of slavery in the 1850s, the origins of the Republican Party, the causes of Southern secession, internal dissent and anti-war opposition in the North and the South, and the reasons for the Union’s victory.īoth North and South claimed to fight for Freedom: the South seceded in the name of freedom of self-determination and self-government for which their fathers had fought in 1776 the North defended the Union founded by those fathers as the bulwark of American liberty. It is the sixth volume of the Oxford History of the United States.įrom the momentous episodes that preceded the Civil War - the Dred Scott decision of 1857, the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry of 1859 - the narrative moves into a masterful chronicle of the war itself: the battles, the strategic maneuvering on both sides, the politics, and the personalities. Packed with drama and analytical insight, the book vividly recounts the. It combines within a single narrative framework the social, military, and political events of the period. Read Battle Cry of Freedom The Civil War Era by James M. Battle Cry of Freedom vividly traces how a new nation was forged when a war both sides were sure would amount to little dragged for four years and cost more American lives than all other wars combined. Battle Cry of Freedom covers two decades of the Civil War era, from the outbreak of the Mexican-American War in 1846 to the ending of the Civil War at Appomattox in 1865.