In this collection of provocative and illuminating essays, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James M. McPherson offers fresh interpretations and insights into many of the most enduring questions and debates about America’s greatest historical crisis — the Civil War. In a collection that includes several never before published essays, McPherson reflects on everything from Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief to what might have happened if the South had won.
The book's common thread wraps around the Civil War, and arises from a compilation of 16 essays with related perspectives. Since the audio doesn't explain this theme, avoidable confusion results. The characters include Harriet Tubman, James Brown, and Jesse James, as well as numerous generals and politicians. Narrator Barrett Whitener doesn't create unique voices for them, but rather inflects his speech slightly or adds a quick pause to indicate it's not the author talking. Because of the lack of historical organization, Whitener's taciturn narration establishes and maintains the primary focus for listeners' attention. With no maps, no pictures, and no background for the many battles, beginners to this period of U.S. history may falter in listening to this. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
Boston Globe...
"It will seduce anyone, Civil War neophyte or fanatic, for its authority and judgments...There is not a bad chapter in this book. This Mighty Scourge is a marvelous read from a master historian. Like all good history, what it makes you want to do is know more."
About the Author
JAMES M. MCPHERSON is the George Henry Davis ’86 Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton Unviersity. America’s leading historian of the Civil War, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom, which was a New York Times bestseller, and he won the Lincoln Prize for For Cause and Comrades.
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