Product Description

The United States saw long-simmering sectional tensions erupt into fighting at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April 1861, beginning what would become the most cataclysmic military struggle in the western world between Waterloo and the First World War. This book, with a new foreword by Professor James McPherson, traces the course of the war in both Eastern and Western theatres, looking at strategic, geographical and logistic factors as well as the soldiers, officers, and civilians who were caught up in the conflict. During the four years of war at least 620,000 soldiers and sailors died in bloody fighting at more than 10,000 recorded battles, engagements and skirmishes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73136 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 328 pages

Customer Reviews

First rate account of America's civil war
If you want to know about the civil war,how it came about? where,when and what happened? who the key player's were?Then this is the book for you!I wanted a book that was informative, yet written in an easily absorbing way.It is vivid without being boring,the only downside is that you find it very hard to put down!

An good synthesis with interesting side articles
I read this volume aside "Battle cry of Freedom" from James McPherson, and although it is not as complete, it is quicker to read and contains the essential military developments of the civil war. What I really appreciate, though, are the quality of the illustrations (although some of the maps could have been better and more precise), but even more, the chapters aside the main events, focusing on specific portraits of civilians and soldiers living during this war. If I were to read this book again, I would read it before "Battle cry of Freedom", as a preliminary to understand it even better. Overall, I think this Osprey collection (Essential Histories) is excellent to awake (or not) your interest on a particular war or campaign and give you an incentive to do more research on a particular subject if you like the corresponding Osprey book, providing you a short but accurate bibliography for further reading, which is always useful for the amateur historian.