1861: The Civil War Awakening (Vintage) [Paperback]

Adam Goodheart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 21, 2012 | Series: Vintage

An epic of courage and heroism beyond the battlefields, 1861 is Adam Goodheart’s account of how the Civil War began and a second American revolution unfolded, setting Abraham Lincoln on the path to greatness and millions of slaves on the road to freedom. In this gripping and original book, Goodheart introduces us to a heretofore little-known cast of Civil War heroes—among them an acrobatic militia colonel, an explorer’s wife, an idealistic band of German immigrants, a regiment of New York City firemen, a community of Virginia slaves, and a young college professor who would one day become president. Their stories take us from the corridors of the White House to the slums of Manhattan, from the waters of the Chesapeake to the deserts of Nevada, from Boston Common to Alcatraz Island, vividly evoking the Union at its moment of ultimate crisis and decision.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Goodheart, a historian and journalist who will be writing a column on the Civil War for the New York Times online, makes sophisticated use of a broad spectrum of sources for an evocative reinterpretation of the Civil War's beginnings. Wanting to retrieve the war from recent critics who dismiss the importance of slavery in the Union's aims, he reframes the war as "not just a Southern rebellion but a nationwide revolution" to free the country of slavery and end paralyzing attempts to compromise over it. The revolution began long before the war's first shots were fired. But it worked on the minds and hearts of average whites and blacks, slaves and free men. By 1861 it had attained an irresistible momentum. Goodheart shifts focus away from the power centers of Washington and Charleston to look at the actions and reactions of citizens from Boston to New York City, from Hampton Roads, Va., to St. Louis, Mo., and San Francisco, emphasizing the cultural, rather than military, clash between those wanting the country to move forward and those clinging to the old ways. War would be waged for four bitter years, with enduring seriousness, intensity, and great heroism, Goodheart emphasizes. 15 illus. (Apr.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

A New York Times Notable Book

Praise for Adam Goodheart’s 1861
 
“Exhilarating. . . . Inspiring. . . . Irresistible. . . . 1861 creates the uncanny illusion that the reader has stepped into a time machine.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“A huge contribution. . . . Hardly a page of this book lacks an insight of importance or a fact that beguiles the reader.”
—The Boston Globe

“Adam Goodheart is a Monet with a pen instead of a paintbrush.”
—James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom
 
“Goodheart writes with precision, beauty and understanding. The books will renew one’s excitement about reading history.”
—The Albuquerque Journal

“Rich, multitiered history.”
—The New York Review of Books
 
“Goodheart shows us that even at 150 years’ distance there are new voices, and new stories, to be heard about the Civil War, and that together they can have real meaning. . . . He takes what is known, breaks it down to its elemental parts and rearranges it, giving us a different view entirely of something we thought we understood entirely.”
—The Boston Globe
 
“1861 is the best book I have ever read on the start of the Civil War. . . . Penetrating, eloquent, and deeply moving, this is a classic introduction to the nation’s greatest conflict.”
—Tony Horwitz, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of Confederates in the Attic
 
“Eloquent. . . . Gripping. . . . Goodheart gives readers a sense of what it was like to have been there.”
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
 
“Marvelous. . . . Goodheart brings us into the world of mid-nineteenth-century America, as ambiguous and ambitious and fractured as the times we live in now, and he brings to pulsing life the hearts and minds of its American citizens.”
—The Huffington Post
 
“Exceptional historical reporting. . . . Enlightening, insightful, and yes, entertaining.”
—The Tucson Citizen
 
“Doing what David McCullough’s 1776 did for the American Revolution, Goodheart’s book delivers a remarkably original and gripping account of the year the Civil War began.”
—History Book Club
 
“Goodheart is an elegant writer and this is a highly readable introduction to America’s great civil conflict.”
—The Seattle Times
 
“A compelling look at the country’s dawning realization that this would be much more than a quickly resolved conflict over slavery, through the experiences of a fascinating cast of characters given short shrift (if any shrift at all) in previous Civil War books.”
—The Star-Ledger
 
“Goodheart’s book stands out . . . for the author’s deft narrative style and vivid description. . . . [He] conjures a remarkable cast of individual Americans—from slaves and foot soldiers to the occupant of the Oval Office—using their stories to evoke a national watershed.”
—The Times-Picayune
 
“An impressive accomplishment, a delightful read, and a valuable contribution that will entertain and challenge popular and professional audiences alike.”
—Harvard Magazine
 
“With boundless verve, Adam Goodheart has sketched an uncommonly rich tableau of America on the cusp of the Civil War. The research is impeccable, the cast of little-known characters we are introduced to is thoroughly fascinating, the book is utterly thought-provoking, and the story is luminescent. What a triumph.”
—Jay Winik, author of April 1865 and The Great Upheaval

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (February 21, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400032199
• ISBN-13: 978-1400032198
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > History > Americas > United States > Civil War

More About the Author

Adam Goodheart is a historian, journalist, and travel writer. His articles have appeared in National Geographic, Outside, Smithsonian, The Atlantic, and The New York Times Magazine, among others, and he is a regular columnist for the Times' acclaimed Civil War series, "Disunion." He lives in Washington, D.C., and on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where he is director of Washington College's C. V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

102 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It All Began with an "S", April 27, 2011

By 

James Hiller (Beaverton, OR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 1861: The Civil War Awakening (Hardcover)

Normally, this is a book that I would pass up on the history shelf; me, an avid non-fiction reader and Civil War history buff. Why? Usually, books on the "years" of the Civil War are merely recountings of the events, maybe with an unique fact thrown in here and there, but nothing really new. How many times do I have to read about Lincoln's agony of whether or not to defend Ft. Sumter? However, after reading an insightful review in the "New York Times Book Review", this book found itself in my hands, and after reading it, it's become one of my new favorites. "1861: The Civil War Awakening" by Adam Goodheart is destined to become an often read introduction to this terrible, turbulent time.

What drew me in was the prologue. How often had I read about Maj. Robert Anderson's brave defense of the fort from Confederate shelling, and how he gave in honorably. What I didn't know what that Anderson originally was chosen to defend in Fort Moultrie. When South Carolina voted to secede, his small but valiant group of men (including a brass band!) constantly pressured him to move to Sumter, which was more easily defended from attack than the "park-like" Moultrie. Anderson wanted to go, but felt compelled to follow his orders. It wasn't until a telegram arrived that asked him to defend the "forts" (note the plural S) that he felt finally like he had permission to move. So he did, sneaking over to Sumter, all because of the letter S. The rest is history.

In fact, that is what Adam Goodheart truly understands; that history is all about story; the story of a person or of people. Much gets lost in the endless recitation of battle facts and ennui, which is important to remember, but there is so much more. It's the stories that drive the war. By focusing on different people through the book, from Ralph Farnham, who fought in the Revolution and lived long enough to cast a vote for "The Rail-Splitter", to the Wide Awakes, to the Abolitionists, to San Francisco, the book paints a great picture of the country at the time of war. To understand the conflict, attests Goodheart, you must understand the country and the people who lived in it, to understand the vast array of reactions to the onset of Civil War. It reminds me a bit of NPR American Chronicles: The Civil War, which also tells many, many stories.

This is a treasured book. In what will be a vast avalanche of Civil War books coming out over the next four years, this is a great opening salvo, filled with insights to people we all know too well and to people we don't know at all.

Highly recommended.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Insight on the Start of the American Civil War, May 10, 2011

By 

J. Beardsley (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 1861: The Civil War Awakening (Hardcover)

With the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War I wanted to add a series of books to my reading list to compliment this fact. To be honest with you, I was only somewhat excited about this literary endeavor, having already read a multitude of books on the Civil War over the years - including the Shelby Foote trilogy, Shaara's "The Killer Angels", and too many more to list here. I really didn't want to simply rehash the many famous battles that took place during this great conflict unless some new and intriguing data could be added. With that in mind, I struck out on Adam Goodheart's "1861". While I plan on reading a few books over the sesquicentennial, I am very glad I started with this book.

Bottom line: this book offered me a take on the Civil War that was entirely new and interesting to me. Goodheart started with a research question: How does a nation of real people go from a relatively peaceful state to a willingness to engage in bloody civil war in just a short matter of time? What changed within the minds of individuals, never mind the political and military figures, that allowed for this to happen? It is a question worth asking when you consider the price that was paid and the sacrifice required to bring the war to an end over the course of four years. The answer to this question offers guidance for us to this day.

To answer the research question, Goodheart chose to look at the lives of several individuals, who, at least in my case, were relatively new case studies to the American Civil War. The timeframe essentially takes place from the Presidential election of 1860 through First Manassas. He looked closely at the lives of figures associated with key milestones, such as Major Anderson at the Siege of Fort Sumter and Nathaniel Lyons securing the federal armory in St. Louis. But, I think more importantly, he looked at the lives of some lesser know but still key figures in drawing the nation into a willingness to enter civil war. A sampling of this includes James A. Garfield, the final living participant in the Battle of Bunker Hill, Benjamin Franklin Butler, and many more. The one character he uses to carry the book through from start to finish is that of Elmer Ellsworth - a showman, friend of Lincoln, and former of the first Zouave union army unit to see combat. In that final role, Ellsworth was also killed removing a confederate flag from a hotel in Alexandria, Virginia. Goodheart tells this story, as he successfully does with many others, to progress the understanding of how the nation moved so quickly into civil war. Goodheart noted that while Fort Sumter was a rallying cry to war for the north, the death of the famed Ellsworth is what pushed many over the edge in their desire to engage with the confederacy.

Perhaps the best part of 1861 though is its case for war against slavery. Goodheart does an amazing job of tearing down the myths of the Civil War as it relates to slavery. He accurately portrays the feeling of many in the north and south at the time regarding their views of slavery, pro or con, or somewhere in between - which is in fact where many stood, including in the north. The true abolitionists of the day were viewed as radical, and were few in number. That said, most had serious doubts about slavery as an institution, which Goodheart went to great lengths to describe. While the Civil War for many was about state's rights versus federal, for many others, slavery was from the beginning the only issue worth discussing. In studying the history of the Civil War we seem to fluctuate greatly between the causes of the conflict, at times downplaying the role of slavery, at times increasing it. Goodheart, I believe, strikes a true path of understanding, by studying the lives of many, and their varying beliefs on the subject. With this line of understanding, it becomes obvious why emancipation was soon to follow, despite what many originally stated as their willingness to go to war.

On the whole, this was a refreshing, novel, and highly informing read for me on the topic of the Civil War. For others who wish to read about the subject, and are already very familiar with various battles, I highly recommend this book. It will offer new insight.

110 of 128 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As well written as it is researched..., April 5, 2011

By 

Peter Knox "Peter" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 1861: The Civil War Awakening (Hardcover)

For any followers of the NYTimes' "DISUNION" blog http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/ we've been looking forward to this book's release for a long time.

150 years later and the Civil War is as relevant and interesting as ever, and Goodheart focuses this book around that first year, 1861, and how the Civil War REALLY came about.

In this beautifully packaged (deckled/uneven pages!) book, Goodheart spins a well crafted and accurate non-fiction narrative of the story of the start of our country's divide and brings our troubled political past alive in a story that reads unlike any other history book I've read.

It's the rare entry point to the Civil War that can delight any Civil War buff who thinks he knows everything already as well as captivate and interest the vaguely curious and cautious non-historian.