America Goes to War: The Civil War and Its Meaning in American Culture [Paperback]

Bruce Catton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 1992

A fascinating study of the first modern war and its effect on American Culture.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Absolutely first-rate . . . some of the most perceptive material about the meaning of the Civil War ever published . . . No Civil War library will be complete without this fascinating book"--Omaha World-Herald

"No historian, Union or Confederate, has succeeded better than Mr. Catton in describing the real 'feel' of the Civil War, and in recognizing the nature of its appeal for subsequent generations."--Baltimore Evening Sun

"It was not at all a pretty war, Mr. Catton insists, but a grim, no-holds-barred struggle, the first of the world's modern wars. It is this quality of totality that gives it its terrible significance."--New York Times Book Review

"Stimulating reading for those who wish to explore the Civil War beyond the smoke of battle."--Houston Post

From the Publisher

5 1/2 x 8 1/4 trim. 11 illus. LC 58-13602

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Wesleyan; 1st edition (February 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0819560162
• ISBN-13: 978-0819560162
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #529,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Taste of Catton, October 26, 2007

By 

8th Conn Vol (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America Goes to War: The Civil War and Its Meaning in American Culture (Paperback)

Bruce Catton's book is a collection of the lectures he delivered in 1958 at Wesleyan University. They discuss some of the ideas in his earlier books and suggest ways to explore incompletely answered questions such as how was the war approached, how was it fought, and how was the legacy of the North's victory and the South's defeat handled?

His seven chapters discuss from a northern viewpoint salient aspects of the war beginning with his argument that the war was the first modern war due to its use of technology and tactics. Perhaps more importantly, he finds that the attitudes on both sides could be described as "total war" since complete victory was sought. Destruction of the ability to wage war became a goal as reflected by Sherman and Sheridan. Destruction of property evolved, according to Catton, into emancipation since that type of property was easily removed and useful in the North's war efforts. Catton reflects his northern biases in this chapter by, among other things, noting that some northern soldiers in the South realized that blacks were generally friends who could be counted on for help. He finds that emancipation effectively destroyed the South and changed the whole country since slavery was such an ingrained aspect of the fabric of the United States.

Catton blames slavery as the primary cause of the war arguing that politicians finally could no longer find compromises. In the last chapter, "The Heritage of Victory," he presents the issue of racism and how emancipation with little effective follow up by the victors led to blacks becoming and remaining second-class citizens.

Catton never tries to hide his northern perspective but he does discuss southern viewpoints and does not ignore northern failings. His narrative, nonacademic approach makes for entertaining reading but footnotes and a bibliography would help a reader wishing to do further research. Its 116 pages of text are well worth the short amount of time it takes to read this book and digest his ideas.

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely worthwhile, February 17, 2010

By 

Doc Holliday (Great Northwest) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: America Goes to War: The Civil War and Its Meaning in American Culture (Paperback)

America Goes to War addresses some of the salient cultural issues that are absent from studies of military strategy, battles and politics of Civil War history, (though, all of these remain essential to a real understanding of the significance of Civil War). The value of Catton's lectures, for this reader, underscore the importance of the Civil War, as the modern warfare prototype that was to emerge in the 20th Century, and how the unresolved social and political conflicts, manifested by the Civil War, remain in the American cultural fabric, even today.