American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War (R) [Hardcover]

Bruce Catton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 11, 1994

The Epic Struggle of the Blue and Gray by the Pulitzer Prize-Winning Historian Bruce Catton. Here is the true look of the war with 836 pictures including many in color that have never been printed before. The illustrations range from the superb photographs of Mathew Brady and the famous sketches of Winslow Homer to dozens of previously unknown paintings, drawings, and eye-witness battle scenes. No previous single volume on the war has even approached the magnitude and the color of this collection.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 630 pages
• Publisher: Gramercy (April 11, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517385562
• ISBN-13: 978-0517385562
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.8 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #316,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential for any Civil War enthusiast, August 9, 2000

By 

Ernest Cline (Batesburg, SC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War (R) (Hardcover)

This book is truly a must for anyone who wants a Civil War library. No other Civil War book has a richer breadth of imagery than this tome. This should be your second book after Battle Cry of Freedom, and your next should be Shelby Foote's trilogy. After that, pick books on narrower topics of interest to you.

There is only one reason for not making this your first book. As its title implies, it focuses on the pictures of the Civil War, and as such it has little room for more than an overview of the events in the words accompanying the pictures. However, there truly is only one failing of this book, and that is that it is out of print as I write this; a fault that will probably be remedied soon.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT overview of the American Civil War., March 2, 2006

By 

Todd Bovair (Wynantskill, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War (R) (Hardcover)

This was my second Civil War book, which I received for Christmas when I was 12 (thanks Mom!). My love of the subject probably has a lot to do with this excellent volume, which I pored over for many years. It is loaded with photos, illustrations, and maps as well as Bruce Catton's EXCELLENT narrative. While this narrative does not go into extensive detail (the enormous scope of the war prohibts this), it is clearly written and a treasure trove of knowledge for those interested in a one-volume overview of the Civil War. Catton was a much respected Civil War historian who influenced many of today's historians. This book (which had been out of print for years) has recently been reissued with all new photos and illustrations while still preserving the original Catton text. As these new illustrations tend to be more informative to the Civil War student than the original version's (the original had a lot of photographs of Civil war battlefields as they appear today, which are of limited usefulness), this is the preferred edition. The new edition has a white dust jacket, while the original had a grey dust jacket. Either edition, however, will serve you well in studying the deadliest war in United States history. HIGHLY recommended, especially to beginning Civil War buffs or anyone who would like to read about one of the most important chapters in our country's history.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars stunning, June 7, 2000

By 

Craig Chalquist, PhD, author of TERRAPSYCHOLO... (Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: "American Heritage" Picture History of the Civil War (Hardcover)

Flipping through this big book, you lose yourself at times in the feeling that you were there. The destruction displayed (have you ever seen an entire hillside covered with dead men?) exists side by side with accounts of desperate valor.