The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm, 1820-1861 [Hardcover]

Stephen B. Oates (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1997

An award-winning historian tells the story of the approach of the Civil War through the voices of thirteen principal figures, from Abraham Lincoln to Frederick Douglass, exploring the different perceptions they had of the reasons for war.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Acclaimed and prolific historian Stephen B. Oates looks at the events leading to the American Civil War through the eyes and words of 13 historic figures. Beginning with the Missouri Crisis of 1820 and ending with the outbreak of hostilities, Oates presents the viewpoints of such famous personages as Henry Clay and John Brown. The author blends fact and fiction to bring the people and events to life, and this unique treatment makes the period's complicated history accessible to the general reader.

From Library Journal

Acclaimed biographer and historian Oates (A Woman of Valor, LJ 4/1/94) draws on his earlier work concerning Nat Turner, John Brown, and Abraham Lincoln to script a series of dramatic autobiographical monologs relating 13 different voices and viewpoints on the coming of the Civil War, from Jefferson Davis's and Lincoln's agonizing over disunion in 1860-61. Turner, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Mary Chestnut, and others make cameo appearances, but Henry Clay, John Calhoun, Stephen A. Douglas, Davis, and Lincoln dominate the discussion. Oates's hybrid of You Are There and Mark Twain Tonight succeeds best when he squares off Lincoln and Douglas in their own words, but his Southern voices do not ring so true. In Oates's hands, the multiple-perspectives approach lacks the mystery and power William Faulkner gave it, but Oates does find "truth" in the method and reminds us that none of "the great men" (or women) controlled events. Their words tell us so. Recommended for college and major public libraries.?Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (February 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006016784X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060167844
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,663,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Way to Understand What Led Up to the Civil War, January 17, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm, 1820-1861 (Paperback)

I thought I knew a lot about this era but this book gave me even greater insight. I hesitated to read it at first because I'm a little skeptical of those "in their own words" treatments.But Oates presents a balanced (for the most part) account, using the speeches, letters, and diaries of the likes of Henry Clay, John Brown, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jefferson Davis, Mary Boykin Chesnut, Stephen A. Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln rather than creating monologues for them of his own design. He doesn't result to dramatic license, trying to make these folks conform to his idea of what they were like, but presents them as accurately as one can given the sources available. The only quibble I'd put forth is that he has Calhoun refer to his slaves as "niggers," even though there is no documentary evidence that he ever did so (even in private letters he referred to them as "negroes"). Anyone interested in the issues and events that led up to the Civil War must read this book! I recommend it most highly.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oates' explanation of the causes of the Civil War first-rate, March 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm, 1820-1861 (Paperback)

Stephen Oates has done what few historians have been able to do: Write a well-researched book that details the causes of the American Civil War and do it in a style fascinating to Civil War buff and "civilian" alike. The form is first person as Oates takes on the persona of the political and philosophical heavyweights from the forty-year period preceding the war. Purists may cringe at Oates unapologetic use of fiction, but it adds zest to a genre too often content with fact regurgitation. Jefferson, Clay, Calhoun, Lincoln, Chestnut, Douglas (and Douglass), to name a short list of characters, breath as they seldom do in a work of history. No dry facts here. This is a work that reconstructs the era so vividly that even a history-phobic reader will find it engrossing. The Civil War, while an inherently fascinating subject, is chronicled by too many works that enlighten only if the reader can remain awake reading them. The Approaching Fury makes turning out the lights for the evening an unwanted event. This writer cannot wait for the promised sequel.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Look at the Causes of the Civil War, December 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm, 1820-1861 (Paperback)

The Civil War. It facinates us to this day. Americans from the North and the South set in bloody combat against each other. But why? The easy answer is to simply say slavery. But was there more to it than this? Stephen Oates' book takes the first person perspective of 13 characters from this pivotal time in history. Ranging from Thomas Jefferson to Stephen Douglas to Harriet Beecher Stowe, Oates portrays the feelings, actions, desires, and events that occured in the lives of these individuals and how they shaped the views of all Americans. Rightly titled, the book takes a more hostile and agressive air with each page as 19th century "movers and shakers" seem to shout at each other from their respective sections in the book. Oates' does a wonderful job of allowing us to see why America would turn against itself to survive and made it clear that, by the time the Civil War began, there were few options but to fight. Oates gives each of his characters personality and strong views about slavery, abolition, states rights, and the role of the federal government. It is as if we can almost see the line between North and South being drawn as the book progresses. An excellent read for any Civil War buff or historically inclined individual.