Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Oates has been able to seamlessly combine historical facts with well-reasoned, insightful extentions of the speakers thoughts and motives.

In order to understand one of the most important chapters in American history, it is imperative to not only read the documents left behind, but to delve into the thoughts and motives behind those documents. Oates has done this in an easy-to-read, yet historiclly accurate tome.

This is a must read for all those wishing to know why the Civil War was an inevitable chapter in American history.

I was skeptical of this book when I read in the preface that Oates was going to tell us what the key players said and what "they might have said". However, I was very pleased with the even handedness and accuracy of his content. The style of the book proved refreshing and placed the chronological events into an interesting weave. HOWEVER, he leads the reader to believe that slavery and its politics was the ONLY reason for the eventual conflict. The resulting carnage was a product of many more and very complicated factors of which we should all be aware.

In order to better understand the political issues and emotions that split the nation in two and precipitated a Civil War. Oates adopts a rotating first person, personal perspective in his narrative (with credit given to Faulkner for this literary approach - e.g. The Sound and the Fury), Oates' uses the words and writings of Jefferson, Clay, Calhoun, Douglass, Stowe, Douglas, Lincoln, Davis and others to create first person narratives describing the events from the Missouri Compromise in 1820, through the debates surrounding the compromises of 1850, the Kansas-Nebrasks Act and the rise of the Republican party to the shots fired at Fort Sumter. The objective in this unique style is an understanding of the personalities involved, leading to recognition of the polarization of the nation - geographically and morally. The problem with Oates' approach is that he chose players on the national stage with personal agendas of ambition. Left unanswered is the question of how intelligent, apolitical individuals of the time perceived their nation's crisis. The "fire-eating" Calhoun bears responsibility for propelling his nation towards disaster - but his views were not in general typical of the south. Lincoln also bears responsibility for precipitating Civil War - probably more than any other single individual - but his views were also not typical of the north. Still, all in all, a worthwhile attempt at a more personal approach to history. Not the must illuminating work on this subject, but an interesting read.

. . . this is it. The rotating-narrative style pulls readers in most wonderfully. While many historical accounts take an omniscient approach -- readers stationed above the action, looking down -- this puts you in the middle of the hurricane. Perspective changes rapidly from North to South, from pro-slavery to anti-slavery to abolitionist. In my first read through, I found myself cursing Jefferson Davis under my breath (mild mannered historian that I am); when I was using it another time in preparing for a class, I found myself snarling at Abe. Having trouble connecting with people in the past? Here's your book.

Really enjoyed this book, but it was not an easy read. I found the first-person perspective really thought provoking and had to stop frequently to mull over the comments of each character. After 28 years out of college, I learned a lot and now have a real grasp of that period in our history. I would have liked for the book to contain pictures of each of the characters instead of the author repeatedly describing them (one more mention of Seward's beaked nose and I'll scream!).

Although I enjoyed the first-person narrative, I am cautious about this technique. I was concerned about how much of the text, particularly what appeared in quotation marks, was merely the author's creation (i.e., fiction). Besides the difficulty in separating fact from fiction, this approach leaves a lot of room for the author to convey his or her view of events. Passages where speakers essentially quoted from their own speeches and writings, however, are much more readable in this format. This is entertaining and informative but should not become the only way we read history.

I find the first person approach fascinating. It is (for me) extremely engaging and many of the political battles make more sense to me when I have some flavor of the personalities involved. one previous reviewer looked at the similarities to the current abortion issue - I find an unhappy repetition of history in that much of the debate in the abolitionist movement centered on how to deal with a largely illiterate, unskilled, and unwelcome underclass being suddenly freed and bursting, angrily, upon the scene. This is the same situation we find ourselves facing now - except that the underclass is now welll armed (what John Brown had in mind). A good book is one which stimulates a multitude of controversial and thought provoking ideas. This book certainly qualifies.

Mr. Oates is the most gifted biographer we have on the scene. His talent lies in his ability to project the reader into his subject matter, be it Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, John Brown. Though not a biography, _The Approaching Fury_ accomplishes that beautifuly. Oates puts the reader in the world, and within the words, of the signifigant actors of the times: Lincoln, Brown, Frederick Douglass, John Calhoun, Stephen Douglas. Through Oates' interpretation of these principals, we the reader are rewarded with a greater understanding of the ideas behind the events which led to our bloody Civil War. I am eagerly awaiting the companion piece, which will take the same approach as it carries through the conflict itself.