Bruce Catton's Civil War, Three Volume Set [Paperback]

Bruce Catton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2001

Three Volume set includes: The Coming Fury, Terrible Swift Sword, and Never Call Retreat. A journalist and public official before becoming editor of American Heritage magazine, Bruce Catton won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his Civil War history A Stillness at Appomattox. As for this monumental Civil War trilogy, first published in the 1960s, historian Henry Steel Commager appraised: "better than any other history of our Civil War it combines narrative vigor, literary grace, freshness of view and independence of judgment, and a kind of catholic spirit which embraces the whole vast tumultuous scene." The first volume opens with the Democratic Party's Charleston convention in 1860 and the split that resulted in two Democratic candidates, followed by the Republican Convention and Lincoln's victory. The country first drifted and then was swept into war, even as Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were declaring that a peaceful solution could be found. The second volume shows how the Union and Confederacy slowly reconciled themselves to an all-out war, and how the statures of Lee, Grant, Sherman, Jefferson Davis, and many others emerged. McClellan's character is impaled here in extracts from his arrogant letters. In the final volume, Lincoln remains resolute in the belief that a house divided against itself cannot stand, while Jefferson Davis struggles valiantly for political and economic stability. Catton traces the most bitter years of the war here, from the fighting at Fredericksburg to the surrender at Appomattox and the end of the Confederacy, and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Each book includes a section of color maps, and the three volumes are contained in a blue and red box.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1680 pages
• Publisher: Phoenix Press (2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1898800227
• ISBN-13: 978-1898800224
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 4.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Centennial History of the Civil War, June 10, 2005

By 

J. H. Minde "Everything I need is right here" (Boca Raton, Florida and Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bruce Catton's Civil War, Three Volume Set (Paperback)

Phoenix Press has done the reader a great service by issuing this attractive and inexpensive boxed paperback edition of Bruce Catton's classic three volume history of the Civil War.

Begun in 1958 and released between 1961 and 1965, the three books, THE COMING FURY, TERRIBLE SWIFT SWORD and NEVER CALL RETREAT take the reader from the fractured Democratic Convention of 1860 to the assassination of President Lincoln.

Catton's books are unique for their almost lyrical readability. Catton's knowledge of his subject is exhaustive and his writing style is passionate. Drawing the reader along, Catton makes it possible to finish the three thick books in virtually three sittings.

Catton's thesis is that the South began the war at a decided material disadvantage and he demonstrates how, even as early as First Manassas, the die was cast for a probable Confederate defeat, tempered only by the Union's initial unwillingness to see the war for what it was, a shattering epochal contest.

The South's uncertain sense of nationhood is illuminated in its adoption of national symbols: At the Montgomery Convention, several delegates wanted to name the Confederacy the "United States of America"; Confederate generals squabbled over rank based on their West Point (i.e., Union) rankings; the South's national holiday was Washington's Birthday, it was established on Jeffersonian principles, and its Stars and Bars was confusingly similar to the Stars and Stripes, so much so as to lead to tragedies in battle. Imagine George Washington dedicating the American Revolution to Queen Elizabeth the First as a counterpoint.

Against this, Catton posits the unsure steps of the North, at first all but willing to let the "wayward sisters depart in peace," then battling the "armed combinations," then fighting for Union; and finally, dedicating the war to ensuring that "government of the people, by the people shall not vanish from the earth."

Thanks to Catton, THE CIVIL WAR becomes a living, breathing and evolving experience, not just a history.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rediscover a Great Historian, July 18, 2006

By 

J. Mullin (Plantation, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bruce Catton's Civil War, Three Volume Set (Paperback)

For those of us whose interest in the Civil War was ignited by the Ken Burns documentary, most naturally gravitated to Shelby Foote's wonderful 3 part Narrative History of the Civil War. Foote's masterpiece will always be at or near the top of anyone's list of great Civil War reading, but for some wanting a different approach, and looking for a slightly shorter and more accessible format, look no further than these three splendid paperback books from Bruce Catton.

While Foote's 3 part history takes approximately 3,000 pages to provide a detailed glimpse of all the major players and battles, Catton here tells the story in 3 books of about 450 pages each. Sacrifices are made, of course, and in some instances you are left wanting a little more detail, but overall Catton tells the story lyrically and with a great knack for tying up loose ends. His themes and arguments always make perfect sense, and while the writing is not as chock-full of historical detail as someone like James MacPherson, you won't feel as if you are reading a watered-down version of the conflict.

Catton begins the first volume, The Coming Fury, with a fascinating look at the 1860 presidential election, with its two Democratic nominees (Stephen Dougles and John Breckenridge) hopelessly splitting the party and eliminating any chance of defeating Lincoln, the nominee of the new Republican party. Catton spends a great deal of time on the splintering of the Democrats, the various conventions preceding the 1860 election, and the fevered calls for war emanating from the South as opposition to the Fugitive Slave law and expansion of the country called into question the slavery issue, and the extent to which slavery would be permitted in new territories and states. The first book then proceeds to a very detailed account of the Charleston/Fort Sumter mess, and concludes with the First Bull Run.

The pacing of the books was a bit odd, since the first 300 or so pages was so full of detail, you come to expect a much longer work, and a more thorough description of some key battles like Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. My only complaint here is that after spending so many pages on the political upheaval and precursors to war, I sometimes felt that not enough time was spent on several of the major campaigns and battles of the war. However most readers have plenty at their disposal if they want to dwell upon any specific campaign, such as MacPherson's excellent "Crossroads of Freedom" book about Antietam. Catton does cover every significant engagement, and does a great job of keeping his narrative and thematic focus intact while shifting to the battles in Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana. The author always discussed the choices and problems presented to the military and political leaders at each step of the struggle, and has a master's touch of fitting each battle into the context of the global struggle.

The final book in the trilogy, Never Call Retreat, was my favorite of the three. Catton does a wonderful job exploring the psyche of the South after some crushing defeats, and their desperate hope of Lincoln losing reelection to McClellan in 1864, followed by their slimmer hope of taking the battle back to Northern soil in the hopes that enough of the nation would simply tire of the war after 3-4 years of bloodshed. The logistical problems facing Robert Lee at the end as he moved his army around Virginia, desperately trying to feed the men, was unforgettable. Catton's last chapter, discussing the symmetry of how the story of the Civil War began and ended with sensational acts of madmen (John Brown and John Wilkes Booth) was a moving and effective coda. I put down the last volume very glad that I picked up this set, I think reading these books is time very well-spent for casual fans of history and true Civil War buffs alike.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, poetic, humorous and valid overview of the Civil War., June 15, 2006

By 

Garry Boulard (Albuquerque, New Mexico) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bruce Catton's Civil War, Three Volume Set (Paperback)

It is curious that Bruce Catton is in many ways today regarded as a forgotten historian. The author of a series of powerful narratives on not only the Civil War but the legends of that conflict, in particular Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, Catton in the 1950s and 60s really brought this country's most tragic war home to a new generation of Americans.

The series that begins with "The Coming Fury," originally published in 1961, and ends with "Never Call Retreat" in 1965, was an elegantly written exploration of all aspects of the war, not just its many and complex military engagements, but the social, economic and political ramifications of what some die-hards still call the War Between the States.

"Mr. Yancey could usually be found at the Charleston Hotel, where the anti-Douglas forces were gathering, and a Northerner who went around to have a look at him reported that he was unexpectedly quiet and mild-mannered, as bland and as smooth as Fernando Wood, the silky Democratic boss from New York City, but radiating a general air of sincerity that Wood never had," Catton begins in the opening paragraph of the first book.

Silky indeed.

For some reason recent Civil War scholars have tended to rely much more frequently on Allen Nevins' ponderous "Ordeal of the Union" series, which also was hailed as a major work revealing the wonders of the era to the post-World War II generation. But Nevins' work is full of errors, he cites footnotes for sources that are nonexistent, and litters his manuscript with endless potshots at people he thinks we should not like: Franklin Pierce is a "charming, pliable, vacillating executive," James Buchanan was controlled by a "timidity, pliability and self-seeking in his character,"; Stephen Douglas "suffered from his head-long impetuosity."

Almost anyone from the South, or more accurately, someone who is not a Radical Republican, suffers greatly in Nevins' series. The author, a New Yorker, writing more than 80 years after the conclusion of the Civil War, was a sore winner, demonstrating a repeated need to point out the moral superiority of the North and the depravity of the Confederacy.

Is that really the historian's purpose?

As a source that is much better written, less self-conscious, and more objective, I recommend the Catton books, a stellar reminder of why good history well-written is so much fun.