Customer Reviews

Bruce Catton's Civil War, Three Volume Set

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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.

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.

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.

This is a classic set of books that all civil war buffs should have. The set provides a great background to the war. The writing is detailed and informative without being so detailed to bury the read.

An exhaustively researched and deeply engrossing narrative, Catton not only tells us *what* happened, but breathes life into the people living in the crucible of the Civil War. What the war meant to the people who lived it and afterwards forms a valuable part of the narrative. Attention is given to attitudes of a vanished generation that people of Catton's age still knew at first and second-hand; such context forms a key part in understanding the war's impact on people at the time and its subsequent place in the American psyche. As the war recedes further into "history", the more important it becomes to see the humans swept up in it. This Catton does, with a deft literary skill that sweeps the reader along just as thoroughly.

The whole series is an independent work, but it does gain a synergistic benefit from reading his other works such as "This Hallowed Ground" (still the best single volume on the war in my opinion) and the Army of the Potomac trilogy. If the War interests you, its Centenniel History is an indispensible read.

I have very little to add to the other reviewers about the books themselves. If you have an interest in the Second War of Independence and have read others on the subject, your effort cannot be satisfied without reading both of the Catton trilogies. While not as satisfying as Shelby Footes' magnificent effort, Catton brings word candy for the reader to devour. Catton writes with two particular insights that make his work stand out. He was writing at a time when the memory of World War II was fresh in the culture and there were many veterans around who could and at times would talk about war in the detail that only a soldier or sailor can describe. Catton captures the citizen soldier and the professional soldier in the Civil War as well as any author and one can only speculate that his nexus with real soldiers had an influence on his effort. The second thing to note about Catton is that he is a Yankee and his writing has a distinctly Yankee point of view and feel to it. When compared to Foote's more neutral approach (I think Foote probably liked both sides equally well.) there is an unmistakeable flavor that comes through. Other authors suffer from the same malady, but then again it is the victors that get to write the history.

All of that having been said, it is not meant to in any way disparage the works of Catton. If I hadn't had Foote to compare his work to, he would have gotten five stars from me. Like Foote's work, Catton's invites multiple readings without tiring or boring the reader.

Even if you only have a passing interest in this most trying time in our history, all of Catton's books should make it to the top of your reading list.

2001's "Bruce Catton's Civil War" is a bargain edition of Catton's superb Centennial History of the Civil War, first published between 1961 and 1963, and still a very worthwhile reading experience. Catton and his contemporary Shelby Foote were masters of the narrative style of historical writing, interpreting the Civil War as an epic struggle for the soul and the future of the United States.

Volume One, "The Coming Fury", explores the origins of the conflict and the 1861 crisis that lead to succession, Fort Sumter, and the First Battle of Bull Run. Catton depicts a young nation, struggling with expansion, slavery, and its conflicted sense of what kind of nation it meant to become.

Volume Two, "Terrible Swift Sword", narrates the hardening of attitudes North and South toward a war of annihilation in the terrible middle years of the Civil War. The North discovers two generals, George McClellan and US Grant, while the South promotes Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. This volume ends with Antietam and the Emanicipation Proclamation.

Volume Three, "Never Call Retreat", covers the final years of the war, from the Union fiasco at Fredericksburg, to the turning of the tide of war at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, to Sherman's March, the siege of Petersburg, and the final confrontation at Appomattox.

Catton deftly weaves together the military and political strands of the war, offering vignettes of the principal personalities, and intertwining the careers of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and US President Lincoln. "Bruce Catton's Civil War" is very highly recommended to students of the Civil War as one of the best of the big-picture histories of the conflict.

Catton brings history alive. Most history books are dry and lifeless, merely listings of dates and events with little of the life and color of the participants. Exhaustively researched and documented, Mr. Cattons's trilogy is THE authortative history of the civil war. He went back to original documentaton, often quoting the correspondence, not just of presidents, cabinet members, and generals, but also the man on the street. Superb. If you are a history buff, or just looking for a good read on a subject of critical historical importance, buy this trilogy. You will not be disapointed.

From the picture, I expected nicer, newer books but received old, tattered books and paid way too much for them all things considered. I was very disappointed since I had bought them as a gift for someone.