The Civil War: The complete text of the bestselling narrative history of the Civil War--based on the celebrated PBS television series [Paperback]

Geoffrey C. Ward (Author), Kenneth Burns (Author), RICHARD BURNS (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0679755438 | ISBN-13: 978-0679755432 | Publication Date: September 6, 1994 | Edition: Mti

"The Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things.... It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads: the suffering, the enormous tragedy of the whole thing."- Shelby Foote, from The Civil War

  When the illustrated edition of The Civil War was first published, The New York Time hailed it as "a treasure for the eye and mind." Now Geoffrey Ward's magisterial work of history is available in a text-only edition that interweaves the author's narrative with the voices of the men and women who lived through the cataclysmic trial of our nationhood: not just Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Robert E. Lee, but genteel Southern ladies and escaped slaves, cavalry officers and common foot soldiers who fought in Yankee blue and Rebel gray.

     The Civil War also includes essays by our most distinguished historians of the era: Don E. Fehrenbacher, on the war's origins; Barbara J. Fields, on the freeing of the slaves; Shelby Foote, on the war's soldiers and commanders; James M. McPherson, on the political dimensions of the struggle; and C. Vann Woodward, assessing the America that emerged from the war's ashes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Companion volume to a forthcoming PBS series, this is an extraordinary collection of photos, engravings and paintings, many published for the first time, conveying military and political events of the Civil War, accompanied by a pungent text that avoids sentimentality in depicting "the most horrible, necessary, intimate, acrimonious, mean-spirited, and heroic" war in our history. Typical illustrations include a photo of a pile of amputated feet, four pages of clinical portraits of maimed soldiers, photos of nurses at work in hospitals and rare studio portraits of slaves among some 500 illustrations which, in combination with the text, present a memorable record of the War Between the States. The book, assembled by Ward, author of A First Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt , and historians Ken and Ric Burns, also includes original essays by distinguished historians James M. McPherson and C. Vann Woodward among others, and an edifying interview with historian Shelby Foote. BOMC main selection.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

YA-- A glowing companion volume to the celebrated PBS television series that is informative and poignant. After exhausting research in museums, libraries, and newspapers, 475 images were selected to show readers what people, places, and events looked like during this crisis that shook the foundation of American civilization. The text that accompanies these illustrations is often the voices of the men and women who lived it. Extensive use of diaries, letters, and newspaper accounts bring the world of the 1860s to life. Five Civil War historians provide essays that add a third dimension to this fascinating work. A selected bibliography that includes some of the most noted works on the Civil War and a complete index are included. The book can be used as a companion to the PBS series or as a valuable resource on its own. It should be included in all Civil War collections.
-Dolores M. Steinhauer, Jefferson Sci-Tech, Alexandria, VA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; Mti edition (September 6, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679755438
• ISBN-13: 978-0679755432
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #133,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Epic, December 4, 2000

By 

Richard La Fianza (San Bernardino) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Civil War: An Illustrated History (Hardcover)

The Civil War is probably the best book I have ever read and read and read. I originally bought this book over 10 years ago. I have recently re-read it again for the fourth or fifth time and the writing is still fresh, the story still gripping, and the photographs found and used, still riveting. It is simply one of the best if not best American History book produced. Why is it so good? I wish I knew, because then I would be writting books, instead of these reviews.

I can tell you what I liked. First, the story telling was beautiful. By "story telling", I could say editing. Anytime a writer writes, fiction or fact, he or she must choice what they put in, and what they do not. To often, especially with history stories, authors try to overwhelm us with details. Here the authors have choosen the best details, and deleted the rest.

Second, how the authors write, is superb. They have a great sense of irony. Describing Gettysberg, they describe the worst battle in American History as a battle begun over shoes. Better still, they go on to show it. Now must historians probably wouldn't know or care that this battle may have started over shoes, but these authors know that (1) it is interesting and (2) it also shows that the southern soliders, who needed the shoes, were short on supplies. The authors could have just said that at the time of Gettysberg that the South were short on supplies, but the way they wrote about it here, it was much more interesting.

Finally, this book has a great caste, if you will. In this book the authors have five historians who contribute to the story telling. Each historian brings in their perspective and each perspective is different. The combination, however, is stronger then the individual parts. I don't know why the authors chose these historians over others, but it was a good choice.

In short, a great book. The only history book I know, which compares in readability, is "The Guns of August." Since that book is better known, many people may skip over this one. Don't. This book should be bought, read, enjoyed, saved, and the re-read again, and re-enjoyed again at future dates. Bravo.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The Crossroads of Our Being", May 26, 2001

By 

Mike Powers "mkp51" (Woolwich, ME USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Civil War: An Illustrated History (Paperback)

In 1989, one of the finest, documentary films ever shown on TV appeared on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). That film was the groundbreaking, multi-part documentary "The Civil War," by Ken Burns, Ric Burns, and Geoffrey C. Ward. A few months after "The Civil War" was broadcast, I found "The Civil War: An Illustrated History," the companion book to the film, in our local bookstore. It is authored by the same trio responsible for the film. (Geoffrey Ward is the principal author, ably assisted by the Burns brothers.)

"The Civil War: An Illustrated History"is an outstanding book - like its film counterpart, an excellent work of history, powerfully written by gifted writers with a genuine passion for their subject. Ward and Burns have written a graceful and eloquent basic survey of the Civil War that even the most battle-hardened Civil War buffs will find a wonderful reading experience.

The authors provide a straightforward narrative of events without much historical interpretation of events. That doesn't mean there isn't any analysis of historical events, however. In what I consider an act of literary genius, Ward and Burns enlisted the help of some of America's greatest Civil War historians - writers like James McPherson , Shelby Foote, Barbara J. Fields, and the late C. Vann Woodward. These outstanding historians, and others, wrote a series of essays that provided outstanding analyses of the causes, effects, and events of the Civil War.

"The Civil War: An Illustrated History"is far more than a few hundred pages of stuffy historical text. It's as visually appealing as it is wonderful to read. Nearly every page is crammed with Civil War era paintings, photographs and maps. The paintings add tremendous color to each page, but the photographs that pack the REAL emotional wallop! Many of them were taken by famed Civil War photographer Matthew Brady. In this book you'll see famous photographs, like Brady's renowned portraits of Lincoln, Grand and Lee; and other, starker, but less famous pictures, like the Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Petersburg battlefields as they appeared in the days following their respective battles.

"The Civil War: An Illustrated History"is one of those rare "companion" books that not only complements the PBS film series from which it originates; it towers alongside it. Readers should have no hesitation in reading this book without having first seen the film series.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When Hell was Incarnate on Earth, July 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Civil War (Hardcover)

Gepffrey Ward's narrative is a complete departure from the textbook Civil War stories that we tend to read today. His is a fascinating account that deals with the ordinary people and the history that they lived through. I found this book an especially rewarding buy because of it's very interesting and absorbing language and illustrations. Overall, this book has made a particularly deep impact and led me to look at the civil war as a time, when hell was truly incarnate on earth.

In view of Ward's excellence in writing I would give him five stars, and also because he tells the full stories of Gettysburg, Bull Run (both of them), Antietam, Shiloh, and Appamattox Court House. He brings the Civil War to life like nobody else can. I am especially touched by his quotation from the letter of Col. Sullivan Ballou of Rhode Island, it was a tear-jerking moment for me when I saw the series and when I read this book over and over again. This book is an amazing readable account of a gone-by era and I appreciate the effort that Ken Burns and Geoffrey Ward to bringing this bloody, romantic, and adventurous era to life just as they have in The West with Dayton Duncan, Baseball, and Lewis & Clark.

Read this book for the story and the pictures!