This Hallowed Ground (Wordsworth Military Library) [Paperback]

Bruce Catton (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wordsworth Military Library | Publication Date: September 1998

The Wordsworth Military Library covers the breadth of military history, including studies of individual leaders and accounts of major campaigns and great conflicts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Combined Publishing (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1853266965
• ISBN-13: 978-1853266966
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,975,222 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Might be the best single-volume story of the Civil War, October 15, 2000

By 

David Rolfe (Pasadena, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: This Hallowed Ground (Wordsworth Military Library) (Paperback)

The Civil War was a vastly complex conflict, and there are thousands of specialized texts to be had. This book captures the heart of the tale, and you come away with both the history and the powerful national and human drama. I read this book with a sense that I was there, watching the battles unfold, listening in as the decisions were made that sent men to their triumphs or to their deaths. It is highly readable, but I did not want to rush through it; I periodically put it aside to let my spirit settle.

If your knowledge of the Civil War is limited and you think maybe you ought to know more or you'd like to know more, but you don't want to crack open a dry textbook -- then this is the book for you!

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Outstanding Overview of the Civil War, May 4, 2004

By 

Robin Friedman (Washington, D.C. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: This Hallowed Ground (Hardcover)

The Civil War remains the pivotal and most discussed event in our Nation's history. Every generation of writers and readers feels the need to tell the story of the War anew and to reflect upon its meaning. In the mid-20th Century, the leading interpreter of the Civil War was Bruce Catton (1899-1978). Catton wrote narratives for the nonspecialist reader. He had the ability to make the Civil War era, the battles, and the issues come alive to a broad public. There is still much to be learned from his writing style and from his discussion of the War.

Catton's "This Hallowed Ground: the Story of the Union Side of the Civil War" (1956) remains an essential one-volume study of the conflict. Only James McPherson's work, "Battle Cry of Freedom" comes close to matching its scope. While McPherson's work may show a greater degree of scholarship, Catton's work more than compensates in its eloquence and passion.

The book begins with the famous caning that Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina gave to Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts in 1856 following a Sumner speech against slavery before the Senate. It examines the causes of the War, the battles and politics of the conflict, and concludes with the end of the long conflict in April 1865. (It gives only a brief glance to Reconstruction.)

Catton tells the stories of the War's military engagements simply and understandably. I have read detailed accounts of many Civil War battles and tend to become confused. Catton's accounts of the battled are short and, of course, simplified; but they cut to the heart of the matter. I would recommend that anyone interested in studying a battle in depth read Catton's account first, both for an overview of the War and for a basic account of the battle and its place in the scheme of the War.

Catton unequivocally states that slavery was the prime cause of the War. I think most contemporary historians agree with him. But many recent writers try to persuade their readers that they are discovering the importance of slavery to the conflict for themselves -- almost for the first time since 1865. It is helpful for an understanding of the history of history to see Catton's recognition (in a popular work written more than a generation ago) of slavery as the driving factor of the War. Catton also writes eloquently about industrialization in North America and about the factors which worked ultimately to make the United States a unified nation. I learned a great deal about the issues leading to the War and about the changes it effected in American life from Catton's account. (In his short discussion of Reconstruction, Catton suggests that the victorious Union took an unduly punitive approach to the South. This is one area in which many contemporary historians, I think, would tend to disagree with him.)

Catton's work also places great emphasis on the Western theatre of the War beginning with the capture of Fort Donelson in 1862. He sees Antietam rather than Gettysburg as the Confederate "High Tide" in the conflict. In these matters too, Catton's discussion is in accord with much recent writing on the War.

Although Catton's book focuses on, and is deeply sympathetic to, the Northern war effort, he portrays the Confederacy as a valiant and determined foe making its own effort to preserve what it viewed as a traditional, agrarian way of life. Again, he never allows the reader to forget that this way of life was predicated upon slavery. He recognizes the South's persistence in the War, the determination of its people, the courage of its soldiers, and the brilliance of Robert E. Lee without falling into "Lost Cause" mythology.

I am pleased that Catton's "This Hallowed Ground" remains in print and available for new readers who wish to understand our country and its greatest conflict. This book is an excellent choice for readers who only wish to read a single work on the War. I enjoyed the comments of the other Amazon readers who have reviewed this book.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful prose, befitting the greatest American story, September 2, 2003

By 

W. P Woods (Ypsilanti, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: This Hallowed Ground (Hardcover)

Bruce Catton is first and foremost a storyteller. Beyond the actual retelling of the events, which are truly awe-inspiring in their own right, Mr. Catton offers the reader true insight into the stakes of each major battle and the entire as only historical hindsight can offer. The reader will likely gain an appreciation for Lincoln's burden, who seemingly was singly aware amongst the Northern decision makers of the broader consequences of the actions taken to preserve the fledgling union. Mr. Catton does not overly dwell on tactics and casualty numbers, focusing rather on the Civil War amid the context of American culture and history.

A note on the tone of the book. This is not a balanced account of the great story, in that there is focus on the Northern side. However, Mr. Catton is delivering no more or less than promised, as the title of the book identifies this intent. That said, this does not mean that he in any way exaggerated the cause or characters in any apparent way. I am not an historian, but am a budding Civil War enthusiast, and have read a couple of the heavyweights: McPherson's "Battlecry of Freedom" and Foote's "The Civil War: a Narrative," and consider Catton's work superior to both. McPherson's work is a bit more factual, but not as poetic. Foote's 3000+ page work is difficult to read due to his unabashed favoritism to the Confederacy's cause, its heroes, and its battle prowess; even though he is every bit the storyteller and researcher that Catton is. All in all, I would recommend reading both Catton and Foote to achieve a well balanced tutorial of our greatest American story.