From School Library Journal
Grade 6-10–Although this book's title and cover art suggest that its sole focus is the post-Civil War movement into the West, McPherson discusses events that happened during the conflict as well as after. The book is divided into 39 chapters, most consisting of a single-page essay about a topic, paired with an attractive, full-page period illustration or photo, some of which are in color. Each page of text also has a related Quick Facts sidebar. Many early sections discuss the upheavals and difficulties of Reconstruction, including the debate over presidential versus congressional reconstruction, the Ku Klux Klan, and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Later chapters cover the Homestead Act, cattle drives, outlaws, and the forced removal of Native American tribes. McPherson writes objectively and well, and students will find the heavily illustrated format attractive. However, the book covers so many topics that there is little room for general background or detailed analysis. Liz Sonneborn's The American West (Scholastic, 2002) covers much of the same material in more depth in a more heavily illustrated format. A supplemental purchase for most collections.–Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, MO
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
In this companion to Fields of Fury: The American Civil War (2002), the Pulitzer Prize-winning author devotes nearly as much attention to the civil war's political aftermath in Washington and the South as he does to westward expansion. As in his previous book, he divides his narrative into dozens of one- or two-page chapters, each covering a specific topic ("Congressional Reconstruction," "The Wyoming Territory and Women's Suffrage," "The Buffalo Soldiers," etc.). Each chapter is accompanied by a full-page photo, a smaller illustration, and boxed side comments labeled "Quick Facts." Although the author delivers occasional valuable insights--noting, for instance, that most carpetbaggers and scalawags were actually well-intentioned civil servants--he is light on primary source material and offers information that is, by and large, readily available elsewhere. Students of the Reconstruction may find this a useful additional resource, but the frontier's turbulent tale is better told in Liz Sonneborn's The American West: An Illustrated History (2002). A bibliography and a list of Web sites are appended. John Peters
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
