Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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90 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"on great fields something stays", June 28, 2003
I've been lucky enough to live within thirty-five miles of Gettysburg almost my entire life and luckier still to have been a frequent visitor to the battlefield. While my knowledge of the field and the battle itself likely do not rival McPherson's, I know exactly what he means when he says the place is like a second home. I love Gettysburg. So, too, does McPherson, and his passion permeates this slim little book. Easily read in a couple of hours, Hallowed Ground is part travel journal, part guidebook, part history, deftly woven together by this gifted historian and storyteller.For those familiar with Gettysburg the battle and the place, reading Hallowed Ground is like visiting with an old friend. For those who have never been, it is an invitation. All the sites are there: the Round Tops, Seminary and Cemetery Ridges, Culp's and Cemetery Hills, the Wheatfield, Devil's Den, the Peach Orchard, the McPherson Farm (no relation to the author). But McPherson goes deeper, to the monuments and their stories, even to the observation towers that old hands will recognize. The emotions are here, too. The strange elation you feel driving beneath the trees on Seminary Ridge or climbing the boulders at Devil's Den (at least in your younger days), knowing that men, great and small, walked these same paths, stood on the same ground, fought here for cause and comrade. And yet, knowing that many of these men died here--maybe in the Wheatfield--you feel the solemnity of the place, the horror of tens of thousands of casualties. You sense your own smallness and are awed by the actions that took place here; you are both proud and grateful. None other than Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, who acted heroically at Gettysburg, captured these sentiments and emotions. "In great deeds, something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass; bodies disappear, but spirits linger, to consecrate the ground for the vision-place of souls. And reverent men and women from afar, and generations that know us not and that we know not of, heart-drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them..." The spirit of Chamberlain's words pervades McPherson's book, a work that should appeal to buffs as well as neophytes. Before reading, though, beware. If you can put this book down without wanting to visit Gettysburg (again or for the first time), you have greater will power than I.
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62 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Review of Hallowed Ground, June 7, 2003
James McPherson is no stranger to the American Civil War in general and the battle of Gettysburg specifically; his book on the war, Battle Cry of Freedom, won the Pulitzer Prize, and he has led many guided tours and walks of Gettysburg in the past. Hallowed Ground, in essence, is a short but compelling combination of both: a history of the battle and a walk/guided tour, worked into a small hardback book a little over 140 pages in length.Mr. McPherson's narrative takes the reader through a walking tour of the battlefield from the beginning of the battle on July 1, 1863 and sequentially leads the reader from one section of the battle to the next, nearly sequentially as they happened on the battlefield. Occasionally there is a slight detour to other geographic or historic areas of note. At the same time, Mr. McPherson describes how that part of the battle took place, pointing out specific locations where there is a statue or interpretive marker and why it's there. Other odds and bits, like frequent Gettysburg myths, mentioned include the one about statue's hooves and the fate of the rider, or the ever-persistent "fought because of shoes" idea. Strangely enough, Mr. McPherson seems to take offense to various monuments and other events that, while providing stirring examples of Union and Confederate veteran unified nationalism, seemingly forgot what the war was all about in the first place. Such criticisms seem out of place given the context of the book. Book-ending the description of the battle and the guided battlefield tour is an account of the creation of the park itself, and some of the geographic changes that have occurred since 1863. At the end is Lincoln's poignant Gettysburg Address. Three maps detail the major locations and movements of forces during each day of the battle, but there is no map depicting the tour itself or even the location of park buildings, or how the battlefield stands today. There is no index or bibliography, though Hallowed Ground really doesn't need them. Finally, Mr. McPherson's tone is readable and very down-to-earth, and even inserts a joke or two, even a bad pun, which may seem a bit strange but doesn't really feel out of place. A few small criticisms aside, Mr. McPherson's newest work on Gettysburg accomplishes what it set out to do: provide a short history and tour of the battlefield, cover all the high points, and entertain the reader, all of which he more than adequately accomplishes.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Battlefield of Freedom, January 1, 2004
For the last two years, I've been planning various trips to the United States, trips that will focus (in addition to the more regular tourist attractions) on historical events and places which interest me, chiefly ones connected with the American War of Independence, the Ante-Bellum South, the US Civil War, and the Civil Rights Movement. The trip keeps getting postponed and altered, but I hope to go around April-May, and one place I will certainly visit is the best known of America's Civil War battlefields, the greatest defeat of Robert E. Lee, and the place where the Union was (arguably) saved: Gettysburg.James McPherson, distinguished scholar of the Civil War and Pulitzer Price winning author of 'Battle Cry of Freedom' is an ideal tour guide for Gettysburg, and "Hallowed Ground: A Walk in Gettysburg" describes his tour. As usual, McPherson's prose is effortless and delightful. McPherson explains well the battle events, from the points of view of generals and privates, both Federal and Confederate. He discusses various historical controversies, and the post CW commemorations, which sometimes served purposes which were not entirely historical. McPherson also draws on his own scholarship, notably on his book 'For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War' to explain various aspects of the fighting, and especially the courage of soldiers, such as those in Pickett's charge, who fought uphill against a screen of fire and died in the thousands. When McPherson reaches the end of the tour in the Confederacy's high water mark - the furthest places where Pickett's men reached - you get a clear understanding of the structure of the battle in Gettysburg, and in the role of key divisions and men, from Custer and Chamberlain to Lee, Longstreet and Meade. Although both entertaining and insightful, McPherson's book has several weaknesses. Firstly, from a value for money point of view, it is short and expensive. It contains only four maps and no photographs. The maps are not very clear, and I (an admitted novice in Gettysburg geography) often struggled to understand where several places were. The map of downtown Gettysburg is almost entirely useless, and there is no map of the tour itself! Although McPherson is as insightful and interesting as I've come to expect of him, he recycles himself a bit, repeating anecdotes and quotations that appear in his other works. Also, relatively little attention was paid to the history of Gettysburg in the 140 years since the battle. Stories of later events are anecdotal, with no attempt to structure or put things into context. The book contains neither endnotes nor a bibliography, so the reader cannot use this book as a jump point for further studies (Unlike McPherson's 'Battle Cry of Freedom', which contains one of the best bibliographical essays I've ever encountered). Finally, from a practical point of view, 'Hallowed Ground' contains absolutely zero "getting there and around" information. We are not even given an estimate for how long the tour of Gettysburg should last. Is it doable in a full day? Two? I genuinely enjoyed 'Hallowed Ground', and I understand Gettysburg much better after having read it, and if you're interested in the American Civil War, this is a worthy addition to your book collection.
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