With the
exception of the Monitor vs. Merrimack (CSS Virginia), naval battles get short
shrift in Civil War books. McPherson certainly fills that gap with War on
the Waters.
Land battles were
certainly decisive, but the Union may have lost the war without Gideon Welles
and the Navy Department. McPherson’s book was valuable to my research,
but more importantly, it was interesting, well-written, and at times fun.
I
recommend this book to all those interested in the Civil War, naval
battles, technology advancement, or military politics.
Although previously undervalued for their strategic impact because the represented only a small percentage of total forces, the Union and Confederate navies were crucial to the outcome of the Civil War. In War on the Waters, James M. McPherson has crafted an enlightening, at times harrowing, and ultimately thrilling account of the war's naval campaigns and their military leaders. McPherson recounts how the Union navy's blockade of the Confederate coast, leaky as a sieve in the war's early months, became increasingly effective as it choked off vital imports and exports. Meanwhile, the Confederate navy, dwarfed by its giant adversary, demonstrated…
What was the Lost Cause? Dilorenzoanswers this question from the perspective
of a Southerner which is great material for a novel on the Civil War.
The book is fun
because Dilorenzo presents his positions with entertaining gusto. He tries hard
to convince the reader that the War of Northern Aggression had nothing to do
with slavery; the South did not provoke war; the Constitution included a right
to secede, the South should have been allowed to leave peacefully; antebellum
life in the South was prosperous, dignified, and just; slavery was already
dying; Robert E. Lee deserved deification, U. S. Grant deserved vilification,
the North deserves condemnation for engaging in total war; and most important,
Lincoln was a vile despot.
History is written by victors-except in this case. It was an interesting read.
A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War
Most Americans consider Abraham Lincoln to be the greatest president in history. His legend as the Great Emancipator has grown to mythic proportions as hundreds of books, a national holiday, and a monument in Washington, D.C., extol his heroism and martyrdom. But what if most everything you knew about Lincoln were false? What if, instead of an American hero who sought to free the slaves, Lincoln were in fact a calculating politician who waged the bloodiest war in american history in order to build an empire that rivaled…
This is a great companion book for DiLorenzo’s The Real Lincoln. The argument about the cause of
the Civil War has raged for over one hundred and fifty years, and these two books
will provide the information you need to make up your own mind.
Bonekemper
dismisses the idea that the Civil War was victimized innocence. While DiLorenzo
argues that antebellum life in the South was prosperous,
dignified, and just, Bonekemper claims
it was none of these things.
The Myth of the Lost Cause is indeed
history, as seen by the victors.
Twenty-first-century controversies over Confederate monuments attest to the enduring significance of our nineteenth-century Civil War. As Lincoln knew, the meaning of America itself depends on how we understand that fratricidal struggle.
As soon as the Army of Northern Virginia laid down its arms at Appomattox, a group of Confederate officers took up their pens to refight the war for the history books. They composed a new narrative-the Myth of the Lost Cause-seeking to ennoble the sacrifice and defeat of the South, which popular historians in the twentieth century would perpetuate. Unfortunately, that myth…
The United
States is on the brink of total collapse.
The military has been reduced to near
extinction, economic turmoil saps hope, and anarchy threatens as world powers
hover like vultures, eager to devour the remains. In a desperate move, a few
powerful men call a secret meeting to plot the overthrow of the government.
Fifty-five
men came to Philadelphia in 1787 with a congressional charter to revise the
Articles of Confederation. Instead, they founded the longest-lasting republic in
world history. Tempest at Dawn tells their story.
