James M. McPherson
Author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
About the Author
James M. McPherson is the author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, which won a Pulitzer Prize in history, and For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War, a Lincoln Prize winner. He is the George Henry Davis Professor of American History at Princeton University in New Jersey, show more where he also lives. His newest book, entitled Abraham Lincoln, celebrates the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth with a short, but detailed look at this president's life. (Bowker Author Biography) James M. McPherson, McPherson was born in 1936 and received a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1963. He began teaching at Princeton University in the mid 1960's and is the author of several articles, reviews and essays on the Civil War, specifically focusing on the role of slaves in their own liberation and the activities of the abolitionists. His earliest work, "The Struggle for Equality," studied the activities of the Abolitionist movement following the Emancipation Proclamation. "Battle Cry of Freedom" won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1989. "Drawn With the Sword" (1996) is a collection of essays, with one entitled "The War that Never Goes Away," that is introduced by a passage from Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address on March 4, 1865 from which its title came: "Fondly do we hope - and fervently do we pray - that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 'the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.'" "From Limited to Total War: 1861-1865" shows the depth of the political and social transformation brought about during the Civil War. It told how the human cost of the Civil War exceeded that of any country during World War I and explains the background to Lincoln's announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, in 1862. The book also recounts the exploits of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the first black regiments organized in the Civil War, and their attack on Fort Wagner in July 1863. It pays tribute to Robert Gould Shaw, the white commanding officer of the regiment, who died in the attack and was buried in a mass grave with many of his men. Professor McPherson's writings are not just about the middle decades of the nineteenth century but are also about the last decades of the twentieth century. The political turmoil prior to the Civil War, the violence of the war, Lincoln's legacy and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson shed some light on contemporary events. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Prof. James M. McPherson (photo courtesy of Princeton University)
Series
Works by James M. McPherson
The Negro's Civil War: How American Blacks Felt and Acted During the War for the Union (1965) 236 copies
The Most Fearful Ordeal: Original Coverage of the Civil War by Writers and Reporters of The New York Times (2004) 83 copies
Marching Toward Freedom: Blacks in the Civil War 1861-1865 (The Library of American History) (1965) 54 copies
The Grand Old Man of Maine: Selected Letters of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, 1865-1914 (2004) 25 copies
THE ANTI-SLAVERY CRUSADE IN AMERICA: Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner (3 Volume Set); Vol I; Vol II; Vol III — Editor — 1 copy
A Walk at Gettysburg 1 copy
THE HEDGEHOG AND THE FOXES 1 copy
Associated Works
What If? The World's Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been (1999) — Contributor — 1,760 copies
What Ifs? of American History : Eminent Historians Imagine What Might Have Been (2003) — Contributor — 501 copies
Lees Lieutenants (3 Volumes In One Abridged) : A Study in Command (1942) — Introduction, some editions — 142 copies
Novel History: Historians and Novelists Confront America's Past and Each Other (2001) — Contributor — 132 copies
An Uncommon Soldier: The Civil War Letters of Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, alias Pvt. Lyons Wakeman, 153rd Regiment, New York… (1994) — Foreword — 131 copies
Hearts Touched by Fire: The Best of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (Modern Library) (2011) — Contributor — 91 copies
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Summer 1990 (1990) — Author "Ulysses S. Grant's Final Victory" — 14 copies
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Spring 1991 (1991) — Author "How Lincoln Won the War With Metaphor" — 14 copies
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Spring 1998 (1998) — Author "Antietam: The South's Missed Opportunity" — 14 copies
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Summer 1999 (1999) — Author "Failed Southern Strategies" — 11 copies
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Spring 2007 (2007) — Author "Any Measure Which May Best Subdue the Enemy" — 7 copies
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Spring 2004 (2004) — Author "In Review: In the Presence of Mine Enemies: War in the Heart of America, 1859-1863" — 6 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1936-10-11
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Valley City, North Dakota, USA
- Places of residence
- Valley City, North Dakota, USA (birth)
Princeton, New Jersey, USA - Education
- Gustavus Adolphus College (B.A.|1958)
Johns Hopkins University (Ph.D.|1963) - Occupations
- professor
historian - Organizations
- Princeton University
American Historical Association - Awards and honors
- Samuel Eliot Morison Prize (2007)
Pritzker Literature Award (2007)
Jefferson Lecture (2000)
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Award (2014)
Phi Beta Kappa
Members
Discussions
Shelfby Foote v. Bruce Catton v. James McPherson in American Civil War (July 2017)
Reviews
Lists
Awards
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Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 68
- Also by
- 28
- Members
- 14,494
- Popularity
- #1,582
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 198
- ISBNs
- 247
- Languages
- 6
- Favorited
- 27