The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War

I fell in love with this book in 1965 - when the Civil War was on everybody's mind because of the centennial. The writing is superb - of course, it's Bruce Catton - and the photos are outstanding. But what lights up my eyes and engages my imagination are the battle maps. Not sterile lines and arrows, but topographical drawings that show every rock and ravine, every house and barn, and little tiny men advancing, retreating, shooting, dieing. You have to see the maps to understand how wonderful they are.

'The civil War is the thing that makes American different. It was our most tremendous experience, and it is not quite like anything that ever happened to anyone else...The story of this war needs retelling, as its centennial comes around, because it helped to shape the future of the human race.'-Bruce Catton During the past century each new generation of Americans has discovered the fascination and deep meaning of the Civil War. An average of perhaps a book a day has been written on some aspect of this great conflict (the New York Public Library has over 18,000 volumes on the subject)-testimony to the abiding mark the struggle left on the American people. Yet, despite the enormous bulk of the record, The American Heritage Picture show more History of the Civil War is a totally new kind of history, fresh in concept, and quite alone in execution. Here is the true look of the war-in 836 pictures, including many, many more in color than have ever been seen in print before. The illustrations range from the superb photographs of Matthew Brady and the famous sketches of Winslow Homer to dozens of hitherto unknown paintings, drawings, and eye-witness battle scenes, hidden away or neglected for almost a century. No previous single volume on the war has even approached the magnitude and especially the color of this collection. Here too is a fast-moving narrative, covering both the military and polical aspects of the war, by the man who is probably its most famous living student, Bruce Catton. Mr. Catton, Senior Editor of American Heritage and winner of a Pulitzer Prize for History, is the author of A Stillness at Appomattox, This Hallowed Ground, Grant Moves South, and many other histories of the Civil War period. Only a master of the subject could encompass those crowded years of history in such a vital narrative, evoking the sweep and drama of a nation at war, bringing to life leaders and common soldiers of both sides. Accomplanying the pictures are text blocks and captions by the staff of the American Heritage Publishing Company Book Division. More than just labels, the captions are carefully designed to supplement the narrative. The book's 18 expecially-drawn and painstakingly-researched battle pictue-maps make it possible to trace the actual maneuvers of famous battles and are a noteworthy contribution to the understanding of the war. The Picture History of The Civil War, in preparation for more than two years, represents one of the largest investments of time, talent, and money (more than $2,000,000) ever put into one printed volume. (It is, of course, an original work, cover to cover, not a compilation of material previously published in American Heritage.) From its inception, the project has been directed by Richard M. Ketchum, Editor of the company's Book Division and Associate Editor of American Heritage. Every effort has been made to assure the finest possible reproduction of the many hundreds of plates. Two printing methods-letterpress and offset lithography-have been employed, on two kinds of fine paper. For the historian and the Civil War enthusiast, the color reproductions alone make this book a collector's prize. But it is more than that. For any American family, here is a dramatic record of the war we must all understand-brief and accurate, from the perspective of a century; evocative and absorbing, in the words of a master in the art: as close to life and as colorful as today's fine graphic art and pictorial journalism can come. Conents Introduciton A house divided The opening guns The clash of amateur armies Real warfare begins The navies Confederate high-water mark A search for allies Stalemate, East and West The South's last opportunity The armies Two economies at war The destruction of slavery The Northern vise tightens The politics of war Total warfare The forlorn hope Victory End and beginning A sound of distant drums Acknowledgments and index show less

A stellar book that captured my imagination as a child. My life-long interest in history can be traced to my early days reading this large volume in the public library. A great book.

As a teenager I took this book out of the library time and again. Was thrilled to find it in a used book store in the 1970's. Great pictures and battle maps.