Fields of Fury: The American Civil War

James McPherson, one of the foremost historians of the Civil War, and the Pulitzer Prize winning "Battle Cry of Freedom" has authored a book for Juveniles on the Civil War. It is fairly substantial, almost 100 pages, and loaded with visuals such as drawings, photographs and maps. Most of the chapters are devoted to specific battles, ie Chancellorsville, Antietam, Cold Harbor, etc. It does contain one brief chapter on "Women at War" which features a large photograph of Pauline Cushman and discusses the contributions of Rose Greenhow, Emma Edmonds, and Janeta Velazquez. I would have prefered to see the well documented contributions of other women such as Elizabeth Van Lew and Sarah Rosetta Wakeman discussed, rather than focusing on the show more mythical accomplishments of Velazquez and Cushman. Women are also included in the chapter"Caring for the Wounded." Clara Barton and Mary Ann Bickerdyke and discussed here but few others. We may use this as a quick battle-filed reference but certainly not for anything it says on women. show less

Fields of Fury: The American Civil War by James McPherson documents the Civil War and Reconstruction eras of the United States. McPherson most vivid details are encompassed in the various illustrations and photographs of the time period. Some pictures are graphic in detail and reflect the title of the work. The cover‘s photo contain a Union solider and a Confederate soldier on horseback in the midst of battle. The Union soldier has a sword and appears to pierce the body of the Confederate troop. Other illustrations and photographs include depictions of corpses and skeleton remains of soldiers of the time period. This realistic aspect of the war however does not take away from the informative nature of the work. Along with the graphic show more illustrations, the style of the text suggests that the work is intended to provide a synopsis of the time period for grades levels 8th and above.

The various sections are short one-two page of text which describes events such as the causes of the Civil War, battles within the war, Emancipation Proclamation, etc. The work also follows a chronological order and provides a timeline of events in the very opening of the book. Such items are usually reserved for pages toward the end of the work. Also, the bibliography has a diverse set of resources which McPherson drew upon in the making of the book. Overall, this work can be used to reference certain aspects of the time period, but there would be no need to include as a major teaching tool within the classroom. show less

This was a very informative juvinille novel of the Civil War. This is the first book I have read of his but I must say I am intrigued to read more. The cool thing about this book is that it includes all of the major battles/events in time order. Plus on the side of every page are quick facts about the event, they usually include interesting quotes from a direct witness or a little known fact, either way I found both interesting. I also thought that the pictures fit the book very nicely. This book was not hard to follow in any sense, so any child interested in learning about the Civil War would enjoy this book. It does include violence (but it is a Civil War book, you can't have a true Civil War book without violence) but it isn't too much.

"Feilds of Fury" is a non-fiction book that tells the historical events of the Civil War. It starts at the beginning of the war, tells what caused it to begin, the major battles that occured, and the important figures who took part in the war. It gives detailed, yet simple to read, accounts of each battle and backgrounds of each important figure involved. It has many sidenotes that provide interesting information about each person and event. It tells of the war from beginning to end, not leaving out any of the important details.

This book would be good to use in the classroom while teaching students about the Civil War. It in an interesting book that has images to go with every event. This gives the students a chance to not only read the show more events, but get a visual image for each. It would also be good to use to show students an example of what Historical Non-Fiction books are like. By reading an interesting book about war, like this one, some students who usually don't enjoy to read (like boys) might find this book interesting.

I enjoyed reading this book. I found it to be very insightful and it taught me many things about the Civil War that I did not know, even though I have studied it many times. It gives many different accounts and viewpoints of what happened in America and to its people during the war. I found it very interesting and I definitely would use this book in my classroom. show less

00007121