Ordeal by Fire: Volume 1, the Coming of War

Insightful, and comprehensive. I bought this book in order to study for a DSST exam on the Civil War. I find myself going back to it now just for the joy of reading it. By the way, the book does a super job of getting you ready for the exam.

McPherson's work here is quite comprehensive, notwithstanding The Battle Cry of Freedom, and quite detailed which makes it exactly the right text of choice for a Civil War classroom. The maps, charts, and photographs show without crowding the material the nature of the battles and campaigns the Union and Confederacy fought against each other. The photographs include gems that drive the ravaging, taxing, bloody hell of war home to readers. One cannot help but be shocked by the photograph on page 490 or many of the others depicting the horrors of war. That is one of many reasons that make this a book worth reading. Also worth mentioning is the meticulous amount of information and the methods by which it is organized. McPherson's text is mainly digested details of the war as he rarely refers the reader to other sources. There is an excellent organization to the text that makes it second to none.

While the general reader or Civil War buff might enjoy McPherson's popular "Battle Cry of Freedom," this book in a first rate textbook on the Civil War. McPherson spends ample time exploring the causes of war: the disputes over slavery in the territories, the attempts at compromise, and finally the start of the war itself. His military analysis of various battles is suscinct but comprehensive: satisfying to the military history buff, but not confusing to the lay reader. Most importantly, McPherson incorporates a lengthy discussion of Reconstruction into the book (an element missing in "Battle Cry of Freedom"), thus describing the crucial aftermath of the war.

I first became acquainted with this book twelve years ago when I was a college student taking an American Civil War course and have highly recommended it ever since. The serious history student will find the book to be very comprehensive, covering not only the war itself, but the antebellum years and the period of reconstruction as well. The social, economic, military and political causes and consequences of the war are all covered in great detail. Professor McPherson has also included many visual aids such as maps and charts which the reader will find quite instructive. Needless to say, it was, and has remained, one of my primary resources whenever I need to refresh my memory concerning just about any topic on the war. I wore out my first copy and recently was forced to replace it with a second. However, Ordeal by Fire is really a text book and subsequently not always an easy read. If you prefer your history in narrative form, I highly recommend McPherson's book Battle Cry of Freedom instead.

I might be a little biased, I read this book for a class McPherson taught. However, I am not a history buff, and took it to fulfill a requirement. I soon found McPherson is as good a writer as he is lecturer. I found the book extremely clear and well written. Sometimes all the battles got a little confusing, I thought the sections on society, before during, and after, were clearer than those on battles. I highly recommend this book as a comprehensive source on the Civil War. Besides being the foremost expert on the Civil War, McPherson is an extremely good writer, he won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1989.