Volume 1: The Coming Fury
Volume 2: Terrible Swift Sword
Volume 3: Never Call Retreat

This is a comprehensive overview of the American Civil War, written by a man with a gorgeous prose style who did his research. I don't agree with him everywhere---he's far more enamored of Robert E. Lee than I am, and he hasn't entirely let go of the idea that the American Civil War had a shred of romance in it, although for the most part he is very good on the terrible cost of the war on both sides---but I love his writing and I love the control he has over his material: he goes back and forth from theater to theater, and from North to South, and I don't think I was ever confused. He does a great job with Mr. Lincoln's progress from "I will never interfere with slavery in states where it is already established" through the Emancipation Proclamation to "no, really, all men are created equal, how about that Thirteenth Amendment?" tracing the change step by step. This is a military and political history written in the 60s, so it's almost all about the viewpoints of white men (he quotes Mary Boykin Chesnut a couple of times, Frederick Douglass I think once), but you know how the train is going to roll when you buy your ticket.

Given that it's sixty years old and concomitantly dated, I do think this is a good place to start if you want to know more about the American Civil War.

While this book gives a detailed and interesting account of the road to war, I definitely felt like this was "homework" rather than self-motivated reading. It is clear that the war was going to be about whether slavery would continue in any form. The South wants it, the North says no. Detailed accounts of the Democrat and Republican political maneuvers and conventions leading to the 1860 election. Might only be interesting to an American reader. Things pick up once Ft Sumter comes into play. In fact, Catton posits that Major Anderson's move from Ft Moultrie to Ft Sumter precipitated the general move in the South from heated discussions to plans for kinetic actions. The First Battle of Bull Run is recounted in typical Catton drama and verve. Looking forward to the next book in the trilogy. 4 Stars for great research but this book won't get you fired up like other Catton accounts.

This volume details the build-up of tensions during 1860 and early 1861 that finally exploded into the Civil War in April. It also covers the early months of the war through the Battle of Bull Run in July of '61.
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The opening scene tells the story of the contentious atmosphere of the Democratic National Convention in Charleston in April of 1860 that ended up without a nominee. Subsequently, the party split into separate factions, each holding a separate convention that nominated its own candidate. The one issue at the heart of all this tension was slavery. After Lincoln won the presidency in November, southern states began seceding from the Union. The story is very well presented and gives a thorough account of all of the political maneuverings and how the ultimate breakdown actually occurred. It also gives a thorough account of the early military engagements, beginning with Ft Sumter and ending with the Battle of Bull Run. If you are interested in learning about the lead-up to the Civil War, I would recommend this volume.

I loved this book. Despite having read about and studied the CW for a few years, I had never read a detailed account of the prewar activities - the presidential primaries and how this affected the coming war. Many, many little details included here and a throughly interesting read. Catton truly tells the story of it all. I love this series because he gives the details from both sides with a more neutral perspective than others writing the same material. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

First book I've read of Mr. Catton's, although I've heard of him practically all my life. I can see why he was chosen to write the Centennial history of the War Between the States. His literary prose is well treated to the subject, but not without humor and all the while very capable of telling the story of the great coming calamity. And as any mark of a good historian, he doesn't sway the reader toward one side or the other but merely presents the facts as they lay and lets the characters present their case. Interesting that this book stops at the end of First Bull Run and leaves the other two books in the trilogy to chart the entire remaining 4 years of the war. While I knew certain pieces of infamous events such as Fort Sumter, the Baltimore riots, and Bull Run, there were plenty of momentous events I found myself learning for the first time. Such as the capitulation of the US Army "Department of Texas" (as it was called in 1861)which ceded far more to the Confederates than the surrender of Fort Sumter a couple months later. The Civil War is a hard subject to botch when it comes to writing, but Bruce Catton is clearly one of the masters.

Absolutely superb. Mr Catton has written a book for the ages. As good now as it was when first published.

Brilliant!

I was in the first grade when this was published, and so naturally I missed it at the time. My attention was drawn to it as one of the few secondary sources to be referenced more than once in McPherson's historical writing. I tracked it down at my favorite used book store last summer and brought home the whole trilogy.

The first big, beefy hardcover book is almost entirely devoted to the events that led up to the American Civil War. Those of us living in the US are so accustomed to a 2-party system that it is hard to wrap one's head around the fact that there were multiple parties campaigning in various regions around the USA during this exceptional period, when the cotton aristocracy that had previously ruled the US without contest from anyone else ran smack up against the Industrial Revolution and the drums of history marching forward to a place it really didn't want to go.

One thing I had not realized before reading this work was that not only did the majority of Caucasian southerners not own slaves, but the majority of most states did not even favor continuing the plantation economy. Douglas campaigned for the presidency and was widely reviled among the cotton kings because he would not guarantee that slavery could continue in the territories even IF a vote were taken among its white property holders and the majority said no. Lincoln quietly worked on the sidelines telling politicians not to let themselves be trapped into calling for popular sovereignty, but in the end, it did not matter, because the ruling class of the cotton states would not bend even that far. (Interestingly, Lincoln became the Republican candidate because he had gone on record so little that it was believed he might bridge the gap between South and North; also, he was Kentucky-born. By the time the election took place, the country was so polarized that his name did not even appear on the ballot in the cotton states.)

Generally speaking, as a Marxist I don't take a lot of interest in bourgeois politics. These days, Candidate A and Candidate B are generally going to do the same things, or one is the 'good cop', and the other the bad. But this was an exceptional time period. In six months, the House of Representatives was unable to elect a Speaker. Congressmen became so agitated and inflamed that there were politicians punching each other in the face and brawling while they were supposed to be in session.

It became more clear to me, after reading this work, why Sherman was so determined that South Carolina would pay, and pay big, when he and his men marched northward through it after razing Atlanta. In the beginning, no state was talking about secession except South Carolina. South Carolina's legislature and governor urged other cotton states--and border states--repeatedly to convene their legislatures to consider secession. And in this unique time period, who was governor of a state took on a whole new urgency, as two governors of border states simply refused to convene the legislature, and thus kept their states within the Union. All the governors of Delaware and Maryland had to do was say no. If there had been the kind of push by their ruling classes that were present in the deep South, they might have had to do differently, but in this case, when the border states made such a huge difference, this choice was tremendously important.

If you doubt this, and Catton points to it, just get a map of the USA as divided by states and look at where Washington, DC is. Had Maryland gone over with Virginia, the Capitol would have been surrounded and Lincoln held hostage. As it was, locating the Confederate capitol as close by as they did was a gutsy move. I had never realized (also) that the Battle of Bull Run (first and second, also called Manassas) was a mere 30 miles from where Lincoln sat. This book was so well written and everything laid out so clearly that I wished I had read it sooner.

The choice to provision Fort Sumter was a huge ordeal. I felt sorry for Anderson, who lost his mind waiting for the Federal government to send him men, supplies, even orders. Ultimately, Lincoln chose to furnish basic provisions in order to show that every US fort was still a US fort, and nothing would be given away, but also with a cool eye cast to the world stage. Those who harrumphed down South, referring to him as an ape and decrying his lack of pomp and polish, did not understand that the American mentality was changing rapidly, that now brains would count for something, at least for awhile. Lincoln wanted Europe to see that this war began because of bread, and that is how the first blood was shed.

A fascinating read for those with serious interest in the American Civil War, readable but also very detailed. I wish I had read it sooner

Thorough and yet eminently readable. This first volume in his three part treatment of the Civil War deals with the lead up to the 1860 election, the succession of the southern states and the first skirmishes and battle of the great conflict. Very in depth, but not a slog. Does a good job of introducing us to those who have a minor role in the beginning but who rise to importance later.

Occasionally alludes to events and outcomes before he covers them, but when you realize he's leading to fuller description, its not a problem. Does not seem to be enamored of Lincoln. Is clearly striving to be even-handed. He is more concerned with helping us understand the thoughts and feelings of that day than he is in pandering to the preconceived notions of ours.

This is an enjoyable and informative read about the beginning of the Civil War. Catton doesn't start with a long discussion of the economic differences between North and South, looking back across previous decades to chew over the consequences of events that stalled the war or pushed it on. Not much is said about things like the Missouri Compromise or the Nullification Crisis, for example. Instead, he drops us into the Democratic Convention of 1860. This historic convention split the party and for Catton, this was the proximate cause for the split in the union. Because the Democrats ended up putting forward two candidates (one pro-slavery, the other rabidly pro-slavery) the Republicans were able to win with Abraham Lincoln, pushing the mob of hotheads in South Carolina to secede.

The book focuses mostly on politics, including the weak and ineffectual attempts to avoid the coming war, Lincoln's efforts to woo/cajole border states to remain in the union, and Lincoln's early use of aggressive executive power. But it also discusses the early skirmishes and military maneuverings that would give the conflict its shape, including a particularly good account of both the political and military actions that led to the opening shots at Fort Sumpter.

This book may be sixty years old or so, but it's still well worth reading.

BTW, I read this on Kindle with the audio companion and the reader was pretty solid.

If any book I've read truly deserves as 4.5 star rating, this is it. I decided to reread this after realizing it has been at least 40 years since I first read it, and I am so glad I did. The author does a remarkable job distilling the more pertinent details for all of the thing that happened leading up to the Civil War. It is an interesting and timely look at how a once united country of reasonable men and women can devolve to the point of attempting to dissolve the Union rather than negotiate and compromise. Seems appropriate in the most recent political environment. And of course, this stubbornness ultimately led to the bloodiest war in Americas history.

To understand America and its modern political environment, I think one has to understand the revolution and civil war. This is the first book of trilogy. It gives a vivid account of escalations of the national tension on slavery and later turned to union problems. It is unprepared and unforeseen by everyone. Yet it moved to the direction of unavoidable. The coming fury.

This is a history book. But the author’s writing style and language used is fantastic.

This book is a real commitment, but defintiely worth it. I listened to the audio version narrated by Nelson Runger. It was pretty heavy 20 hours of my life. Especially listening in the current time - there are some eerily similar occurences and arguments made today that were also made in the months leading up to the Civil War. The atmosphere's are comparable and that is concerning. Give it some thought - whoever/whatever you are uncomfortable with, remember change does happen and has happened before. Lest we Forget...

"The American South was fated to try to stay just as it was, in a time when everything men lived by was changing from top to bottom... It's possible the outcome came from a general, unreasoned resentment of immigration and the immigrant. Revolutionary change was taking place everywhere or was visibly ready to take place. People who liked things as they had been found the change abhorrent. Newcomers were at least partly responsible for the change. People whose backgrounds touched neither Jamestown nor Plymouth Rock were arriving by the thousands.

Germans, French, Irish, Italians - men of new tongues, new creeds, new folk-ways - cut adrift from Europe by famine, by revolution, or by simple restless hope. It was easy to feel they were corrupting the "old America". So, there was a flare up of bitter nativist feeling. To fear change meant to fear the alien - the man who looked and talked and acted differently, and who, therefore, was probably dangerous.

Off all the groups whose migration to America had caused strain, the largest of all and whose presence seemed to be the most disturbing (to the "old Americans") was one racially homogenous block, which to men of that day, seemed to be entirely beyond assimilation - the negro. Their mere presence frightened "old" Americans."