This book moved along quicker than I thought! Rich detail and fast-moving narrative kept me engaged even when most of the book covered the political and non-combat events leading up to the war.

20.14 hours on Audible. Thoroughly enjoyed.

The first entry in Bruce Catton's Centennial History of the Civil War, The Coming Fury documents the initial progress of the conflict from the secession crisis triggered by the 1860 election results to the conclusion of First Bull Run. Picking up as it does in 1860, the book lacks the depth of David Morris Potter's n  The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War, 1848-1861n -- which traced the decades-long march to the war undertaken by a greatly divided country -- but is probably the better introduction to the U.S. Civil War itself, not least because of the engaging style that Catton brings to the field of popular history. Over sixty years after its publication, the book still holds up superbly, and retains a place on the list of essential Civil War reads.

I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more if I had been able to devote the time to it that it deserves. As it is, I had to read it in very piecemeal sections over three weeks, and by the end I just wasn't enjoying it as much anymore. However, when I did get a chance to read it, I loved the writing style, which makes you feel like you are reading a narrative rather than a dry piece of nonfiction. I also loved how Catton's stunningly detailed account allows readers to closely examine every factor that resulted in the Civil War, debunking several commonly held, oversimplified paradigms of history by doing so.

Bruce Catton is in a league of his own where Civil War histories are concerned. I learned more in the first 100 pages than I've learned from any other author for a very long time.

Mr. Catton spends most of this volume (the first of a trilogy) bringing to light the events leading up to the war (the first volume ends with First Bull Run) and spends most of his efforts on explaining how we got from the election of 1860 to the fracturing of the Union to shells flying.

No disrespect to the many other Civil War authors, but if you haven't read Mr. Catton's works, you've really missed out.

This book is incredibly detailed, It took me a bit to get into the rhythm of this book, but once I got the flow down it moved quickly. I liked how it was a broad but specific enough in the beginning of the Civil War. I like how it started off with James Buchanan's administration, I know truly nothing of his years in office or his stance on the beginning of the unrest and the book was a good beginners knowledge of Buchanan. I also enjoyed the election part of the book,fun fact Lincoln won the election but did not win the his home county. I have read briefly of the Blair family before and this book has peaked my interest in that strong political family of that time.
In my opinion the history of Kentucky during the before and during the Civil War is most interesting out of the state. Senator Crittenden tried so earnestly to avert a Civil War, mainly on his behalf I feel is why Kentucky did not secede, this old senator from Kentucky fought so hard for what he believed in, stay with the Union. A little sadden that the book never mentioned that his son fought for the Confederacy. Kentucky was woe unlike any other state, Missouri and Baltimore were pounded on. The western section of Virginia showed that they would not seceeded with the New Southern Confederacy and in turned fought for the Union becoming West Virgina.
I enjoyed the background of the City Houston of Texas. Governor San Houston was against secession in Texas so much in fact "You may, after the sacrifice of countless thousands of treasures and hundreds of thousands of precious lives, as a bare possibility, win Southern Independence, if God by not against you; but I doubt it." Unfortunately for Houston, Texas was stupid and left the Union.
Catton's finer points of the book for me was that the Southern people made the error of leaving Washington. Leaving Washington basically was the kiss of death, because the Civil War was legit in Washington's hand. The South did not have the resources that the North had, such as the railroads and the industry. The South also had the strong belief that the government that was best, was the one who governed less and luckily for the South the had the less to govern. The South was wealthy in two thing, Land and Slaves, two things that do not fight an Army. The South did have Men of honor but, they may not have used those men to the best of their ability. Lincoln's greatest strength was surrounding himself with his opponents - many different view points, many issues to brood over.
This book has kick started my civil war fever once again....

I had previously read and really enjoyed A Stillness at Appomattox by Bruce Catton, which addresses the end game of the American Civil War. So it was appropriate that I read another of Bruce Catton’s Civil War histories, The Coming Fury, about the beginning of hostilities. Maybe I read them in the wrong order? The Coming Fury was on my shelf and had been there a long time.

Catton begins the story with events leading up to Lincoln’s nomination for President. I think I am reasonably well informed on the Civil War, but this was both a great refresher and a means to deepen my understanding of the people, events and issues of the time. Catton’s style feels very factual but is also engaging; he tells a good story. As a historian, he focused his efforts entirely on the Civil War and certainly knew his subject. His books were one of the primary sources for Ken Burns’ The Civil War documentary.

One subject on which I learned a lot was the formation of the Confederate government: the series of events, the people involved and the structure the government took. The attitude of the inhabitants of the Southern states towards secession and the war was also eye-opening. My biggest takeaway though was a better understanding of what some individuals and groups could have done differently to change the course of events and potentially avert the war.

I think The Coming Fury would be time well spent for anyone that enjoys reading history and wants to learn more about the American Civil War.

America blundered into the Civil War. This massive bloodshed that disrupted the country had its roots in the earliest compromises of the Republic (when the Constitution's writers allowed slavery to placate South Carolina and Georgia, to keep them in the new country), but at the same time, 1860 represented the most salient failure of American political institutions in our history. Politician after politician made the decision that principle was better than compromise, the extremists on both sides were empowered as political rhetoric dehumanized debate.

Bruce Catton's book illuminates the tumultuous campaign of 1860, the Southern Fire-Eaters who embraced the slave system against the new industrial economy, and the Northern politicians who failed to contingency plan for a South that intended to carry out its threats.

Catton describes in riveting detail the Charleston Convention that broke up the mighty Democratic Party rather than endorse the great statesman-compromiser Stephen Douglas. Catton narrates the improbable nomination of Lincoln by the Republicans and the fake news spread throughout the South about him. Catton follows the four campaigns that represented the factional crack-up of American politics. The Northern Democrats behind Stephen Douglas, the Southern Democrats behind Vice President John C. Breckenridge (who assumed an Electoral College deadlock would send the election to the House of Representatives and enable Douglas to win after all), Constitutional Union Party for John Bell with support from Texan Sam Houston, and Republican Abe Lincoln.

After Lincoln's improbable election precipitated by his early win of Pennsylvania in October, a constitutional crisis ensued. South Carolina impetuously seceded from the Union. The crisis grew out of hand--President-elect Lincoln refused to tie his hands by committing to any policy in advance--and President James Buchanan refused to take any action that would limit the future options of Lincoln, his successor. The November 1860 to March 1861 period ushered in more instability than America had ever seen before as a republican union--and both men are implicated in allowing it to happen. As Fire-Eaters in the Southern States took their states out of the Union, even moderate political leaders who had opposed secession their whole careers lacked the moral imagination to confront the fanatics and factional cabals in their states. Jefferson Davis and Alexander Stephens were avowed slaveholders, true--but each opposed their states' secession from the Union. However, when they're states chose to go out, they went with them for the sake of political careers and ended up as President and Vice President of the new Confederacy. Meanwhile, the immediate focus of conflict became whether Federal property in the seceding states passed to them or remained Federal. The U.S. Army's acting department head for Texas, Robert E. Lee, advocated for armed resistance by the U.S. Army against any seceding Texans who attempted to repo federal buildings and military supplies. Overruled by the Buchanan administration, Lee returned to Virginia and Sam Houston acquiesced to his impeachment for opposing Texas secession. With some resolve from the Buchanan administration, or some signal from President-Elect Lincoln on how he intended to handle Federal property--the course of the war would have drastically changed, been shorter, and resulted in another compromise that would advance the end of slavery. San Antonio would have been the first shots of the Civil War, not Fort Sumter, and with Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee still in the Union, the defeated narrative of the South would have been different as well. But without that quick executive backbone from a president the union careened toward disaster.

Three separate attempts to call an unprecedented Convention of States to enact wholesale constitutional change were stymied by parochial political interests who failed to identify the nation as on the brink of war. Southern Fire-Eaters could not admit any compromise that foretold the end of slavery, and Northern politicians failed to communicate to the Southerns their resolve to use military force to prevent them from seceding in order to perpetuate slavery. So the Civil War began.

4.5

I'll openly admit there's no way I can be objective about Catton's Centennial Civil War trilogy. My mother bought it as it came out in the early to mid 1960s & I've read it numerous times. Yes, it's dated, but sheesh, it was written when it was written. It can't be other than dated. In The Coming Fury, Catton gave a fascinating account of the events, politics and atmosphere leading up to the war. We do know more now, but Catton's trilogy is a great place to start.

The Centennial History: A’s enjoyable as 1961.

A classic in the telling of the start of the American Civil war, events, people, and places are well drawn.

A good read for those with a serious interest in the American Civil War. Catton clearly explores and explains the causes of the Civil War, focusing on the period from the 1860 political campaign and ending at the first battle of Bull Run. The South had been threatening secession for decades, effectively blackmailing the rest of the country with a conditional and grudging acceptance of the Union only if they continually got their way. Pervasive among the populace of the south, the idea that "all men are created equal," they just couldn't countenance, and to be fair, neither did most people in the north. Overly simplified, the south thought chattel slavery was OK because the black race was inferior and therefore subservient and the north thought slavery was just wrong period. It would take a war to break the chains of slavery for the black race but the minds of men were not easily changed and today 158 years on, we're still dealing with endemic racism. Catton's book is well worth your time to gain a deeper understanding of the genesis of the American Civil War but studying the battles and the principals: Lincoln, Davis, Grant, Lee, Sherman, et. al., read this first.