Drawn with the Sword

Drawn with the Sword PDF Author: James M. McPherson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019972783X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
James M. McPherson is acclaimed as one of the finest historians writing today and a preeminent commentator on the Civil War. Battle Cry of Freedom, his Pulitzer Prize-winning account of that conflict, was a national bestseller that Hugh Brogan, in The New York Times, called "history writing of the highest order." Now, in Drawn With the Sword, McPherson offers a series of thoughtful and engaging essays on some of the most enduring questions of the Civil War, written in the masterful prose that has become his trademark. Filled with fresh interpretations, puncturing old myths and challenging new ones, Drawn With the Sword explores such questions as why the North won and why the South lost (emphasizing the role of contingency in the Northern victory), whether Southern or Northern aggression began the war, and who really freed the slaves, Abraham Lincoln or the slaves themselves. McPherson offers memorable portraits of the great leaders who people the landscape of the Civil War: Ulysses S. Grant, struggling to write his memoirs with the same courage and determination that marked his successes on the battlefield; Robert E. Lee, a brilliant general and a true gentleman, yet still a product of his time and place; and Abraham Lincoln, the leader and orator whose mythical figure still looms large over our cultural landscape. And McPherson discusses often-ignored issues such as the development of the Civil War into a modern "total war" against both soldiers and civilians, and the international impact of the American Civil War in advancing the cause of republicanism and democracy in countries from Brazil and Cuba to France and England. Of special interest is the final essay, entitled "What's the Matter With History?", a trenchant critique of the field of history today, which McPherson describes here as "more and more about less and less." He writes that professional historians have abandoned narrative history written for the greater audience of educated general readers in favor of impenetrable tomes on minor historical details which serve only to edify other academics, thus leaving the historical education of the general public to films and television programs such as Glory and Ken Burns's PBS documentary The Civil War. Each essay in Drawn With the Sword reveals McPherson's own profound knowledge of the Civil War and of the controversies among historians, presenting all sides in clear and lucid prose and concluding with his own measured and eloquent opinions. Readers will rejoice that McPherson has once again proven by example that history can be both accurate and interesting, informative and well-written. Mark Twain wrote that the Civil War "wrought so profoundly upon the entire national character that the influence cannot be measured short of two or three generations." In Drawn With the Sword, McPherson gracefully and brilliantly illuminates this momentous conflict.

Drawn with the Sword

Drawn with the Sword PDF Author: James M. McPherson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019972783X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Get Book Here

Book Description
James M. McPherson is acclaimed as one of the finest historians writing today and a preeminent commentator on the Civil War. Battle Cry of Freedom, his Pulitzer Prize-winning account of that conflict, was a national bestseller that Hugh Brogan, in The New York Times, called "history writing of the highest order." Now, in Drawn With the Sword, McPherson offers a series of thoughtful and engaging essays on some of the most enduring questions of the Civil War, written in the masterful prose that has become his trademark. Filled with fresh interpretations, puncturing old myths and challenging new ones, Drawn With the Sword explores such questions as why the North won and why the South lost (emphasizing the role of contingency in the Northern victory), whether Southern or Northern aggression began the war, and who really freed the slaves, Abraham Lincoln or the slaves themselves. McPherson offers memorable portraits of the great leaders who people the landscape of the Civil War: Ulysses S. Grant, struggling to write his memoirs with the same courage and determination that marked his successes on the battlefield; Robert E. Lee, a brilliant general and a true gentleman, yet still a product of his time and place; and Abraham Lincoln, the leader and orator whose mythical figure still looms large over our cultural landscape. And McPherson discusses often-ignored issues such as the development of the Civil War into a modern "total war" against both soldiers and civilians, and the international impact of the American Civil War in advancing the cause of republicanism and democracy in countries from Brazil and Cuba to France and England. Of special interest is the final essay, entitled "What's the Matter With History?", a trenchant critique of the field of history today, which McPherson describes here as "more and more about less and less." He writes that professional historians have abandoned narrative history written for the greater audience of educated general readers in favor of impenetrable tomes on minor historical details which serve only to edify other academics, thus leaving the historical education of the general public to films and television programs such as Glory and Ken Burns's PBS documentary The Civil War. Each essay in Drawn With the Sword reveals McPherson's own profound knowledge of the Civil War and of the controversies among historians, presenting all sides in clear and lucid prose and concluding with his own measured and eloquent opinions. Readers will rejoice that McPherson has once again proven by example that history can be both accurate and interesting, informative and well-written. Mark Twain wrote that the Civil War "wrought so profoundly upon the entire national character that the influence cannot be measured short of two or three generations." In Drawn With the Sword, McPherson gracefully and brilliantly illuminates this momentous conflict.

Civil War Army Swords

Civil War Army Swords PDF Author: John H. Thillmann
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781931464314
Category : Swords
Languages : en
Pages : 607

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Book Description


Terrible Swift Sword

Terrible Swift Sword PDF Author: Bruce Catton
Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN: 0307833062
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 639

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Book Description
The second episode in this award-winning trilogy impressively shows how the Union and Confederacy, slowly and inexorably, reconciled themselves to an all-out war—an epic struggle for freedom. In Terrible Swift Sword, Bruce Catton tells the story of the Civil War as never before—of two turning points which changed the scope and meaning of the war. First, he describes how the war slowly but steadily got out of control. This would not be the neat, short, “limited” war both sides had envisioned. And then the author reveals how the sweeping force of all-out conflict changed the war’s purpose, in turning it into a war for human freedom. It was not initially a war against slavery. Instead, this was, Mr. Lincoln kept insisting, a fight to reunite the United States. At first, it was not even much of a fight. Cautious generals; inexperienced, incompetent, or jealous administrators; shortages of good people and supplies; excess of both gloom and optimism, kept each side from swinging into decisive action. As the buildup began, there were maddening delays. The earliest engagements were halting and inconclusive. After these first tests at arms, reputations began to crumble. Buell, Halleck, Beauregard Albert Sidney Johnston. Failed to drive ahead—for reasons good and bad. General McClellan (impaled in these pages on the arrogant words of his letters) captured more imaginations than enemies, and continued to accept serious over estimates of Confederate strength while becoming more and more fatally estranged from his own government.

Freedom by the Sword

Freedom by the Sword PDF Author: William A. Dobak
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1510720227
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 616

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Book Description
The Civil War changed the United States in many ways—economic, political, and social. Of these changes, none was more important than Emancipation. Besides freeing nearly four million slaves, it brought agricultural wage labor to a reluctant South and gave a vote to black adult males in the former slave states. It also offered former slaves new opportunities in education, property ownership—and military service. From late 1862 to the spring of 1865, as the Civil War raged on, the federal government accepted more than 180,000 black men as soldiers, something it had never done before on such a scale. Known collectively as the United States Colored Troops and organized in segregated regiments led by white officers, some of these soldiers guarded army posts along major rivers; others fought Confederate raiders to protect Union supply trains, and still others took part in major operations like the Siege of Petersburg and the Battle of Nashville. After the war, many of the black regiments took up posts in the former Confederacy to enforce federal Reconstruction policy. Freedom by the Sword tells the story of these soldiers' recruitment, organization, and service. Thanks to its broad focus on every theater of the war and its concentration on what black soldiers actually contributed to Union victory, this volume stands alone among histories of the U.S. Colored Troops.

The American Sword 1775-1945

The American Sword 1775-1945 PDF Author: Harold L. Peterson
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486161331
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
DIVThe first book devoted exclusively to the subject, this invaluable volume will aid collectors, curators, historians. Enhanced with more than 400 illustrations from rare documents, the book classifies and describes all major types of swords worn by the U.S. armed forces, cadets, and diplomats since the American Revolution to the end of World War II. /div

Guns of the Civil War

Guns of the Civil War PDF Author:
Publisher: Zenith Press
ISBN: 0760339716
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
"Featuring guns photographed by Dennis Adler from the Mike Clark/Collector's Firearms Collection; the Dr. Joseph A. Murphy Collection; and the Dennis LeVett Collection, with additional photography provided by the Rock Island Auction Company Archives."

With a Sword in One Hand and Jomini in the Other

With a Sword in One Hand and Jomini in the Other PDF Author: Carol Reardon
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 0807882577
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
When the Civil War began, Northern soldiers and civilians alike sought a framework to help make sense of the chaos that confronted them. Many turned first to the classic European military texts from the Napoleonic era, especially Antoine Henri Jomini's Summary of the Art of War. As Carol Reardon shows, Jomini's work was only one voice in what ultimately became a lively and contentious national discourse about how the North should conduct war at a time when warfare itself was rapidly changing. She argues that the absence of a strong intellectual foundation for the conduct of war at its start--or, indeed, any consensus on the need for such a foundation--ultimately contributed to the length and cost of the conflict. Reardon examines the great profusion of new or newly translated military texts of the Civil War years intended to fill that intellectual void and draws as well on the views of the soldiers and civilians who turned to them in the search for a winning strategy. In examining how debates over principles of military thought entered into the question of qualifications of officers entrusted to command the armies of Northern citizen soldiers, she explores the limitations of nineteenth-century military thought in dealing with the human elements of combat.

Civil War Cavalry & Artillery Sabers

Civil War Cavalry & Artillery Sabers PDF Author: John H. Thillmann
Publisher: Man At Arms Bookshelf
ISBN: 9780917218927
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 519

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Book Description


American Swords from the Philip Medicus Collection

American Swords from the Philip Medicus Collection PDF Author: Philip Medicus
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780917218781
Category : Swords
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Battle of Britain The Movie

Battle of Britain The Movie PDF Author: Dilip Sarkar
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1399014781
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Released in 1969, the film Battle of Britain went on to become one of the most iconic war movies ever produced. The film drew many respected British actors to accept roles as key figures of the battle, including Sir Laurence Olivier as Hugh Dowding and Trevor Howard as Keith Park. It also starred Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer and Robert Shaw as squadron leaders. As well as its large all-star international cast, the film was notable for its spectacular flying sequences which were on a far grander scale than anything that had been seen on film before. At the time of its release, Battle of Britain was singled out for its efforts to portray the events of the summer of 1940 in great accuracy. To achieve this, Battle of Britain veterans such as Group Captain Tom Gleave, Wing Commander Robert Stanford Tuck, Wing Commander Douglas Bader, Squadron Leader Bolesław Drobiński and Luftwaffe General Adolf Galland were all involved as consultants. This detailed description of the making of the film is supported by a mouth-watering selection of pictures that were taken during the production stages. The images cover not only the many vintage aircraft used in the film, but also the airfields, the actors, and even the merchandise which accompanied the film’s release in 1969 – plus a whole lot more. There are numerous air-to-air shots of the Spitfires, Messerschmitts, Hurricanes and Heinkels that were brought together for the film. There are also images that capture the moment that Battle of Britain veterans, some of whom were acting as consultants, visited the sets. Interviews with people who worked on the film, such as Hamish Mahaddie, John Blake and Ron Goodwin, among others, bring the story to life.