Hallowed
Ground
by James McPherson
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is the hardback edition. The paperback is not
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Description
“[I]n
a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we
can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this
ground. The brave men, living and dead, who
struggled here, have consecrated it, far above
our power to add or detract.”
—President Abraham Lincoln
James
M. McPherson, the Pulitzer Prize–winning
author of Battle Cry of Freedom, and arguably
the finest Civil War historian in the world,
walks us through the site of the bloodiest and
perhaps most consequential battle ever fought
by Americans.
The
events that occurred at Gettysburg are etched
into our collective memory, as they served to
change the course of the Civil War and with
it the course of history. More than any other
place in the United States, Gettysburg is indeed
hallowed ground. It’s no surprise that
it is one of the nation’s most visited
sites (nearly two million annual visitors),
attracting tourists, military buffs, and students
of American history.
McPherson,
who has led countless tours of Gettysburg over
the years, makes stops at Seminary Ridge, the
Peach Orchard, Cemetery Hill, and Little Round
Top, among other key locations. He reflects
on the meaning of the battle, describes the
events of those terrible three days in July
1863, and places the struggle in the greater
context of American and world history. Along
the way, he intersperses stories of his own
encounters with the place over several decades,
as well as debunking several popular myths about
the battle itself.
What
brought those 165,000 soldiers—75,000
Confederate, 90,000 Union—to Gettysburg?
Why did they lock themselves in such a death
grip across these once bucolic fields until
11,000 of them were killed or mortally wounded,
another 29,000 were wounded and survived, and
about 10,000 were “missing”—mostly
captured? What was accomplished by all of this
carnage? Join James M. McPherson on a walk across
this hallowed ground as he be encompasses the
depth of meaning and historical impact of a
place that helped define the nation’s
character.
About
the Author
James
M. McPherson is a professor of history at Princeton
University. He is the author of Battle Cry of
Freedom, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize
for non?ction, as well as other works on the
Civil War, including Ordeal by Fire and Marching
Toward Freedom. McPherson’s most recent
book is Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam. |
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Editorial
Reviews
From
Publishers Weekly
The country's most distinguished Civil
War historian, a Pulitzer Prize winner
(for Battle Cry of Freedom) and professor
at Princeton, offers this compact and
incisive study of the Battle of Gettysburg.
In narrating "the largest battle
ever fought in the Western Hemisphere,"
McPherson walks readers over its presently
hallowed ground, with monuments numbering
into the hundreds, many of which work
to structure the narrative. They range
from the equestrian monument to Union
general John Reynolds to Amos Humiston,
a New Yorker identified several months
after the battle when family daguerreotypes
found on his body were recognized by his
widow.
Indeed,
while McPherson does the expected fine job
of narrating the battle, in a manner suitable
for the almost complete tyro in military
history, he also skillfully hands out kudos
and criticism each time he comes to a memorial.
He praises Joshua Chamberlain and the 2oth
Maine, but also the 14oth New York and its
colonel, who died leading his regiment on
the other Union flank in an equally desperate
action. The cover is effective and moving:
the quiet clean battlefield park above,
the strewn bodies below. The author's knack
for knocking myths on the head without jargon
or insult is on display throughout: he gently
points out that North Carolinians think
that their General Pettigrew ought to share
credit for Pickett's charge; that General
Lee's possible illness is no excuse for
the butchery that charge led to; that African-Americans
were left out of the veterans' reunions;
and that the kidnapping of African-Americans
by the Confederates has been excised from
most history books. This book is a very
good thing in a remarkably small package.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information,
Inc.
From
School Library Journal
Adult/High School-McPherson focuses on
the period July 1-3, 1863, and explains
why readers should know about the battle
140 years later. The book is concise,
sprightly, and full of personality-both
McPherson's and the participants' in the
conflict. A prologue and epilogue flank
the three chapters on the battle (each
covering one day), relating why it happened
and what followed. The author walks readers
through Gettysburg from beginning to end,
telling a story of simple personal decisions
that had a global impact. The importance
of the battle is elucidated in Lincoln's
Gettysburg Address. When readers have
finished this book, the only way they
can know Gettysburg better is by going
there.
Hugh McAloon, formerly at Prince William
County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information,
Inc.
From
Booklist
*Starred Review* Without rival as the
most popular Civil War destination, the
Gettysburg battlefield makes a profound
and lasting impression on visitors, who,
consulting contemporary photographs of
the carnage, can stand precisely where
soldiers gave "the last full measure
of devotion." McPherson says that
this eerie experience, which provokes
both empathy and one's imagination, brought
him and his students to tears as he guided
them around Gettysburg, a tour he replicates
here. In structure, McPherson follows
the topographical three-day course of
the cataclysmic combat, handicapping "myths"
that surround arcana of the battle as
well as criticism, particularly vociferous
among the losing Rebels, of the performance
of generals such as James Longstreet.
Second-guessing seems second nature to
any narrative of the battle, having its
echoes even in tiffs over the placement
of monuments, as McPherson recounts. If
it were only a pointer to the physical
ground and commemorative markers, this
guide would be ordinary, but McPherson
so articulately injects reminders--as
of a free black farmer who fled the approaching
battle lest Confederates enslave him--of
what the Civil War was about as to display
the crystalline style that has made him
one of our finest Civil War historians.
Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association.
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