Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1917, James Ford Rhodes's History of the Civil War, 1861–1865 stands among the essential works in American history. Remarkable for its scholarly research, objectivity and engrossing narrative style, this volume is widely regarded as one of the most outstanding studies — and the first unbiased history — of the Civil War.
The book presents a neutral approach to the bloody struggle, neither distorting nor coloring the facts. Rhodes worked methodically, collecting the evidence, considering the opinions of others, and then precisely and lucidly presenting his own conclusions. Distilling material from official military records, diaries, reminiscences, letters, memoirs, newspapers, manuscripts, books, and interviews, the author produced an essential, carefully weighed, and complete account. The critics agreed: "a clear outline of the Civil War . . . it is well worthy of the welcome it has already received." — American Historical Review. " . . . the author's notable faculty of summarizing without leaving out the spirit, the life, and the color of events . . . infuses his narrative with unusual power to re-create the time of which he writes." — The New York Times.
While the narrative is neutral, choosing neither villains nor heroes, the ideological direction of Rhodes's work is surprisingly current. In accord with such present-day interpreters of the Civil War period as James McPherson and Ken Burns, Rhodes saw the Civil War as essentially a fight for freedom, and focused upon Abraham Lincoln as the deciding factor in the granting of freedom and the winning of the war.
This Dover edition contains a cogent new introduction by John Herbert Roper, Richardson Professor of American History, Emory and Henry College, Emory, Virginia.
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