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bennought's review against another edition
4.0
Overall, I very much enjoyed McPherson's book. He provided some really interesting and useful insight into Lincoln, his policies before and during the war, as well as the events and actions of those around him. I particularly liked the essays on how the Civil War was the Second American Revolution and Lincoln's use of metaphors. We don't typically think of the Civil War as a revolution, but McPherson provides strong evidence that not only did many people at the time see it as such-- and we often tend to ignore contemporary understandings of events-- but that the changes at the time were quite revolutionary. He points out that it is too hard for most people to view the events of the Civil War and Reconstruction unless through the lens of Reconstruction's failure, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. But if we can remove those lenses from our eyes, it is possible to understand how momentous these evens were at the time-- without the aid of knowing what happened after.
That said, there were several aspects of the book which did not sit well with me. The fact that there is so much repetition between the essays, and not just rephrasing or restating but dead-on repetition, was annoying and struck me as unprofessional. Although McPherson apologizes for this in the introduction and excuses himself since he wanted to keep all of them as stand-alone essays, I think that shows a failure to recognize not only the fact that these essays have been put into a book together, but also belies an ignorance of the power which these essays could wield if properly placed together in this compilation. When one is taking disparate essays and putting them together into a book, especially if they are all by you yourself, you must do serious editing so that they fit together well and do NOT have major overlap like McPherson's do. I feel that he could have taken some of them and spliced them together, or taken the majority of those, gotten rid of the overlap, and added new material that he'd found since their original publication. In my opinion, this would have created a much more compelling, stronger text overall.
Regardless, I both enjoyed and learned a lot from McPherson's book. Each essay was quite good by itself, but McPherson could do well to remember the synergistic effect, whereby the parts do not simply add together but multiply upon each other; thereby creating a whole which is greater than its parts.
That said, there were several aspects of the book which did not sit well with me. The fact that there is so much repetition between the essays, and not just rephrasing or restating but dead-on repetition, was annoying and struck me as unprofessional. Although McPherson apologizes for this in the introduction and excuses himself since he wanted to keep all of them as stand-alone essays, I think that shows a failure to recognize not only the fact that these essays have been put into a book together, but also belies an ignorance of the power which these essays could wield if properly placed together in this compilation. When one is taking disparate essays and putting them together into a book, especially if they are all by you yourself, you must do serious editing so that they fit together well and do NOT have major overlap like McPherson's do. I feel that he could have taken some of them and spliced them together, or taken the majority of those, gotten rid of the overlap, and added new material that he'd found since their original publication. In my opinion, this would have created a much more compelling, stronger text overall.
Regardless, I both enjoyed and learned a lot from McPherson's book. Each essay was quite good by itself, but McPherson could do well to remember the synergistic effect, whereby the parts do not simply add together but multiply upon each other; thereby creating a whole which is greater than its parts.
tsharris's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent collection of essays by a leading Civil War historian that seeks to explain how the Civil War was a political, social, and economic evolution in the United States. Ended up being repetitive, but still useful.
homosexual's review against another edition
3.0
My Booktube
3.5/5, but I'm rounding down. Overall this did make me rethink Lincoln & Reconstruction, and frame them in a light that makes them truly seem like a Second American Revolution. However, like the first pages say a lot of the essays in this weren't intended to be collected and thus a few don't feel like they touch on the main theme at all. The ones that most encompass the idea of the Second American Revolution, were the first and last ones, which were written explicitly for this book. So those are great, and I like the idea of this, but the majority of the content in here is just fluff.
3.5/5, but I'm rounding down. Overall this did make me rethink Lincoln & Reconstruction, and frame them in a light that makes them truly seem like a Second American Revolution. However, like the first pages say a lot of the essays in this weren't intended to be collected and thus a few don't feel like they touch on the main theme at all. The ones that most encompass the idea of the Second American Revolution, were the first and last ones, which were written explicitly for this book. So those are great, and I like the idea of this, but the majority of the content in here is just fluff.
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