Civil War America 1850-1870

by Paul Johnson

“(Johnson) is a master of narrative history.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review In these masterful essays drawn from his  New York Times  bestsellers  A History of the American People and Heroes , one of the world's most renowned and respected historians explores what is arguably the most important chapter in the annals of the Civil War.  Enlivened with the author's trademark scholarship, verve, and intelligence, this vivid, concise history revisits the conflict that tore a nation asunder and provides portraits of the people who played essential roles in the bloody drama. Johnson's  Civil War America  examines the factors that led to the devastating rift in the years before the fighting—and recounts the troubled healing a wounded nation underwent in the years after the final shot was fired.

Genres: History

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2011

About the author

Paul Johnson works as a historian, journalist and author. He was educated at Stonyhurst School in Clitheroe, Lancashire and Magdalen College, Oxford, and first came to prominence in the 1950s as a journalist writing for, and later editing, the New Statesman magazine. He has also written for leading newspapers and magazines in Britain, the US and Europe.

Paul Johnson has published over 40 books including A History of Christianity (1979), A History of the English People (1987), Intellectuals (1988), The Birth of the Modern: World Society, 1815—1830 (1991), Modern Times: A History of the World from the 1920s to the Year 2000 (1999), A History of the American People (2000), A History of the Jews (2001) and Art: A New History (2003) as well as biographies of Elizabeth I (1974), Napoleon (2002), George Washington (2005) and Pope John Paul II (1982).

Reviews

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

This being the second book I’ve read by Johnson within the last 6 months, I feel I have a good grasp of his style.
The Civil War Years is laid out in the fashion of a quick survey. He portrays the main characters(Lincoln, Lee, Davis, etc...) very honestly for having a conservative slant.

It was surprising for a relatively short read (just over 200 pps) to have redundancies at the end of the book. I was paying attention and didn’t need a reminder.

As a person, like many I’m sure, my knowledge of Civil War era history is meager and I gleaned a lot from Johnson’s knowledge and characterization of the war and it’s proponents. This should be required reading for high school students, especially those high schools located below the Mason-Dixon Line. Don’t worry, he is very generous to the South.

[Aaron Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

“The Civil War… constitutes the central event in American history…. It made America a nation…”

[Chase Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great narrative history full of insight into the Civil War, which made America a nation, which it was not before.

[Tom Darrow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book consists of two sections, both of which are excerpted from other books. The majority is a quick run through of the causes, course and conclusion of the Civil War. He traces well known themes, like the growth of slavery and the election of Lincoln, but also points out several other themes, like differences in religion. Most of the information here is superficial, and would be useful for a high school or college survey class. He does make a couple of more interesting points, like the fact that the decision to secede was made by a total of 854 men and that Lincoln's faith evolved over time. Most of these points are very quickly touched on and then he moves on to other topics. He would have scored himself another star if he had developed some of those points a little further. That is one of the bigger problems with this book... the fact that it is a mile wide and an inch deep. Additionally, he jumps around between diverse points so frequently, sometimes developing several in the same paragraph, that it is sometimes confusing to understand what or whom he is talking about.

The biggest flaw of this book, however, is that there are several straight up factual errors and questionable choices. For example, when talking about important Confederate leaders, he discusses Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and John Mosby. Seriously? Mosby? Also, he states "after Jackson's death it became inevitable that Lee would assume the highest command" even though Lee was never Jackson's subordinate. He also says that Joseph Johnston's DEATH (not wounding) is what put Lee in charge of the Army of Northern Virginia and that it was Longstreet's timidity in capturing Cemetery Hill on the third day of battle at Gettysburg that caused the south to lose (several mistakes there). He also says that Pickett's charge failed because Longstreet failed to provide adequate artillery support, when there was an hour long bombardment using 100+ cannons before the charge.

Generally speaking, this is a decent book, even with its flaws. It is concise, includes a variety of topics and is generally decently written, but the factual errors and organizational issues prevent me from giving it too high of a score.

[Mano Chil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading Paul Johnson's small book on the american civil war. I was greatly amazed at how the North clergymen talked about God being on their side, while the South clergymen used Bible text such as St. Paul's master and slave topic to defend the moral right of the Southern states to promote slavery and slave-soil.