A Rising Thunder: From Lincoln's Election to the Battles of Bull Run: An Eyewitness History

by Richard Wheeler

From President Lincoln's election to the Battle of Bull Run, here is a powerful and moving account of the coming of this tragic conflict in America's history, as told by the people who witnessed it.

Genres: Civil War, Civil War History, Nonfiction, War

413 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Richard "Dick" Wheeler was an accomplished military historian and served with the United States Marine Corp (Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division) during World War II. Wheeler participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima and was wounded there. He wrote seventeen military history books and served as a consultant on numerous movie and television productions. He passed away on October 21, 2008 at the age of 86.

Reviews

[Read1000books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another "eyewitness" (i.e. told by the participants) Civil War book wherein we learn some truly eyebrow-raising things, both shocking, such as "in spite of a strong conviction that slavery was immoral he [Lincoln] felt no special fraternity toward blacks; nor was he critical of Southern whites"(!) on page 15 or this about William Tecumseh Sherman on p.34: "Sherman had a deep affection for the South, and he was not against slavery, deeming it a practical necessity; but he was a rigid Union man"; and humorous: (page 145) "The only house within reach was inhabited by a lethargic person who, like most Southern men, had no idea of gaining money by labor" (to which this Southern man replies "Harumph"!). And this tidbit about General Richard Ewell: "His experience in that wild border life [the Western frontier of the U.S.] away from churches, civilization, and the refining influences of women's society, were not particularly conducive to the development of the softer and better side of his nature" (page 327). One note of caution: Unlike the other books in this series, the battle accounts selected at the end covering the first battle of Bull Run are particularly graphic and may be disturbing to some readers and/or unsuitable for younger ones. FYI.

[Matthew Dambro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Workmanlike retelling of the first months of the Civil War. It is essentially a cut and paste job of contemporary accounts with very little analysis.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an incredibly well written book on the first stages of the civil war. The author touches on some of the causes and paints a wonderful portrait of the sentiments in the north and south. This is probably one of the few books where emotion is not injected by the author. He uses journal entries, newspaper accounts and otehr human entries. I enjoyed thsi book a greatd eal. This is a great author for military history.