book review: Battle Cry of Freedom
Battle Cry of Freedom
by: James McPherson
So I finished this like a week ago but I’ve been putting of writing a review because a) I’m not sure what to say b) there’s too much to say and c) I don’t have the energy to try and say it all. So this will be about 10% as long as it should be.
First:
Every US citizen should be obligated to read this book, probably senior year of high school. I would say first year of college, but so many don’t make it to college that I think HS has to be the place for it. Of course, a 900 page history book is probably a pretty epic undertaking for many HS students soo…. I dunno. A semester long class on it? Is that too much to ask? I mean, I had to take a (somewhat pointless) quarter long class called “California Today” that was ostensibly some kind of history class but I don’t remember jack shit of it. I guarantee you that if I had a class on this book, I’d remember some of it.
Second:
The above is obviously not going to happen, so instead I’ll say that anyone with a serious interest in a) current politics b) race relations in this country or c) how the hell we got to be the way we are (see, I’m on a 3 point list thing today!) really should read this book. It is not at all boring. It is the most engrossing, interesting history book I have ever read, and the prose is better than a decent portion of the fiction I’ve read. Even though it took me a while to read, I still moved through it like I would a good novel – excepting that I needed more time to process a lot of the stuff in there.
Third:
I can’t make anyone read this book. But seriously, if you’re (as an American, primarily) going to read one history book in your life, make it this one. a) I’m sure there must be a better history book out there but b) I haven’t seen it yet and c) if I do, I will most certainly tell you about it but d) I kinda doubt I’ll run into such a thing. The subject matter and quality of scholarship and writing here are just well, good.
Hah! Confused you with that 4 part list there eh? Thought I was going to do a three-quence of threes didn’t you? Well.
FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS
What else is there to say? To list the number of “new” things I encountered in this book that I was previously unaware of would be like forcing you to watch a movie of me sleeping on a night when I have bad gas.
For Civil War aficionados, this is maybe not the the same kind of mind-blowing history that it was for me, as a historical novice. So my recommendation is primarily for folks like me with a passing interest in history, and a more consuming interest in modern race relations and the like.
Several things:
-I haven’t read this book, and have no good reason why. However, I did particularly enjoy “Team of Rivals” by Doris Kearns Goodwin (who also wrote the seminal tome on the depression/Roosevelt “No Ordinary Time,’ among others) and really enjoyed it. It centers around Lincoln and his cabinet and is quite fascinating.
-Ha, California Today. I’d forgotten about that. I wonder if it has analogous classes in other states: Oregon Today, Delaware Today, North Dakota Today.
-All Civil War books have a 700-page minimum from publishers I’m guessing.
I had no good reason either, other than that I wanted to read something about the CW, and this was the most recommended book on the subject.
However, having read it… and being maybe more concerned about the role race plays in our society than some (see: my family)… the information here is just gold. Especially if you run into people that try and say things like “the civil war wasn’t about slavery”, or “the south will rise again”, or any kind of ignorant lost causer BS… it helps to know that the South tried to invade parts of Central America (and Cuba too I think) in order to expand the system of slavery – and this before the CW even started. It helps to have hard facts in your skull for when people say ignorant things.
Like I said, if someone already has extensive knowledge of the CW, this won’t do them much good – except maybe in the sense that is very well written, and a joy to read as far as history texts go. But, for those of us with less exposure to this stuff… it’s gold.
This book goes a little into Lincoln & his cabinet, and it definitely sounds like there was a lot there to dig into.
re: CA today: I’m not sure what they have up here, hopefully we’ll be gone before my kids get that old! I think that was the class I got an F on my history day project for… where we did the thing on subliminal messages and Mrs. Franklin like yelped and rushed across the classroom to turn it off because we were talking about sex or something.
Yeah, it seems like the popular talking point for years was “The Civil War wasn’t really about race” or “Lincoln didn’t really care about freeing slaves.” After reading Team of Rivals I can’t believe anything but the opposite would be true.
On a slightly related tack: I was watching a travel show recently where they showed a Civil War reenactment in Georgia or South Carolina or something… and I know the (stated) reasoning is that the participants do it “to preserve their heritage,” but all I could think was “They don’t do WWII reenactments in Germany.”
Finally: I vaguely remember hearing of the mythical Subliminal Message project. Fantastic!
No kidding, right? Hell Germany went the crazy opposite direction and restricted even the ways you can talk about N#zism (edited to block google hits) in public I think.
Also, one has to wonder exactly what heritage are they preserving? What was there to the South that wasn’t rooted in slavery? The battles themselves were defenses of the slavery system…so that is the heritage you are retaining? MMM KAY.
I wish I had a copy of that project video. It was pretty horrible, but we did actually try on it. Mostly. I think.
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