This particular book is a massive one at nearly 500 pages of unadorned text, divided into seven chapters and numerous smaller sections that show the war in the Eastern and Western (and only very rarely the Trans-Mississippi) fronts. And that is something worth reading if you have a passionate interest in the Civil War, as I do. Even if the various accounts are broadly unified by Catton’s immensely expressive prose and humane interest in the well-being of others, including slaves and freed blacks, it is striking to see just how often Catton returned to the Civil War through different faces of the same prism. In addition to these he has other volumes that deal with individual battles, for example. Having never been familiar with the full range of his work, though, it is intriguing to note that he wrote a centennial three-volume set of the Civil War that is full of text (of which this volume is the middle part, I am reading them out of order), as well as a four-volume set on the Army of the Potomac, and a two-volume set on Grant’s career in the Civil War.

Growing up as a kid I was most familiar with his one volume illustrated histories, of which there was a smaller volume and a larger one, full of gorgeous artwork and maps.

It is remarkable to note that Bruce Catton wrote several parallel histories of the American Civil War.

Terrible Swift Sword (The Centennial History Of The Civil War #2), by Bruce Catton

Bruce catton terrible swift sword