Bruce Catton was known as a popular historian when he first published books about the American Civil War, because of his narrative nonfiction format. All of the books being released digitally now are ones previously published in a non-digital age. This reviewer hunted down Catton’s three volume Centennial History of the Civil War at a used bookstore some time back, and although they were among the best I have ever read by anyone on this topic, I was convinced that anything he had published earlier on the subject was probably repackaged in this trilogy, and so I stopped reading Catton, thinking I was done. Thank goodness Net Galley and Open Road Integrated Media posted the galley for this second volume of Catton’s Army of the Potomac trilogy. Now that I am disabused, I will have to find the first and third volumes also, because Catton is so eloquent that he can spin ordinarily dry-sounding military history into as good a read as the most compelling fiction.Although his Civil War books are not written in academic format, there is no denying Catton’s research or his credentials. He was one of the founders of American Heritage Magazine, and served as its senior editor until his death. During World War II, he was the US government’s Director of Information for the War Production Board, then later worked in a similar capacity for the Department of the Interior and Department of Commerce. Frankly, in order to spin the story of the three battles that comprise most of this volume out in such a conversational manner, dropping anecdotes in at just the right moments and then carrying on so as to make us feel as if he is a journalist traveling with the Union forces and we are concealed cleverly in his knapsack, bespeaks a remarkable amount of research. Only after reading the whole thing, spellbound, did it occur to me that for every vignette he included to make the telling more personal and more interesting, he must have edited out ten or twenty. The result is a masterpiece.I came to this work as a former instructor in the field, and wished I had read his work in time to make use of it in the classroom. At the same time, it is sufficiently accessible that someone with no prior knowledge of the Civil War should be able to keep up just fine as long as they are able to read at the level of a high school senior or community college student. There is a definite bias toward the Union, which frankly is a requisite to my enjoyment of Civil War history. (Those that feel otherwise can go find Shelby Foote’s work.)I never in a thousand years thought I would even consider rereading some of this war’s most painful battles—the battle of Fredericksburg being perhaps the most prominent in this regard—but Catton has some little-told things to say about these battles, and in particular about Burnside and that Tammany Hall political general, Sickles, that I hadn’t seen before. I had viewed Burnside as a failure from start to finish, but he makes a case that a lot of the mishandling of this situation was due to an ungainly Federal bureaucracy that wasn’t good at receiving information and passing it along in a prompt, useful manner. It gave me pause, and reminded me that we should never assume we know enough about something to call ourselves experts.The Battle of Chancellorsville is likewise told in a manner fresh and readable, but the bulk of the text deals with that decisive, costly three day fight at Gettysburg. He gives an even-handed assessment of both Hooker and Meade, and again I learned some things I didn’t know before.Catton’s writing is so engaging that it is destined to live for a long, long time after he is gone, educating subsequent generations. I found myself resolved, at the end of this volume, to look for other galleys of his work to read and review, and when there are no more left, to track down those still missing on my next pilgrimage to Powell’s City of Books. For you, however, it is fortunate that Open Road is releasing this work digitally, so you won’t have to turn out the shelves of every used bookstore in the US in order to locate it. It will be available for purchase November 3, 2015 for your phone, computer, or e-reader, and is highly recommended to anyone with even a passing interest in the American Civil War.Simply brilliant.
Glory Road is the author's second book in his "The Army of the Potomac" trilogy. Picking up the narrative with Ambrose Burnside's ascension to the head of the Army, the reader is witness to first the bloody disaster of Fredericksburg in December, 1862 and then the dismal and ultimately fruitless "Mud March" of early 1863. With the incompetent Burnside replaced by "Fighting Joe" Hooker, we follow the Army to yet another disaster - and arguably Robert E. Lee's finest hour on the battlefield - at Chancellorsville. The volume concludes with the fateful three days at Gettysburg during the summer of 1863.As in the previous volume, Catton chronicles this part of the story with battle scenes, anecdotes, first-person accounts, analysis and mini-bios of the historical figures involved - all without a dull moment. The reader also spends as much time off the battlefields as on them. Catton explains how many Union soldiers bent the rules to exploit medical leave - never to return - as well as how the troops spent their time in camp between battles - including "cavorting" with the Rebels, particularly with the regular but "illicit" trade of coffee, tobacco and news.In Glory Road we meet Oliver Morton, Governor of Indiana, who then became the virtual dictator of that state during the war. Ohio's Clement Vallandigham enters the story for his brief moment in the spotlight, an antiwar Democrat and self-styled leader of the "Copperheads". Lincoln's handling of this potentially volatile problem and man being another example of his common-sense genius. (Lincoln exiled him to the Confederacy, who didn't value Vallandigham's presence any more than the Union did.)The reader is also privy to the continued machinations and turmoil in Washington, DC during this time, as President Lincoln sought the "right" general for the Army while wrestling with politicians who all thought they knew better than he how to fight and win the war.Through all this Catton does a wonderful job in chronicling and explaining the unplanned but inevitable evolution of both the Union and its Army.For Civil War "novice" or "expert" alike - a wonderful book.
What do You think about Glory Road (1990)?
I was, to my great excitement, finally able to obtain this book on loan from another library (for some reason it was really hard to find a copy), and I have to say, it did not disappoint. Catton's writing is superb as ever. The book is filled with interesting and funny anecdotes, but despite the human interest side notes Catton never loses sight of the main story, and Glory Road keeps moving at a consistent enjoyable pace. Historically, this book extends from the disastrous battle at Fredericksburg to what was possibly the most grilling, and most famous fight of the war: the battle of Gettysburg. There is plenty of interesting material, and Catton does it full justice. I'm not certain why Catton's writing, and in particular Glory Road, are so difficult to find at the library and at bookstores. They are well worth reading; I would easily consider them among the best ten books I have ever read. This is history at its most interesting and I recommend Glory Road, as well as the two accompanying books, to anyone who is able to get their hands on a copy.
—Riannon
I enjoyed reading the first book in Bruce Catton's "The Army of the Potomac Trilogy" so much that I couldn't wait to continue his saga of the Civil War with this book. The starting point for this book is when the ever-cautious, slow-moving General McClellan, beloved by his soldiers, is finally given the sack by President Lincoln. You might say the events of this book, roughly from December 1862 to November 1863 represent the Army of the United States' time in the Wilderness, with nothing to show for its efforts to reach the Capital of the Confederacy except that, by the time of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the momentum was getting ready to flow the other way. An extremely tough year had transpired by then. McClellan had been replaced by Ambrose Burnside, a much more daring general, who put together a good plan on paper to get his army across the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg, but the Confederates were given the gift of time to fortify their positions when Union logistics screwups prevented the landing boats from being delivered as scheduled. It was time for Burnside to think of a Plan B, but instead he went ahead with the original plan, resulting in waves of his soldiers' bodies stacked up like cordwood on Marye's Heights. Another good plan was formulated by Burnside's successor, Fighting Joe Hooker, in early Spring 1863. He got his army across the Rappahannock and engaged the enemy near Chancellorsville. The general who earlier boasted "May God have mercy on General Lee, for I will have none" lost his nerve as soon as the shooting started, and his army lost the initiative. Robert E. Lee was on the offensive from then on, all the way to Southern Pennsylvania in the summer, when he was finally stopped by General Meade, shortly after Hooker was sacked. Catton tells an engrossing story of the story's principals with his unmatched storytelling style, while providing a solid picture of the historical and geographical context of the events covered in this volume. By the time this book was finished, I was looking forward to reading the last volume of the trilogy while feeling sorry that this fascinating narrative would end after I finished reading it.
—Richard
In this second of his Army of the Potomac Trilogy, the author has smoothed out all the rough edges of his first volume, Mr. Lincoln's Army. His strengths in telling vignettes is maintained and spread out through more of the book. This is an embedded reporter's point of view. His battle descriptions are more balanced as well, though they still suffer somewhat from ignoring certain key elements. Ultimately, it must be understood that this is a rather biased view of events in that it not only is covering the Army of the Potomac, and is, thus, leaving out -- I would say unnecessarily -- important aspects of what is happening on that army's opponent's side. It is also prone to embellish somewhat the part of its subject's actions. I can elaborate on both these points, by citing the Gettysburg battle. The author describes great efforts by the Union soldiers to avoid defeat. In many cases, barely hanging on by a thread, so to speak. Extraordinary efforts are painted in bright colors. And yet, there's not a word about all the criticism that has been laid on Confederate generals Ewell, Longstreet, and especially Stuart, for what they did NOT do, and maybe could have. Lack of action that, if the author is to be taken at face value, would most certainly have caused the Union army to be crushed. I appreciate that applauding the efforts of "your team", just as in sports, requires some positive comments, but barely winning a ball game can be viewed in a very different light when the opposing team is the best in the league and when it's against the junior varsity. This author had a choice to go for good public relations or good history, and he didn't always go for good history. Having said that, this is still a terrific read. Downright exciting at times. It's my own advanced knowledge of the subject that keeps me from giving it my highest rating.
—Larry
