The Civil War

The complete text of the bestselling narrative history of the Civil War--based on the celebrated PBS television series

Based on the celebrated PBS television series about the men and women who lived through the cataclysmic trial of our nationhood—the complete text of the magisterial illustrated work of history that The New York Times hailed as "a treasure for the eye and mind."

"The Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things.... It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads: the suffering, the enormous tragedy of the whole thing." —Shelby Foote, from The Civil War

Now Geoffrey Ward's magisterial work of history is available in a text-only edition that interweaves the author's narrative with the voices of the men and women who lived through the cataclysmic trial of our nationhood: not just Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Robert E. Lee, but genteel Southern ladies and escaped slaves, cavalry officers and common foot soldiers who fought in Yankee blue and Rebel gray.

The Civil War also includes essays by our most distinguished historians of the era: Don E. Fehrenbacher, on the war's origins; Barbara J. Fields, on the freeing of the slaves; Shelby Foote, on the war's soldiers and commanders; James M. McPherson, on the political dimensions of the struggle; and C. Vann Woodward, assessing the America that emerged from the war's ashes.
© Goverdhan Singh Rathore
Geoffrey C. Ward, historian and screenwriter, is the author of sixteen books, including A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Francis Parkman Prize, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He has written or cowritten many documentary films, including The War, The Civil War, Baseball, The West, Mark Twain, Not for Ourselves Alone, and Jazz.   View titles by Geoffrey C. Ward
Ken Burns, the producer and director of numerous film series, including The War and Country Music, founded his own documentary film company, Florentine Films, in 1976. His landmark film The Civil War was the highest-rated series in the history of American public television, and his work has won numerous prizes, including the Emmy and Peabody Awards, and two nominations for the Academy Award. He lives in Walpole, New Hampshire. View titles by Kenneth Burns
  • WINNER | 1991
    Lincoln Prize
"An absorbing experience ... A fine work of scholarship." —Boston Globe

"Succeeds in evoking both the grandeur of the war and its basic humanity." —Chicago Tribune

About

Based on the celebrated PBS television series about the men and women who lived through the cataclysmic trial of our nationhood—the complete text of the magisterial illustrated work of history that The New York Times hailed as "a treasure for the eye and mind."

"The Civil War defined us as what we are and it opened us to being what we became, good and bad things.... It was the crossroads of our being, and it was a hell of a crossroads: the suffering, the enormous tragedy of the whole thing." —Shelby Foote, from The Civil War

Now Geoffrey Ward's magisterial work of history is available in a text-only edition that interweaves the author's narrative with the voices of the men and women who lived through the cataclysmic trial of our nationhood: not just Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Robert E. Lee, but genteel Southern ladies and escaped slaves, cavalry officers and common foot soldiers who fought in Yankee blue and Rebel gray.

The Civil War also includes essays by our most distinguished historians of the era: Don E. Fehrenbacher, on the war's origins; Barbara J. Fields, on the freeing of the slaves; Shelby Foote, on the war's soldiers and commanders; James M. McPherson, on the political dimensions of the struggle; and C. Vann Woodward, assessing the America that emerged from the war's ashes.

Author

© Goverdhan Singh Rathore
Geoffrey C. Ward, historian and screenwriter, is the author of sixteen books, including A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Francis Parkman Prize, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He has written or cowritten many documentary films, including The War, The Civil War, Baseball, The West, Mark Twain, Not for Ourselves Alone, and Jazz.   View titles by Geoffrey C. Ward
Ken Burns, the producer and director of numerous film series, including The War and Country Music, founded his own documentary film company, Florentine Films, in 1976. His landmark film The Civil War was the highest-rated series in the history of American public television, and his work has won numerous prizes, including the Emmy and Peabody Awards, and two nominations for the Academy Award. He lives in Walpole, New Hampshire. View titles by Kenneth Burns

Awards

  • WINNER | 1991
    Lincoln Prize

Praise

"An absorbing experience ... A fine work of scholarship." —Boston Globe

"Succeeds in evoking both the grandeur of the war and its basic humanity." —Chicago Tribune

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