- Paperback: 506 pages
- Publisher: HarperPerennial (1 Nov 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060928859
- ISBN-13: 978-0060928858
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.5 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,768,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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First Sentence
Monticello, April twenty-second, 1820, in the seventy-seventh year of my life. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Monticello, April twenty-second, 1820, in the seventy-seventh year of my life. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
Stephen Oates has done what few historians have been able to do: Write a well-researched book that details the causes of the American Civil War and do it in a style fascinating to Civil War buff and "civilian" alike. The form is first person as Oates takes on the persona of the political and philosophical heavyweights from the forty-year period preceding the war. Purists may cringe at Oates unapologetic use of fiction, but it adds zest to a genre too often content with fact regurgitation. Jefferson, Clay, Calhoun, Lincoln, Chestnut, Douglas (and Douglass), to name a short list of characters, breath as they seldom do in a work of history. No dry facts here. This is a work that reconstructs the era so vividly that even a history-phobic reader will find it engrossing. The Civil War, while an inherently fascinating subject, is chronicled by too many works that enlighten only if the reader can remain awake reading them. The Approaching Fury makes turning out the lights for the evening an unwanted event. This writer cannot wait for the promised sequel.
Format:Paperback
The Civil War. It facinates us to this day. Americans from the North and the South set in bloody combat against each other. But why? The easy answer is to simply say slavery. But was there more to it than this? Stephen Oates' book takes the first person perspective of 13 characters from this pivotal time in history. Ranging from Thomas Jefferson to Stephen Douglas to Harriet Beecher Stowe, Oates portrays the feelings, actions, desires, and events that occured in the lives of these individuals and how they shaped the views of all Americans. Rightly titled, the book takes a more hostile and agressive air with each page as 19th century "movers and shakers" seem to shout at each other from their respective sections in the book. Oates' does a wonderful job of allowing us to see why America would turn against itself to survive and made it clear that, by the time the Civil War began, there were few options but to fight. Oates gives each of his characters personality and strong views about slavery, abolition, states rights, and the role of the federal government. It is as if we can almost see the line between North and South being drawn as the book progresses. An excellent read for any Civil War buff or historically inclined individual.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
21 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Excellent Way to Understand What Led Up to the Civil War
17 Jan 2001
Format:Paperback
I thought I knew a lot about this era but this book gave me even greater insight. I hesitated to read it at first because I'm a little skeptical of those "in their own words" treatments.But Oates presents a balanced (for the most part) account, using the speeches, letters, and diaries of the likes of Henry Clay, John Brown, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jefferson Davis, Mary Boykin Chesnut, Stephen A. Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln rather than creating monologues for them of his own design. He doesn't result to dramatic license, trying to make these folks conform to his idea of what they were like, but presents them as accurately as one can given the sources available. The only quibble I'd put forth is that he has Calhoun refer to his slaves as "niggers," even though there is no documentary evidence that he ever did so (even in private letters he referred to them as "negroes"). Anyone interested in the issues and events that led up to the Civil War must read this book! I recommend it most highly.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Oates' explanation of the causes of the Civil War first-rate
24 Mar 1999
Format:Paperback
Stephen Oates has done what few historians have been able to do: Write a well-researched book that details the causes of the American Civil War and do it in a style fascinating to Civil War buff and "civilian" alike. The form is first person as Oates takes on the persona of the political and philosophical heavyweights from the forty-year period preceding the war. Purists may cringe at Oates unapologetic use of fiction, but it adds zest to a genre too often content with fact regurgitation. Jefferson, Clay, Calhoun, Lincoln, Chestnut, Douglas (and Douglass), to name a short list of characters, breath as they seldom do in a work of history. No dry facts here. This is a work that reconstructs the era so vividly that even a history-phobic reader will find it engrossing. The Civil War, while an inherently fascinating subject, is chronicled by too many works that enlighten only if the reader can remain awake reading them. The Approaching Fury makes turning out the lights for the evening an unwanted event. This writer cannot wait for the promised sequel.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
An Excellent Look at the Causes of the Civil War
2 Dec 1998
Format:Paperback
The Civil War. It facinates us to this day. Americans from the North and the South set in bloody combat against each other. But why? The easy answer is to simply say slavery. But was there more to it than this? Stephen Oates' book takes the first person perspective of 13 characters from this pivotal time in history. Ranging from Thomas Jefferson to Stephen Douglas to Harriet Beecher Stowe, Oates portrays the feelings, actions, desires, and events that occured in the lives of these individuals and how they shaped the views of all Americans. Rightly titled, the book takes a more hostile and agressive air with each page as 19th century "movers and shakers" seem to shout at each other from their respective sections in the book. Oates' does a wonderful job of allowing us to see why America would turn against itself to survive and made it clear that, by the time the Civil War began, there were few options but to fight. Oates gives each of his characters personality and strong views about slavery, abolition, states rights, and the role of the federal government. It is as if we can almost see the line between North and South being drawn as the book progresses. An excellent read for any Civil War buff or historically inclined individual.
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