NF Battle Cry of Freedom by McPherson, try to convince me to buy this book

Non-Fiction
...McPherson is a good historian - a good Yankee historian. He can't help the fact that he is born raised and educated in the North.

Well, he was born in North Dakota, he's never written a book about the Northeastern states, and he was never a Union soldier. So what's this about him being a "Yankee" author?

Let me guess. Any author who simply espouses the well-documented and much-accounted history that the CW was caused by Slavery will be called a "Yankee." Catton too, right?
 
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Well said edfranksphd. I'm a northerner so many times I gravitate towards the southern perspective. That's where my curiosity lies. The author's background, home state and education is a good measure of the material he/she wrote.
 
McPherson is a good historian - a good Yankee historian. He can't help the fact that he is born raised and educated in the North.

In general I agree with you that historians have a degree of unconscious bias.

McPherson is guilty of being born and raised in the North. His Ph.D. work was done at Johns Hopkins which is south of the Mason Dixon line, a border state back in the day but certainly not Southern. His thesis advisor was C. Vann Woodward, who was from Arkansas. So I think he go a little exposure to the Southern point of view.
 
The (perceived) victors, including McPherson of the North, write the history. I said it's worth reading.

Do we really still need to beat what should be a very dead horse by now i.e. which side wrote the prevailing history of the Civil War?

Ironically, Pulitzer was a draft deserter in the Civil War. Jumped ship in Boston harbor after having his passage paid from Germany in exchange for his promise to serve as a substitute, I believe.

Only half the story, at least according to pulitzer.org:

However, in Hamburg, Germany, he encountered a bounty recruiter for the U.S. Union Army and contracted to enlist as a substitute for a draftee, a procedure permitted under the Civil War draft system.

At Boston he jumped ship and, as the legend goes, swam to shore, determined to keep the enlistment bounty for himself rather than leave it to the agent. Pulitzer collected the bounty by enlisting for a year in the Lincoln Cavalry, which suited him since there were many Germans in the unit.


If u think he can get thru all that and not be biased in ways that he is not even conscious of, u r likely mistaken.

I just want to point out the irony of someone with "Phd" in their username using "u r" instead of "you are."

The author's background, home state and education is a good measure of the material he/she wrote.

I grew up in Florida and received my formal education there. My ACW professor was from Harper's Ferry. I was born in a hospital in Virginia but only lived in West Virginia before Florida. My ancestors back to the war were all in WV, VA, and KY.

Knowing only that information about me I think one would have trouble predicting my opinions about the ACW.
 
Book called Battle Cry of Freedom by McPherson, try to convince me to buy this book....Does it provide a balanced view on both sides? Some other questions I want to ask is does this book includes a Northern Party called the Free Soil Movement? Does it cover mostly politics or war or a balance of both including the citizens? What other topics does this book cover besides the fighting and politics? What are some things you've learned from this book that you have not read from other books? So...go ahead...try to convince me to buy this book!
Read the book. And see what is left out.
 
I would never attempt to predict one's opinion. However by reading about an author I feel it provides some information to assist me in my reading selections.
 
My uncle bought this book for me one Christmas and he's a Korean War vet, so that's gotta mean something, right? If I recall isn't this book on military academy reading lists?.....I dunno. I may be making that up.
 
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