Rating: 
Summary: Engrossing, Moving, Graphic - Can't put "April 1865" down
Review: I rarely like or do pay the humongous price when a book is first published, but based on the glowing reviews of "April 1865" written by James McPherson, among others, and on solid excerpts published in both "American Spectator" and in "Parade" magazine, I was sold - and definitely NOT disappointed.One might never have expected Jay Winik to the tackle that crucial last month of the Civil War. After all, Winik is the author of an excellent work on the Neo-Conservative Policymakers of the Reagan era. But he has definitely risen to the occasion with this worthy and thoughtful work. Winik accurately captures the tormented soul of Abraham Lincoln, who might have conceded earlier in the war after disastrous defeats at Second Bull Run and Fredericksburg, and even as late as the autumn of 1864 the issue was still in doubt. Yet the majesty and the perseverence of Lincoln comes through, as well as his nobility and frailities. Lincoln, as Winik comments, lost 30 pounds by war's end, was prone to constant headaches, was haunted by the possibility of the South resorting to guerrilla warfare, yet he pressed on in his determination to reunite America and end Slavery. The crucial role of Robert E. Lee is also examined in depth. Lee, urged by his artillery commander, Edward Alexander to go "bush" (pardon the pun) and resort to guerrilla warfare, something enthusiastically seconded by Jefferson Davis, chose instead to surrender and spare the south - and the nation as a whole the horror of partisan warfare and terrorism. And that spectre was not too far off in the shadows. In discussing Lee's dilemma, Winik conveys the horror and heartbreak of Missouri - torn apart by murderous guerrilla warfare in which Rebel partisans wore civilian clothes or often donned blue when setting upon Union-held communities...or Unionist wore grey in their grim retribution.... Even closer to the main theatre of war in Virginia, this savagery was all too apparent only three days before Appomattox, when Union forces caught up with Lee's desperate, starved divisions at Sayler's Creek. During the initial flush of battle, the combatants resorted to knives, to fists, even biting and grabbing at their opponents - or even their own.... The devastation of the south and its institutions, the human toll, is captured graphically in a chapter entitled "Surrender" in which the author makes the comparison of what the North would have suffered under similiar conditions - New York, Philadelphia and Washington destroyed; Libraries burned, "West Point ransacked and torched"; "Manhattan - a national Confederate graveyard": - Theodore Roosevelt, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Andrew Carnegie all dead or maimed. The country was spared this - but just barely - and even after Appomattox, the generous peace of Grant and Lincoln nearly unravelled with the murder of the latter five days after Lee's surrender. It was the military leaders, not the politicians, who behaved like statesmen and came forward, grimly clearsighted in knowing what the alternative would be. Where else can one note that Judan P. Benjamin, the Confederate Secretary of State and a noted Slaver - actually endorsed the full emancipation of the South's Slave population, or that the South itself was much more willing to emancipate at war's end than what the Historical record indicates. This is a gripping, narrative which enhances previous works such as Noah Andre Trudeau's "Out of the Storm" and Hoehling's "After The Guns Fell Silent". My only disappointment - and it is a significant one, is that in capturing the desire of the Southerners to fight on, Winik barely glosses over the reaction of Northerners to the events, especially Lincoln's assassination. To get this view, one must turn to Catton, Sandburg, or William C. Davis' "Lincoln's Men" - where the final chapter mentions the murders of Confederate POWs who unwisely applauded the assassination. The North too, was fully prepared to fight on - and the outcome would have torn the country apart. A must for anyone's Civil War library - especially with its dramatic images of Sayler's Creek, Appomattox, and the death of Lincoln and always in the background - the dreaded "What If" - and why it wasn't.
Rating: 
Summary: Poorly edited hyperbole from a non-historian
Review: When I read about this book in various publications my first inclination was that it was the product of another writer in a different field who said, "Hey, Civil War books sell, I should write one." Undaunted, I bought and read the book anyway, and was not disabused of my original impression. Winik is a student of modern political science, not history and certainly not the Civil War. His attempt to force his subject into the "most, best, gravest, most savage..." everything becomes laughable at first, and later annoying. Winik elevates the tiny battle of Sayler's Creek into one of the most savage of the entire war. Later, he claims that the attempt on the life of Secretary of State Seward on the night of Lincoln's assasination was "the most people ever targeted by a single American assassin" when it is clear that the four others wounded by the would-be assassin in Seward's house were certainly not targets of the assassin, just people who happened to get in the way. The acknowledgements cite three different editors at the publisher and other copy-editors who pitched in, yet the book is still littered with typos (p. 271 calls Seward "Steward"; p. 236 reads, "Lincoln however is no mood to allow...") to name just two of many, and sentences that are so gramatically twisted as to become incomprehensible. Further, Winik's constant shift from past to present tense eventually grates. These examples do not touch on some of the historical gaffes, such as the two general Longstreets (there was just one)and the author's constant insistence that Lee might have succeeded in a guerilla war staged in the mountainous regions supported by locals, while failing to inform the reader of the well-known fact that the people in these regions were clearly and heartily PRO-UNION. He later fails to mention that Dr. Sam Mudd (who set Booth's leg in Maryland) was a previous co-conspirator of Booths. He makes too much of an anecdotal tale of Lincoln stopping at the Richmond home of Gen. George Pickett (and offering a pardon via his wife) without mentioning that Pickett later fled the country rather than face a war crime's trial for hangings in North Carolina, etc., etc. Winik has clearly appealed to a modern audience that enjoys reading exaggerated hyperbolic tales of the past as if the fate of the world balanced on the outcome of the story. His entire thesis is predicated on this concept. However, reality seldom works this way. This is not factual history, but rather the stuff on which myths and legends are perpetuated...the stuff political scientists may find useful, but poor fodder for solid historical work.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Civil War book in a long time
Review: This is a magnificent book, as good as On The Brink, this author's first book. So many people think that the Civil War ended on April 9, 1865, but Winik explains how the war could have gone on for a long time but for the character and principles of some of the key players. I teach high school history, and have been an amateur Civil War historian since being born in Virginia, and this book is one of the top 4 or 5 I have ever read on this topic. Winik makes this war come alive with understanding and insight few others have had or at least been able to write. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: How Did We Get Here?
Review: What fate traditionally befell a losing general? Hanging... guillotine... dragged naked around the walls of Troy... What degrees of character allowed Lincoln, Grant and Lee to overcome the fervor of public opinion and chose reconcilliation over balkanization? If such questions interest you read this book! The only key question remaining unanswered is why on earth we can't find such leadership today!!!
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best
Review: I met the author at a Civil War event, and our discussion convinced me to buy the book. I don't regret it! His style reads like gripping fiction, his facts are thorough, and he brings a perspective to the ending of the war that is, I believe, unique. We take for granted the fact that Appomattox and subsequent military surrenders brought the country together. Jay Winik has disabused me of this notion. Particularly with the assassination of Lincoln and attempted decapitation of the Union government, it took the wisdom of many leaders large and small, as well as a large share of luck, to bring the country to a reconciliation that lasted even through the harsh Reconstruction. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in our country's history, especially those that sometimes wonder "why are we a nation?"
Rating:
Summary: Truly Enthralling Book
Review: I was so enthralled by this book that I wanted to submit a second review to continue talking about it. Winik presents a compelling case that April 1865 was the single most momentous 30-day period in our nation's 226-year history. The rapid-fire progression of events includes the fall of the Southern citadel of Richmond; Lee's last-gasp attempt to link up with Johnston's forces in North Carolina; Lincoln's far-sighted River Queen edict (advising lenient treatment of former Confederates after years of Total Warfare); the capitulation of Lee's once-mighty (and still dangerous) Army of Northern Virginia, Grant's benevolent terms of surrender, and the poignant Stacking of Arms at Appomattox; Lincoln's brutal assassination four days later and the failed conspiracy to decapitate the Union government; Lee's equanimity in defeat and his urgings for a peaceful re-incorporation in the Union; the manhunt for and slaying of the contempible Booth and the execution of his co-conspirators; Johnston's decision to ignore exhortations (from Davis and others) to prolong the conflict, and the magnanimous surrender fashioned by the warrior Sherman; the domino-like falling in line of other Rebel commanders like Forrest and Taylor. From the rush of these events, a unified nation would emerge, and, Winik observes, the U.S. would be spared the prospect of continued partisan conflict and debilitating strife and division -- a fate that has beset so many other war-scarred nations. Get this book and enjoy it. It's an excellent exposition of the role of the Civil War in forging a truly United States of America.
Rating:
Summary: Not Enough Superlatives
Review: The English language lacks enough superlatives to describe this book. Jay Winik brings the denouement of the Civil War to life with the crisp, eloquent prose of a novelist and the exacting standards and rich detail of an historian. The fateful decisions rendered in April 1865 -- perhaps the most momentous month in our Republic's history -- would help to transform a loosely connected confederation of independent states into a full-fledged, united nation. (In its early years, the United States was commonly used as a plural noun, Winik observes, becoming a singular noun only after the Civil War.) It did not have to turn out this way. In fact, secessionist proclivities had been deeply embedded in the American experience, Winik points out, citing examples such as the Whiskey Rebellion, the threatened severance of New England during the War of 1812 and the South over the nullification law machinations. That the Civil War would forever lay to rest secessionist impulses -- and as important, not degenerate into a protracted campaign of low-level bloodletting and on-going recrimination (as many other civil wars have) -- is, Winik says, largely due to the words and deeds of men like Lee, Lincoln, Johnston, Grant and Sherman during the pivotal days of April 1865. It was Lincoln, Grant and Sherman who, time and again, chose reconciliation over retribution, while Lee and Johnston charted a path of honorable surrender (rather than prolonged guerrilla conflict) and wholehearted Union re-embrace. Winik's new work is a masterful achievement -- certainly among the best books lining my bookshelf. Another classic is Winik's 1996 account of the U.S. triumph in the Cold War: "On The Brink." Fans of "April 1865" may want to check it out.
Rating:
Summary: Could the South have fought on?
Review: This is an excellent book, and it is particularly strong in its capsule biographies of people like Lee, Lincoln, Grant, Joe Johnston and Andrew Johnson. It has important new things to say about the fall of Richmond, the role of current and former slaves in the war, and the state of Washington D.C. immediately after the assassination of Lincoln. It is well written and a lively read, not a morass of military trivia like too many books about the Civil War. The author is a little too harsh on the radical Republicans and a little too pro southern for my taste. People like Sumner and Stevens had genuine concerns about what would happen to the former slaves if the former Confederates regained control over their state and local governments, concerns borne out by events. The author is a little too convinced that Lee and Johnston could have fought on by retreating into the mountains as irregulars. Many of the mountain people in the South were neutral or pro Union (see, for example, the excellent fictional book Cold Mountain) and would hardly have welcomed the ravages of a protracted was of ambush and destruction. Still, this is an excellent book and I would recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic book for Civil War fans & non-fans alike!
Review: As a West Point graduate, I have always been very interested in the Civil War. This book is more than marvelous, because it breaks new ground, with vivid insights of Lee, Grant, Lincoln, Johnston, and Sherman-- among others-- and the strains and agony these leaders endured in April 1865. The passages on guerrilla warfare are chilling - but accurate history. I've read countless Civil War books and visited many battlefield sites. But I've never seen anyone put the war into context the way Winik does-- and he gives you a background to appreciate it in terms of American and even some world history. This is no dull history lesson. The writing is incredible, the narration engrossing-- readers can almost smell the smoke and hear the gunfire. Winik's story more than matches the narrative. If more historians wrote, researched and analyzed like Winik, Americans would be clamoring to learn more about their past. This is a terrific book; you won't find a better history all year. Just like Ike and Douglas MacArthur -- Five Stars-- and totally deserved!
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Summary: Reflections of a great grand-daughter of the Confederacy
Review: My great grandfather, a poor farmer in Bedford County,Va., was NOT a slave owner. At age 30, he joined the Confederate army, not returning to his wife and 5 children for 4 long years. After reading the amazing Wall Street Journal review that called April 1865 "magnificant" I had to get a copy. April 1865 is so moving and so splendid that the review can not possibly do it justice. I read April 1865 with tears streaming. Author Jay Winik has an amazing grasp of American history and he makes it come alive. This is a healing book, one that fully explains the reasons for the Civil War. April 1865 made me appreciate for the first time how the decisions of people like Lincoln, Lee and Grant saved America from the terrible fate that has befallen other countries afflicted by Civil War - countries like Bosnia and Northern Ireland. Most importantly, the writing is incredible. You will stay up at night to finish it and will end it feeling proud and humble to be American - with all the blessings this country offers.
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