Rating: 
Summary: Mr. McPherson answers the BIG QUESTION.
Review: This book has helped the readers 130+years after an event
so great that sits on our minds as we tour the many Battlefields of the Civil War. The Question is why did they fight? Why did they place their lives in danger? The letters were a bright light of awakening. Well written and presented
text. Highly Recommended to those of us who study not only what happened but why they fought in that great war.
Rating:
Summary: What motivated the Civil War soldier?
Review: This book is a very refreshing twist on Civil War history. In this work, as well as in his book What They Fought For, noted Civil War historian James McPherson explores what exactly motivated men to fight in the war. Having done exhaustive research to the tune of diaries and letters from nearly 1,000 soldiers, most of them obscure and average men, McPherson is aptly qualified to perform this work. He looks at several factors, from group unity to sense of honor to desire for vengeance, in an attempt to understand the average Civil War soldier, and ultimately makes a strong case for the idea that Civil War soldiers were idealistic men who were not ignorant of the issues at stake and who were motivated by an extraordinary desire to fight for their beliefs. This, McPherson argues, sets them apart from soldiers in other wars.
As is always the case with McPherson, this book is very well written and enjoyable to read. Most of this book is composed of quotes from various soldiers with McPherson's interpretation and narrative interjected only often enough to keep the discussion flowing. He does a wonderful job of integrating the quotes and making them fit perfectly into what he's trying to say. McPherson's use of quotations from the men who were actually there is infinitely more effective in proving his point than anything he could say himself, and this is what makes this book so great. There are hundreds of books out there that will tell you WHAT happened, but this book is one of only a few that will try and explain WHY and HOW things happened.
Rating:
Summary: What motivated the Civil War soldier?
Review: This book is a very refreshing twist on Civil War history. In this work, as well as in his book What They Fought For, noted Civil War historian James McPherson explores what exactly motivated men to fight in the war. Having done exhaustive research to the tune of diaries and letters from nearly 1,000 soldiers, most of them obscure and average men, McPherson is aptly qualified to perform this work. He looks at several factors, from group unity to sense of honor to desire for vengeance, in an attempt to understand the average Civil War soldier, and ultimately makes a strong case for the idea that Civil War soldiers were idealistic men who were not ignorant of the issues at stake and who were motivated by an extraordinary desire to fight for their beliefs. This, McPherson argues, sets them apart from soldiers in other wars.
As is always the case with McPherson, this book is very well written and enjoyable to read. Most of this book is composed of quotes from various soldiers with McPherson's interpretation and narrative interjected only often enough to keep the discussion flowing. He does a wonderful job of integrating the quotes and making them fit perfectly into what he's trying to say. McPherson's use of quotations from the men who were actually there is infinitely more effective in proving his point than anything he could say himself, and this is what makes this book so great. There are hundreds of books out there that will tell you WHAT happened, but this book is one of only a few that will try and explain WHY and HOW things happened.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Read
Review: This book provided an excellent analysis of the many causes of the Civil War. It succeeded in humanizing an event that is too often described with numbers- creating a wall between reality and the abstract. The book was touching and hard to put down. A great book to be read as a companion text or on its own merits as a reminder of the consequences of our ideas and actions.
Rating:
Summary: What men fought and died for, and what they were thinking
Review: This is a wonderful book. Prof. McPherson read over 30,000 letters and diaries for this, and thus I think he has provided one of the most thorough and thought provoking treatments of the psychology of Civil War soldiers and studies on why exactly they fought. For this work, Prof. McPherson also incorporates theories, reports, and research of the combat motivation, effects of combat, and psychology of men and soldiers in others war such as WWI, WWII, and the Vietnam War, not to mention general medical studies from British, American, and German armies. In some instances, he uses modern knowledge to analyze the thoughts and feelings of the soldiers of the Civil War. As interesting as this is to show how soldiers in the Civil War had the same problems and feelings as most men of war, his academic findings illustrate how Civil War soldiers were also very different from soldiers in other wars. The difference lay in their devout belief in their causes, and their sustained belief in those causes, and the close relationship with the men they fought with (which is a common thread for men of all wars), throughout the war. McPherson rarely goes on for more than a paragraph or two of his own narrating. He lets the voices of the men who fought take up 90% of the book, giving you a real sense of who these people were, and allowing the reader to derive an opinion for themselves, but always with McPherson's voice in the background guiding the reader, teaching you. The causes brought up by the letters and McPherson are wide and varied, and McPherson makes sure to research each and explain as elaborately as possible, but quite noticable are the few main causes that men on both sides procliamed in verbose rhetoric. These consisted of Duty, Honor, Liberty, Independence, and the sustainment (US) or creation of (CS) a "free and independent country". For the CS the issue of slavery is brought up, but even though McPherson mentions it quite often and does what he can to explain, I did find some holes, most especially what yeoman farmers in general felt about the slavery and the strife, or what their exact definition of "states rights" (in relation to slavery) was. But that subject in of itself deserves it's own book, and I do not find that as derogative to the book at all, in fact it provoked my thoughts. This may be strange to say, but while reading it, you feel safe. In other words, the research is so sound, so well documented, so well explained, that you feel like there is no way you are falling into a trap of propagandist, shallowly researched, or off the cuff revisionist history simply masked by some good prose. McPherson is a talented writer, making the read an easy and anticipated one for the reader (I read in 3 days, and I am NOT a fast reader), but he's also an astute historian who settles for nothing less than good hard research and logical and sound analyzation of his findings (thus a lengthy bibliography), without any sway of personal opinion; the book is entirely objective, and the bibliography in of itself is a great read (I've already read some of the books listed and recommended). Read this book if you want a solid, incredibly well researched, and inspired understanding of the men who fought the Civil War. Hopefully you'll come away with new ideas for yourself and a new knowledge of the men who fought. McPherson muses that these men deserve a respect for fighting for goals and causes that were sustained only by their own willpower, conviction, and mainly their courage, amidst the blood and chaos of the War; and judging by what Prof. McPherson has found, that is something I can concur with.
Rating: 
Summary: A Basis for Understanding a Difficult Time...
Review: This review is in response to the one by "rwf3". I have to wonder if the book "rwf3" read was the same one I read. McPherson carefully shows the motivations common to both Union and Confederate soilders. He does not ignore the fact that many Union men were fighting primarily for the Union, and in fact sets forth the very tenable position that anti-slavery sentiment grew as Union men saw the abolition of slavery, not as an end in itself, but as the only way to preserve the Union. McPherson's careful work provides a basis for understanding some facts regarding the Civil War, that some,(both north and south), choose to ignore because those facts don't fit their "agenda". Why did Union regiments of east Tennesee men engage in mortal combat against Confederate regiments from west Tennesee? Why did Union regiments of northern Alabama men fight against Confederate regiments from southern Alabama? In many of the Confederate states there were areas that were staunchly pro Union. So much for the artifical "north vs. south" dichotomy. So much for the "war between the states" sophistry. The Confederate Lt. General Pemberton at the Battle of Vicksburg was from Pennsylvania. Union General George Thomas, who commanded Union troops at the Battle of Nashville, was from Virgina. Simplistic assumptions about the Civil War are rampant on both sides. James McPhearson is to be commended for not engaging in those simplicites, and giving us a careful work that helps us to understand a most complex and difficult time in our history. This is a serious work, not light reading. But it is well worth reading for those willing to take the time that reading such a serious work deserves.
Rating:
Summary: Not too bad for a Yankee author
Review: Why did they do it? Why did several million American men put their lives on the line (a bet 600,000 would lose)? It could be argued the Grey men appeared to fight for the right to own slaves most of them had no hope of ever owning themselves while the men in blue fought to stop the spread of an institution which enslaved a race most of them thought not deserving of legal, social or economic equality with themselves. In McPhereson's brilliantly researched book, he paints the Civil War soldier on both sides as a complex individual whose motives for engaging in Civil War were at times noble, idealistic or principled. The author reviewed more than a thousand letters soldiers wrote during the war to recreate the state of mind and motivations of the combatants. The results will paint a much more nuanced picture for the reader than they probably had on the subject before. This is important work that does as good a job as I can imagine of recreating the mindsets of individuals long dead but who largely defined the course of American history through our present time. This book is a relatively quick read and written in McPhereson's excellent style -- authoritative while emminently engaging.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful, Thoroughly Researched, Brilliantly Analyzed
Review: Why did they do it? Why did several million American men put their lives on the line (a bet 600,000 would lose)? It could be argued the Grey men appeared to fight for the right to own slaves most of them had no hope of ever owning themselves while the men in blue fought to stop the spread of an institution which enslaved a race most of them thought not deserving of legal, social or economic equality with themselves. In McPhereson's brilliantly researched book, he paints the Civil War soldier on both sides as a complex individual whose motives for engaging in Civil War were at times noble, idealistic or principled. The author reviewed more than a thousand letters soldiers wrote during the war to recreate the state of mind and motivations of the combatants. The results will paint a much more nuanced picture for the reader than they probably had on the subject before. This is important work that does as good a job as I can imagine of recreating the mindsets of individuals long dead but who largely defined the course of American history through our present time. This book is a relatively quick read and written in McPhereson's excellent style -- authoritative while emminently engaging.
Rating:
Summary: They speak for themselves
Review: With this work McPherson has proved himself to be an outstanding research historian. Many such historians cannot find the right balance between evidence and interpretation. McPherson has done just that. He provides for us a powerful forum for the soldiers to tell us themselves why they fought; but he also weaves their comments into a compelling story, providing keen insight, analysis and juxtaposition for Union and Confederate soldiers. This is truly a great example of the Civil War as social history.
Rating:
Summary: They speak for themselves
Review: With this work McPherson has proved himself to be an outstanding research historian. Many such historians cannot find the right balance between evidence and interpretation. McPherson has done just that. He provides for us a powerful forum for the soldiers to tell us themselves why they fought; but he also weaves their comments into a compelling story, providing keen insight, analysis and juxtaposition for Union and Confederate soldiers. This is truly a great example of the Civil War as social history.
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