The Civil War: An Illustrated History

by Geoffrey C. Ward, Ric Burns, Ken Burns

Book Overview

The companion volume to the celebrated PBS television series, with a new preface to mark its twenty-fifth anniversary

With more than 500 illustrations: rare Civil War photographs--many never before published--as well as paintings, lithographs, and maps reproduced in full color

It was the greatest war in American history. It was waged in 10,000 places--from Valverde, New Mexico, and Tullahoma, Tennessee, to St...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394562852
• ISBN13: 9780394562858
• Release Date: September 1990
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 4.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 10.1" x 10.5"

Customer Reviews

Book

Arrived on time as described

"The Crossroads of Our Being"

In 1989, one of the finest, documentary films ever shown on TV appeared on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). That film was the groundbreaking, multi-part documentary "The Civil War," by Ken Burns, Ric Burns, and Geoffrey C. Ward. A few months after "The Civil War" was broadcast, I found "The Civil War: An Illustrated History," the companion book to the film, in our local bookstore. It is authored by the same trio responsible for the film. (Geoffrey Ward is the principal author, ably assisted by the Burns brothers.)"The Civil War: An Illustrated History"is an outstanding book - like its film counterpart, an excellent work of history, powerfully written by gifted writers with a genuine passion for their subject. Ward and Burns have written a graceful and eloquent basic survey of the Civil War that even the most battle-hardened Civil War buffs will find a wonderful reading experience.The authors provide a straightforward narrative of events without much historical interpretation of events. That doesn't mean there isn't any analysis of historical events, however. In what I consider an act of literary genius, Ward and Burns enlisted the help of some of America's greatest Civil War historians - writers like James McPherson , Shelby Foote, Barbara J. Fields, and the late C. Vann Woodward. These outstanding historians, and others, wrote a series of essays that provided outstanding analyses of the causes, effects, and events of the Civil War. "The Civil War: An Illustrated History"is far more than a few hundred pages of stuffy historical text. It's as visually appealing as it is wonderful to read. Nearly every page is crammed with Civil War era paintings, photographs and maps. The paintings add tremendous color to each page, but the photographs that pack the REAL emotional wallop! Many of them were taken by famed Civil War photographer Matthew Brady. In this book you'll see famous photographs, like Brady's renowned portraits of Lincoln, Grand and Lee; and other, starker, but less famous pictures, like the Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Petersburg battlefields as they appeared in the days following their respective battles. "The Civil War: An Illustrated History"is one of those rare "companion" books that not only complements the PBS film series from which it originates; it towers alongside it. Readers should have no hesitation in reading this book without having first seen the film series.

When Hell was Incarnate on Earth

Gepffrey Ward's narrative is a complete departure from the textbook Civil War stories that we tend to read today. His is a fascinating account that deals with the ordinary people and the history that they lived through. I found this book an especially rewarding buy because of it's very interesting and absorbing language and illustrations. Overall, this book has made a particularly deep impact and led me to look at the civil war as a time, when hell was truly incarnate on earth. In view of Ward's excellence in writing I would give him five stars, and also because he tells the full stories of Gettysburg, Bull Run (both of them), Antietam, Shiloh, and Appamattox Court House. He brings the Civil War to life like nobody else can. I am especially touched by his quotation from the letter of Col. Sullivan Ballou of Rhode Island, it was a tear-jerking moment for me when I saw the series and when I read this book over and over again. This book is an amazing readable account of a gone-by era and I appreciate the effort that Ken Burns and Geoffrey Ward to bringing this bloody, romantic, and adventurous era to life just as they have in The West with Dayton Duncan, Baseball, and Lewis & Clark. Read this book for the story and the pictures!