An American Iliad: The Story of the Civil War

by Charles P. Roland

Book Overview

An updated edition of this concise yet comprehensive history of the Civil War, written by a distinguished historian of the conflict. Charles Roland skillfully interweaves the story of battles and campaigns with accounts of the major political, diplomatic, social, and cultural events of the epoch and insightful sketches of the leading actors. Of prime interest are the contrasts he draws between the opposing presidents and generals. What traits, he...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813123003
• ISBN13: 9780813123004
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.6" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Best Short Book on the American Civil War Available

Charles P. Roland in 263 pages of text gives the best overview of the American Civil War I have ever seen. Roland, in my opinion, gives the most unbiased, objective and comprehensive view of the Civil War including its origins. In "An American Iliad," he gives the major positions of the North and South on all important issues leading up to the war without being an advocate or judge. His book is not "primarily an analytical study" but rather "a synthesis of the major writings on the war" (Preface xi). One quibble I had was his reliance on Clausewitz over Jomini, the latter being a greater influence on the war's strategy and tactics. I appreciated the academic format of the book, published by The University Press of Kentucky, which had, for me, required hallmarks including a preface, table of contents, maps and photographs, a bibliographic essay and an index. The absence of footnotes or endnotes was understandable due to the length of the book and its overview perspective, but I would have preferred being able to review his sources to enhance my understanding or for further research. Roland's view is that the final impasse which the North and South came to in 1860 grew out of "political, economic, cultural, and social differences... [reaching] back to the very origin of the nation and beyond" (1). He does state, however, that slavery was the chief contributing factor to all these sources of tension which finally brought on war. He presents well the two, and sometimes more, sides of various arguments but concentrates on the political ones. He discusses not only the main stream ideas of the opponents but also the extremes of both sides such as the four attitudes the Senate had on the spread of slavery in the Mexican cession. Roland discusses the various machinations the politicians then went through to eventually produce the Compromise of 1850, the penultimate compromise. My final example of his fairness is his discussion of President Buchanan's actions in 1860 giving reasons that his equivocating was not necessarily a bad thing if he was, in fact, trying to limit the damage secession of the lower South could cause. I do detect Roland's belief that war was inevitable although he never expressly said that. It may be that a logical and coherent presentation of all the actions leading to the war made it seem inevitable--a penalty of hindsight. I could find no evidence of sectional biases in his book.

Good introduction to ACW

American Iliad provides a well balanced introduction to the American Civil War despite its succinct length. It does glaze over the most important events, but still to limited to much more than a general introduction. For more in-depth research McPherson, Foote, Buell and Catton are the premiere scholars of the era.

A Good and Short Overview of the War.

This book gives a solid overview of the entire Civil War but doesn't read like a just the facts book.The book focus on the key events in both theaters of the war and has chapters on the homefronts as well as the poltical aspects of the war.