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  • The American Civil War

  • A Military History
  • Written by: John Keegan
  • Narrated by: Robin Sachs
  • Length: 16 hrs and 32 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (12 ratings)

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The American Civil War

Written by: John Keegan
Narrated by: Robin Sachs
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Publisher's Summary

For the past half century, John Keegan, the greatest military historian of our time, has been returning to the scenes of America’s most bloody and wrenching war to ponder its lingering conundrums: the continuation of fighting for four years between such vastly mismatched sides; the dogged persistence of ill-trained, ill-equipped, and often malnourished combatants; the effective absence of decisive battles among some two to three hundred known to us by name. 

Now Keegan examines these and other puzzles with a peerless understanding of warfare, uncovering dimensions of the conflict that have eluded earlier historiography.While offering original and perceptive insights into psychology, ideology, demographics, and economics, Keegan reveals the war’s hidden shape—a consequence of leadership, the evolution of strategic logic, and, above all, geography, the Rosetta Stone of his legendary decipherments of all great battles. The American topography, Keegan argues, presented a battle space of complexity and challenges virtually unmatched before or since. Out of a succession of mythic but chaotic engagements, he weaves an irresistible narrative illuminated with comparisons to the Napoleonic Wars, the First World War, and other conflicts. The American Civil War is sure to be hailed as a definitive account of its eternally fascinating subject.

©2009 John Keegan (P)2009 Random House
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What the critics say

“Keegan excels at explaining the events and circumstances leading up to the Civil War, and explores how it might not have happened. He depicts with great clarity the haphazard nature in which both governments and armies entered the war….This British historian has thereby nailed the American psyche’s captivation with its Civil War.” -James T. Course, Times Higher Education

“Written in crisp prose [with] a confident, distinctive voice…insightful [and] amusing….On matters of grand strategy Keegan is at his best. He comprehends the Civil War as a whole, as a war won or lost in the vast western theater, and one in which the winners were those few generals, along with Abraham Lincoln, who developed a ‘geostrategic appreciation,’ a national rather than local understanding, of the conflict….Keegan’s own geographic range inspires comparative insights that will prod….Keegan’s exploration of how and why the war was fought the way it was fought leaves us much to ponder.” David W. Blight, Slate

“An impressive body of ideas for specialists and general readers alike to ponder.” -Dennis Showalter, American History Magazine

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An interesting book and a good performance

BUT - I am not a civil war expert, and the commentary I read after the fact was somewhat critical of Keegan's analysis. I am listening to "Battle Cry of Freedom" now as a more respected history.

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I heartily recommend it.

For anyone interested in understanding the American Civil War this is an essential book. Keegan is well read and a superb analyst and thinker. He makes the war intimate in a way few authors do. Highly recommend this book.

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