Bruce Catton's Civil War Box Set

Three Volume set includes: The Coming Fury, Terrible Swift Sword, & Never Call Retreat. A journalist & public official before becoming editor of American Heritage magazine, Bruce Catton won both the Pulitzer Prize & the Nat'l Book Award for his Civil War history A Stillness at Appomattox. As for this monumental Civil War trilogy, 1st published in the 1960s, historian Henry Steel Commager appraised: "better than any other history of our Civil War it combines narrative vigor, literary grace, freshness of view & independence of judgment, & a kind of catholic spirit which embraces the whole vast tumultuous scene." The 1st volume opens with the Democratic Party's Charleston convention in 1860 & the split that resulted in two Democratic candidates, followed by the Republican Convention & Lincoln's victory. The country 1st drifted & then was swept into war, even as Lincoln & Jefferson Davis were declaring that a peaceful solution could be found. The 2nd volume shows how the Union & Confederacy slowly reconciled themselves to an all-out war, & how the statures of Lee, Grant, Sherman, Jefferson Davis & many others emerged. McClellan's character is impaled here in extracts from his arrogant letters. In the final volume, Lincoln remains resolute in the belief that a house divided against itself cannot stand, while Jefferson Davis struggles valiantly for political & economic stability. Catton traces the most bitter years of the war here, from the fighting at Fredericksburg to the surrender at Appomattox & the end of the Confederacy, & the assassination of Lincoln. Each book includes a section of color maps, & the three volumes are contained in a blue & red box.