Bruce Catton's America: A Historical Journey Through the United States | Perfect for History Buffs, Students & Book Collectors

If you’ve never read anything written by Bruce Catton, you couldn’t do better than beginning with this book. Mr. Catton doesn’t simply rehash history, he brings it to life in a way that makes you feel like you are there, deftly inserted into the action.This book is a collection of items previously authored by Mr. Catton. Editor Oliver Jensen explains in the Introduction that he wanted to present examples of Bruce Catton’s best work without feeling that he had to include any of the “…chapters, articles, or speeches in their entirety.” Much of the book covers the Civil War (Catton’s expertise), but one would be remiss to skip Chapter 1 – Morning Train, which is a brief history of Mr. Catton’s early life, and written by the author. It is a wonderful remembrance of his youth, ending with an appropriate section concerning the Civil War veterans he had known in his home town. You will be rewarded with portents of his writing style, such as this entry describing America moving into the 20th century:“On the eve of this terrible century of mass slaughter and wholesale collapse, of concentration camps and bombing raids, of cities gone to ruin and race relations grown desperate and poisonous, of the general collapse of all accepted values and the unendurable tension of the age of nuclear fission – on the eve of all of this, it was possible, even inevitable, for many people to be optimistic. The world was about to take off its mask, and our worst nightmares did not warn us what we were going to see.”It is this same skilled description that escorts us through the Civil War, where we meet heroes and villains, generals and politicians. Mr. Jensen briefly introduces each chapter before allowing the author to introduce us to the many different (and interesting) stories of this war between the states. It would be impossible for any reader not to gain a deeper insight into the reasons for this war, as well as learn more about the personalities of the leading as well as the bit players. There are countless anecdotes relating incidents about household names (Grant, Lincoln, etc.) as well as nameless men who, for different reasons, grabbed their guns and marched off to fight. At times the book reads like an exciting novel, and it almost feels disappointing when a chapter comes to an end.The book concludes with an excerpt from Mr. Catton’s book, “Waiting for the Night Train,” which focuses on his memories of his father’s last few years. It provides a fitting ending to a memorable book. Five stars.