Review: The Army of the Potomac Trilogy Brings Together Bruce Catton's 3 Civil War Chronicles
These superb books recount events from the viewpoints of both soldier and statesman, providing a greater understanding of the why and how of the Civil War.
Civil War historian Bruce Catton (1899–1978) was both a brilliant scholar and a gifted writer. His three greatest books chronicle the shifting military and political fortunes of the Army of the Potomac, the Union force that repeatedly clashed with Confederate General Robert E. Lee's formidable Army of Northern Virginia. Their battles included famous encounters at Antietam, Gettysburg, and Cold Harbor. Those books had sadly fallen out of print in recent years.
Enter the Library of America, a nonprofit publisher "dedicated to preserving America's best and most significant writing," which recently released The Army of the Potomac Trilogy. This handsome single-volume edition brings together Catton's Mr. Lincoln's Army (1951), Glory Road (1952), and A Stillness at Appomattox (1953). That last won both a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. The books are accompanied in this omnibus edition by a number of detailed battle maps plus an illuminating new introduction by Civil War expert Gary W. Gallagher. For U.S. history buffs, it was one of the biggest publishing events of the year.
Americans are still arguing about the meaning of the Civil War. Reading these three superb books, which chronicle events from the viewpoints of both soldier and statesman, would go a long way toward providing a greater understanding of why and how it all happened.
