Glory Road
By Bruce Catton
4.5/5
()
Unavailable in your country
Unavailable in your country
About this ebook
In the second book of the Army of the Potomac Trilogy, Bruce Catton—one of America’s most honored Civil War historians—once again brings the great battles and the men who fought them to breathtaking life. As the War Between the States moved through its second bloody year, General Ambrose Burnside was selected by President Lincoln to replace the ineffectual George “Little Mac” McClellan as commander of the Union Army. But the hope that greeted Burnside’s ascension was quickly dashed in December 1862 in the wake of his devastating defeat at Fredericksburg.
Following Burnside’s exit, a mediocre new commander, Joseph “Fighting Joe” Hooker, turned a sure victory into tragedy at Chancellorsville, continuing the Union’s woes and ensuring Robert E. Lee’s greatest triumph of the war. But the tide began to turn over the course of three days in July 1863, when the Union won a decisive victory on the battlefield of Gettysburg. Months later, Lincoln would give his historic address on this ground, honoring the fallen soldiers and strengthening the Union Army’s resolve to fight for a united and equal nation for all of its people.
With brilliant insight, color, and detail, Catton interweaves thrilling narratives of combat with remarkable portrayals of politics and life on the home front. Glory Road is a sweeping account of extraordinary bravery and shocking incompetence during what were arguably the war’s darkest days.
Bruce Catton
Bruce Catton (1899–1978) was a Pulitzer Prize–winning author, historian, and journalist. He served in the navy during World War I and was the director of information for the War Production Board during World War II. Catton’s military and government experience inspired his first book, TheWar Lords of Washington, and he is best known for his acclaimed works on the Civil War, including Mr. Lincoln’s Army and Glory Road. His most celebrated Civil War history, A Stillness at Appomattox, won both the National Book Award for Nonfiction and the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1954. Catton was also the founding editor of American Heritage magazine. Among his other works are Grant Moves South; Grant Takes Command; and a three-part chronicle endorsed by the US Civil War Centennial Commission, The Coming Fury, Terrible Swift Sword, and Never Call Retreat.
Read more from Bruce Catton
Grant Takes Command Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Grant Moves South Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5U. S. Grant: The Civil War Years: Grant Moves South and Grant Takes Command Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5U. S. Grant and the American Military Tradition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5America Goes to War: The Civil War and Its Meaning in American Culture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Years Were Good Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Glory Road
Related ebooks
Mr. Lincoln's Army Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShiloh, 1862 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Storm Over the Land: A Profile of the Civil War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Bell Hood: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of a Confederate General Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln's Lieutenants: The High Command of the Army of the Potomac Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Look Away!: A History of the Confederate States of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vicksburg: Grant's Campaign That Broke the Confederacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Long Surrender Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Chancellorsville Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To the Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shiloh: The Battle That Changed the Civil War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Maps of Gettysburg: An Atlas of the Gettysburg Campaign, June 3–July 13, 1863 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Single Blow: The Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Beginning of the American Revolution April 19, 1775 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Spotsylvania Campaign Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grant and Sherman: The Friendship That Won the Civil War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hymns of the Republic: The Story of the Final Year of the American Civil War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg: A Guide to the Most Famous Attack in American History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pickett's Charge in History and Memory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sword of Lincoln: The Army of the Potomac Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Wars & Military For You
Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mein Kampf: The Original, Accurate, and Complete English Translation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings77 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unacknowledged: An Expose of the World's Greatest Secret Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Doctors From Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Glory Road
92 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In this second of his Army of the Potomac Trilogy, the author has smoothed out all the rough edges of his first volume, Mr. Lincoln's Army. His strengths in telling vignettes is maintained and spread out through more of the book. This is an embedded reporter's point of view. His battle descriptions are more balanced as well, though they still suffer somewhat from ignoring certain key elements. Ultimately, it must be understood that this is a rather biased view of events in that it not only is covering the Army of the Potomac, and is, thus, leaving out -- I would say unnecessarily -- important aspects of what is happening on that army's opponent's side. It is also prone to embellish somewhat the part of its subject's actions. I can elaborate on both these points, by citing the Gettysburg battle. The author describes great efforts by the Union soldiers to avoid defeat. In many cases, barely hanging on by a thread, so to speak. Extraordinary efforts are painted in bright colors. And yet, there's not a word about all the criticism that has been laid on Confederate generals Ewell, Longstreet, and especially Stuart, for what they did NOT do, and maybe could have. Lack of action that, if the author is to be taken at face value, would most certainly have caused the Union army to be crushed. I appreciate that applauding the efforts of "your team", just as in sports, requires some positive comments, but barely winning a ball game can be viewed in a very different light when the opposing team is the best in the league and when it's against the junior varsity. This author had a choice to go for good public relations or good history, and he didn't always go for good history. Having said that, this is still a terrific read. Downright exciting at times. It's my own advanced knowledge of the subject that keeps me from giving it my highest rating.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fabulous reading of how the War began
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Far superior to Mr.Lincoln's Army, this second chapter covers the Army of the Potomac from just after the Battle of Antietam through Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and on to the three days of Gettysburg. Nice counterpoint to Shelby Foote's The Civil War whose main focus is the Confederate side of things, this brilliantly gives the account from the Union side.