TWO ROADS TO SUMTER

by William & Bruce Catton ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 22, 1963

Supplementing many of Bruce Catton's earlier Civil War volumes (The Coming Fury, Terrible Swift Sword, etc.), this book by a father-son Catton team deals with the conflicts, personal and political, that preceded the outbreak of the Civil War. ""On Sumter lay the issue of peace and war; on Davis and Lincoln lay the issue of Sumter"", the authors state. Both men were born in Kentucky a year apart (1808-09), and both left the state as children, Davis to a Mississippi plantation, slaves, wealth and West Point; Lincoln to the backwoods of Indiana and Illinois, to poverty, hard work, and a self-education in law and practical politics, an art Davis never learned. Both men were ""moderates"" and of unquestioned integrity. The issue of slavery divided them as it did North and South;- Davis, an enlightened slave-owner, alling it a moral good that must be retained, Lincoln, the country lawyer, coming to regard it as a universal evil. In the late 1850's efforts of the slave-states to force slavery on Kansas split the country in two, leading to Lincoln's emergence as a brilliant politician, and eventually to his election as President. With secession and Davis's election to the presidency of the Confederacy the two men found themselves faced with a war both hated and which neither could avoid -- and in April, 1861, came the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Although less vividly written and by reason of subject less exciting than many books by the senior Catton alone, his concise and carefully documented volume provides a highly readable refresher- course on the outbreak of the Civil War and as such will appeal to both amateur and professional historians; it will form an excellent college textbook.

Pub Date: May 22, 1963

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1963

Categories: NONFICTION