The celebrated writer reminisces about his boyhood in Michigan at the turn of the century.

A vivid account of the early battles, first in the Pulitzer Prize-winning trilogy: “One of America’s foremost Civil War authorities” (Kirkus Reviews). The first book in Bruce Catton’s Pulitzer Prize–winning Army of the Potomac Trilogy, Mr. Lincoln’s Army is a riveting history of the early years of the Civil War, when a fledgling Union Army took its stumbling first steps under the command of the controversial general George McClellan. Following the secession of the Southern states, a beleaguered President Abraham Lincoln entrusted the dashing, charismatic McClellan with the creation of the Union’s Army of the Potomac and the responsibility of leading it to a swift and decisive victory against Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Although a brilliant tactician who was beloved by his troops and embraced by the hero-hungry North, McClellan’s ego and ambition ultimately put him at loggerheads with his commander in chief—a man McClellan considered unworthy of the presidency. McClellan’s weaknesses were exposed during the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American military history, which ended in a stalemate even though the Confederate troops were greatly outnumbered. After Antietam, Lincoln ordered McClellan’s removal from command, and the Union entered the war’s next chapter having suffered thousands of casualties and with great uncertainty ahead. America’s premier chronicler of the nation’s brutal internecine conflict, Bruce Catton is renowned for his unparalleled ability to bring a detailed and vivid immediacy to Civil War battlefields and military strategy sessions. With tremendous depth and insight, he presents legendary commanders and common soldiers in all their complex and heartbreaking humanity.

This history of the American Civil War chronicles the entire war to preserve the Union - from the Northern point of view, but in terms of the men from both sides who lived and died in glory on the fields.

From the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning history A Stillness at Appomattox, an electrifying account of the end of the Civil War—Grant and Lee’s final maneuvers as four years of internecine conflict inched to a close. “The end of the war was like the beginning, with the army marching down the open road under the spring sky.” Here is the triumphant close of Bruce Catton’s history of the Army of the Potomac, the major Union army that fought and ultimately won the war. In the spring of 1865, the war was in its endgame, as Grant broke through the defenses at Petersburg and chased Lee’s army for the final clash. Meanwhile, Lee had one final option open to him: escape to North Carolina and join up with General Joe Johnston or otherwise accept defeat. Here are the war’s final days and minutes, the race to the finish of America’s bloodiest years.

From a Pulitzer Prize winner comes the story of an unforgettable moment in American history: the historic meeting between General Robert E. Lee and General Ulysses S. Grant that ended the Civil War. MacKinlay Kantor captures all the emotions and the details of those few days: the aristocratic Lee’s feeling of resignation; Grant’s crippling headaches; and Lee’s request--which Grant generously allowed--to permit his soldiers to keep their horses so they could plant crops for food.

Infinitely readable and absorbing, Bruce Catton's The Civil War is one of the best-selling, most widely read general histories of the war available in a single volume. Newly introduced by the critically acclaimed Civil War historian James M. McPherson, The Civil War vividly traces one of the most moving chapters in American history, from the early division between the North and the South to the final surrender of Confederate troops. Catton's account of battles is carefully interwoven with details about the political activities of the Union and Confederate armies and diplomatic efforts overseas. This new edition of The Civil War is a must-have for anyone interested in the war that divided America.