Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction (review)

82CIVIL WAR HISTORY were the California Volunteers mustered out?), The Saintsandthe Civil War is a work of merit. It is handsomely designed and sturdily bound and is enhanced by notes, illustrations (maps andphotos), bibUography, and index. As in many other volumes of our time, the index is selective (check p. 136, 138, and 141). By letting the major personalities in Utah speak their minds during these troubled years, E. B. Long's book provides a much greater understanding of the Civil War on the western border. Harwood P. Hinton University of Arizona Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction. By James M. McPherson. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982. Pp. xviii, XXXII, 694. $19.95.) James M. McPherson's Ordeal by Fire is the most important comprehensive account of the Civil War and Reconstruction since the appearance in 1961 of David Donald's revision of J. G. Randall's famous text. Well organized and lucidly written, it seeks to cover the history of the United States from the 1840s to the 1890s. There are several differences between McPherson and his predecessors . In the first place, he begins his narrative with an emphasis on the process of modernization, a development which affected the North in the prewar years but hardly touched the South. Second, he carries the story through to the Populist era, thus making itpossible to trace the fate of the freedmen to their ultimate abandonment by the SupremeCourtin Plessy v. Ferguson. Finally, he takes full account of ethnic factors, a subject often neglected in the past. In general, the author follows the main trends of modern scholarship. Carefully examining the implications of the institution of slavery, he concedes that it was profitable for the planters but observes that it was hardly so for the slaves. While mentioning the findings of Robert W. Fogel and Stanley L. Engerman, he presents telling tables to show how substantially the South was lagging behind the North in various crucial indicators. He characterizes secession as a southern counterrevolution in response to a northern seizure ofpolitical power butmaintains itwas a vain effort because it "ensured the success of the very revolution it sought to avert" (p. 145). The facts would seem to bear him out. In Une with his general approach, McPherson sympathizes with the advanced Republicans' efforts to elevate the blacks. While not going into detail about the radicals' motivation, he stresses their overwhelmingly New England roots, theirdedication, and theirsuccess in obtaining chairmanships of important congressional committees. In recounting their clashes with Abraham Lincoln, the author perceptively makes it clear thattheGreat Emancipator was no conservative. Portraying him as the foremost moderate RepubUcan, McPherson defines the president's BOOK REVIEWS83 greatness as determined by his masterful sense of timing and his ability to surmount difficulties. Even Lincoln's strategic endeavors receive their due—his unfailing support of U. S. Grant and his effort to trap Stonewall Jackson in the Valley of Virginia, frustrated though it was by the incompetent generals chosen to carry it out. Like other admirers of the president, the author is justly critical of George B. McClellan, especially in connection with theMaryland campaign; nor does hespare George Gordon Meade for his failure to pursue Lee after Gettysburg. This emphasis on political and military details does not mean that social and economic factors are overlooked. The ample treatment of the nation's wartime economy, thetroubles oflabor, and theUmits of dissent are among the strong points of the book. Professor McPherson's views of Reconstruction, too, are in accord with the revisionism of the last thirty years. Pointing out thelimits ofthe possible within the framework of nineteenth-century political and economic beliefs, he condemns Andrew Johnson's racial policies but recognizes that no other society "poured so much effort and money into the education of ex-slaves" (p. 401). The fortunate extension of the chronological Umits of the book makes possible a detailed discussion of the "retreat from Reconstruction" as well as a sketch of the main problems of the Gilded Age which contributed to it. As is unavoidable in a volume of this length, there area few omissions and errors. McPherson may be faulted for skimming over biographical details—the relevant section...