Book Review: Turning Points of the Civil War

For my book source I read Turning Points of the Civil War by James A. Rawley. Rawley begins his book with a good introduction where he explains his main views on the Civil War and the events that occurred because of it. He also introduces the main points that he will discuss in his chapters, which range from beginning incidents like the battle of Bull Run and the Trent Affair to the later events like the Election of 1864. Rawley goes through his book and explains the high points of several specific events, whether they be important battles of the war or happenings like the issueing of the Emancipation Proclamation, but also goes into some detail about them. He focuses on the reason they happened, the reason they became so important, and what happened because of these events. All of the chapters pinpoint a specific event of the Civil War and how that event changed the course of the war. His Afterword delves into the idea that the Civil War as a whole was a great turning point for America and he explains his reasoning backed with factual details here, as well.
This was an extremely informative book. All of the chapters focused on interesting events and Rawley gave many viewpoints, as well as stories and facts, on these events. Reading some of the stories and personal accounts from soldiers and others that Rawley included in the book was kind of intriguing. The battle chapters ("Bull Run", "Antietam", "The July Days: Gettysburg and Vicksburg") especially had many of these illuminating and stirring accounts. I liked the way that Rawley spent much of the time talking about the issues surrounding the important happenings and not just, "John killed so-and-so here". It was neat to think about all of the different people and matters that were just moving along at the same time as a national war, and not just those brave few who were out on the feilds.
My favorite chapters in this book were "The Borderland and Kentucky", "The Election of 1864", and "Antietam". I liked the first two because I really learned a lot from them. "The Borderland and Kentucky" was mainly about the importance of the allegiance of the the border states (KY, MD, MO, and DE) to the Union and the significant events surrounding that issues, and "The Election of 1864" was obviously about the election. These two chapters made me look into some of the more civilian issues that occurred during the Civil War that I hadn't learned as much about in the past. I enjoyed the chapter "Antietam" because I thought it was very well laid out and extremely insightful. Antietam was a bloody and horrific battle, but it was definitely fought for a reason. Many things came about because of it and several things didn't. I think it is best put by one of the quotes in the chapter, "Its effects will be seen and felt in the destinies of the Nation for centuries to come". My least favorite chapter was "The Trent Affair". This chapter was hard to follow in some places and relied too much on the reader to have an outside knowledge of certain events. Rawley made his points about the significance of the Trent Affair quite well, but he also included many seemingly useless details and facts that weren't necessary. This was a quality of much of the book, but I sort of expected to be peppered war statistics and jargon when I picked Turning Points up. Overall, though, this book was a pretty enjoyable read. I learned so much from Rawley and his insights and have gained a new appreciation and knowledge for the many features of the Civil War.

Source: Rawley, James A. Turning Points of the Civil War. Lincoln: New Bison Books, 1989. Print.