April 1865: The Month That Saved America by Jay Winik

 Amazon.com's Best of 2001---------There are a few books that belong on the shelf of every Civil War buff: James M. McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom, one of the better Abraham Lincoln biographies, something on Robert E. Lee, perhaps Shelby Foote's massive trilogy The Civil War. Add Jay Winik's wonderful April 1865 to the list. This is one of those rare, shining books that takes a new look at an old subject and changes the way we think about it. Winik shows that there was nothing inevitable about the end of the Civil War, from the fall of Richmond to the surrender at Appomattox to the murder of Lincoln. It all happened so quickly, in what "proved to be perhaps the most moving and decisive month not simply of the Civil War, but indeed, quite likely, in the life of the United States." Things might have been rather different, too. "What emerges from the panorama of April 1865 is that the whole of our national history could have been altered but for a few decisions, a quirk of fate, a sudden shift in luck." When Lee abandoned Richmond, for instance, his soldiers rendezvoused at a nearby town called Amelia Court House. There, the general expected to find boxcars full of food for his hungry troops. But "a mere administrative mix-up" left his army empty-handed and may have limited Lee's options in the days to come. Or what if Lee had decided not to surrender at all, but to turn his resourceful army into an outfit of guerrilla fighters who would harass federal officials? National reconciliation might have become impossible as the whole South turned into a region plagued with violence and terrorism. For the Union, "there would be no real rest, no real respite, no true amity, nor, for that matter, any real sense of victory--only an amorphous state of neither war nor peace, raging like a low-level fever." One of Lee's officers actually proposed this scenario to his commander in those final hours; America is fortunate Lee didn't choose this path. Winik is an exceptionally good storyteller. April 1865 is full of memorable images and you-are-there writing. Readers will come away with a new appreciation for that momentous month and a sharpened understanding of why and how the Civil War was fought. Let it be said plainly: April 1865 is a magnificent work, surely the best book on the Civil War to be published in some time. --John J. Miller --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly-------Though the primary focus of this book is the last month of the Civil War, it opens in the 18th century with a view of Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. Winik (whose previous book, On the Brink, was an account of the Reagan administration and the end of the Cold War) offers not just a study of four weeks of war, but a panoramic assessment of America and its contradictions. The opening Jeffersonian question is: does the good of the country take precedence over that of the individual states? The question of civil union or civil war is the central question of this new work. Winik goes on to describe how a series of events that occurred during a matter of weeks in April 1865 (the fall of Richmond; Lee's graceful surrender to Grant at Appomattox, and Grant's equally distinguished handling of his foe; Lincoln's assassination), none of them inevitable, would solve Jefferson's riddle: while a loose federation of states entered the war, what emerged from war and Reconstruction was a much stronger nation; the Union had decisively triumphed over the wishes of individual states. Winik's sense of the dramatic and his vivid writing bring a fitting flourish to his thesis that April 1865 marked a turning point in American history: "So, after April 1865, when the blood had clotted and dried, when the cadavers had been removed and the graves filled in, what America was asking for, at war's end, was in fact something quite unique: a special exemption from the cruel edicts of history." Winik's ability to see the big picture in the close-up (and vice versa), and to compose riveting narrative, is masterful. This book is a triumph. (Apr. 4) Forecast: Popular history at its best, this book should appeal widely to readers beyond the usual Civil War crowd. Strong endorsements from a group of noted historians, including James M. McPherson and Douglas Brinkley, along with a 10-city author tour, should also help both review coverage and sales.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal--------April 1865 saw the evacuation of the Confederate capital at Richmond, the surrender of the Confederacy's two major remaining field armies, and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. These events (and more) are brought to life in Winik's (public affairs, Univ. of Maryland; On the Brink) provocative narrative of the end of the Civil War. All of the major characters, from Lincoln and Ulysses Grant to Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, are here, as are numerous other figures. Sometimes the prose is a little too breezy and breathless, and there are the occasional (minor) factual slips that will cause the veteran reader of Civil War narratives to wince. Nevertheless, it is Winik's willingness to embrace contingency, to ponder alternatives, and to raise thoughtful questions about what did (and did not) happen that raise this account above the typical and increasingly tiresome renditions of the conflict's climax. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Brooks D. Simpson, Arizona State Univ., Tempe
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist------In April 1865 the Civil War appeared to be ending with a whimper rather than a bang. The Army of the Tennessee had been destroyed as an effective force, Sherman was ravaging the Carolinas, and Lee's soldiers were surviving on handfuls of parched corn. In fact, the war did end without a final paroxysm of violence, but there was nothing inevitable about that conclusion. After a career in government, Winik is currently a senior scholar at the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs. He has written a provocative account of the closing weeks of America's greatest national trial.^B Winik sheds light on the apparently serious Confederate plans to wage a prolonged guerrilla war. He suggests that the assassination of Lincoln could have triggered a coup in the North, and his insights into the on-again, off-again "peace" negotiations are incisive. Scholars and Civil War buffs may disagree with some of his assertions, but this fast moving, well-written chronicle will highlight obscure aspects of the war and stimulate further controversy. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
"Jay Winik's April 1865 is a book that fully measures up to the importance of its subject." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

----Paul Johnson, author of Modern Times and A History of the American People
"... exciting and penetrating. It is history as it ought to be written -- well researched, and as readable as a novel." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History and Director of the Eisenhower Center of American Studies at the University of New Orleans-----"The last days of the Civil War come alive again... A gripping page-turner of a book." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

----Gary W. Gallagher, author of The Confederate War and Lee and His Generals in War and Memory
"This engaging book takes readers on a fascinating journey." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

----Robert Dallek, author of Lone Star Rising and Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times
"Jay Winik has written a mesmerizing study of April 1865. It is a brilliantly written account." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

---San Francisco Chronicle--------"[A] comprehensive, essential volume ..[the] interviews are like keys to the many rooms of [Ginsberg's] expansive consciousness." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

---The Baltimore Sun-------"Winik more than meets the tests of vigorous narrative and fresh analysis..." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

-- Publishers Weekly - starred review-----"Popular history at its best. . . . Masterful. This book is a triumph." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

---Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of No Ordinary Time, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
"April 1865 is a superb piece of history. Jay Winik is a master storyteller with a remarkable tale to tell." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Richard Norton Smith, author of Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation and Director, Gerald R. Ford Museum
"With cinematic sweep and novelistic detail, Jay Winik reintroduces us to the thirty most momentous days on the American calendar." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. 

Book Description ------One month in 1865 witnessed the frenzied fall of Richmond, a daring last-ditch Southern plan for guerrilla warfare, Lee's harrowing retreat, and then, Appomattox. It saw Lincoln's assassination just five days later and a near-successful plot to decapitate the Union government, followed by chaos and coup fears in the North, collapsed negotiations and continued bloodshed in the South, and finally, the start of national reconciliation. In the end, April 1865 emerged as not just the tale of the war's denouement, but the story of the making of our nation. Jay Winik offers a brilliant new look at the Civil War's final days that will forever change the way we see the war's end and the nation's new beginning. Uniquely set within the larger sweep of history and filled with rich profiles of outsize figures, fresh iconoclastic scholarship, and a gripping narrative, this is a masterful account of the thirty most pivotal days in the life of the United States.
About the Author-----Jay Winik is the author of the New York Times bestseller April 1865, which received wide international acclaim. He is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. A senior scholar of history and public policy at the University of Maryland, he is a member of the governing council of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Winik lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland.