The Whirlwind of War: Voices of the Storm, 1861-1865

by Stephen B. Oates

An intensely dramatic and intimate portrayal of the people, events,influences and consequences of the American Civil War, The Whirlwind of War builds on the great themes and follows many of the important figures that were introduced in The Approaching Fury.

Genres: Civil War, History, Nonfiction, American Civil War, Civil War History, American History, Military History

864 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

An expert on 18th century U.S. history, Stephen B. Oates was professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he taught from 1969 until his retirement in 1997. Oates received his BA (1958), MA (1960), and Ph.D. (1969) from the University of Texas.

Oates wrote 16 books during his career, including biographies of Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Clara Barton, and John Brown, and an account of Nat Turner's slave rebellion. His Portrait of America, a compilation of essays about United States history, is widely used in advanced high school and undergraduate university American history courses. His two "Voices of the Storm" books are compilations of monologues of key individuals in events leading up to and during the American Civil War. He also appeared in the well-known Ken Burns PBS documentary on the war.

Oates received the Nevins-Freeman Award of the Chicago Civil War Round Table for his historical work on the American Civil War.

Reviews

[Jim Nirmaier · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Whirlwind Of War, the second book in a historical trilogy by Stephen Oates, is told from the first-person narrative viewpoint from all the major players in the Civil War conflict; i.e. Lincoln, Davis, Grant, Lee, Sherman, Douglas, Booth, etc. Effectively captures the feel of day-to-day involvement of the leaders of the struggle and their respective zealous viewpoints, as well as their unshakeable belief that Divine Providence was leading their cause. Highly recommended and The War Between The States is an endlessly fascinating and compelling, if not the most important, period in American History!

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A masterful telling of the Civil War, the author uses the interesting technique of telling the story through the hypothetical viewpoints of some of the major witnesses and participants in the great events.

[Scott Schluter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. The characters came alive. I will seek out the prequel and anything else written by Stephen Oates.

[Bottlegirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! Very hard to put down. Reading the thoughts of each character made the history come alive.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I still find this an interesting approach to historical writing, and I learned some stories that were not familiar to me previously. However, I’ve decided this narrative approach is lacking for two primary reasons. First, the limited number of viewpoints resulted in a patchwork history with many important events/motivations going unaddressed or under addressed. Second, I found myself questioning certain facts and statements as presented because they were presented without context and analysis.

[Sandra Oldfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great great read. Loved the format

[Douglas Graney · Rating 3 out of 5]

While worth reading, I did not find this book as worthwhile as the one below.