About the Book
In July 1883, just a few days after the twentieth anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, a group of editors at the Century magazine engaged in a lively argument: Which Civil War battle was the bloodiest battle of them all? One claimed it was Chickamauga, another Cold Harbor. The argument inspired a brainstorm: Why not let the magazine's 125,000 readers in on the conversation by offering "a series of papers on some of the great battles of the war, to be written by officers in command on both sides." The articles would be written by generals, Union and Confederate alike, who had commanded the engagements two decades earlier--"or, if he were not living," by "the person most entitled to speak for him or in his place." The pieces would present both sides of each major battle and would be fair and free of politics. Now, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the most enduring entries from the classic four-volume series Battles and Leaders of the Civil War have been edited and merged into one definitive volume. Here are the best of the immortal first-person accounts of the Civil War originally published in the pages of the Century magazine more than a hundred years ago.Hearts Touched by Fire offers stunning accounts of the war's great battles written by the men who planned, fought, and witnessed them, from leaders such as General Ulysses S. Grant, General George McClellan, and Confederate captain Clement Sulivane to men of lesser rank. This collection also features new year-by-year introductions by esteemed historians, including James M. McPherson, Craig L. Symonds, and James I. Robertson, Jr., who cast wise modern eyes on the cataclysm that changed America and that would go down as the bloodiest conflict in our nation's history.No one interested in our country's past will want to be without this collection of the most popular and influential first-person Civil War memoirs ever published.
About the Author :
Harold Holzer has authored, coauthored, and edited more than thirty books on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. He serves as chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, and is a Roger Hertog Fellow at the New York Historical Society. Currently he is senior vice president for external affairs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and lives in Rye, New York.
Harold Holzer has authored, coauthored, and edited more than thirty books on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. He serves as chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, and is a Roger Hertog Fellow at the New York Historical Society. Currently he is senior vice president for external affairs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and lives in Rye, New York.
Harold Holzer has authored, coauthored, and edited more than thirty books on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. He serves as chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, and is a Roger Hertog Fellow at the New York Historical Society. Currently he is senior vice president for external affairs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and lives in Rye, New York.
Harold Holzer has authored, coauthored, and edited more than thirty books on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. He serves as chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, and is a Roger Hertog Fellow at the New York Historical Society. Currently he is senior vice president for external affairs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and lives in Rye, New York.
James M. McPherson is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University. America's leading historian of the Civil War, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom, which was a New York Times bestseller, and the Lincoln Prize for For Cause and Comrades.
James I. Robertson Jr. Alumni Distinguished Professor of History at Virginia Tech, is the recipient of the Bruce Catton Award and the Freeman-Nevins Award, as well as other honors for teaching and research in Civil War history. A native of Danville, Virginia, he teaches the largest Civil War history course in the world and is the author/editor of many books and more than 150 articles on the Civil War period. Among his publications are The Stonewall Brigade, Civil War Sites in Virginia, and Tenting Tonight: The Soldier's Story.
Stephen W. Sears is the author of many award-winning books on the Civil War, and the New York Times Book Review has called him "arguably the preeminent living historian of the war's eastern theater."
Craig L. Symonds is professor emeritus at the United States Naval Academy where he taught naval history and Civil War history for thirty years. A native of Anaheim, California, he earned his BA degree at UCLA, and his master's and PhD degrees from the University of Florida, where he studied under the late John K. Mahon. In the 1970s he was a US Navy officer and the first ensign ever to lecture at the prestigious Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. After his naval service, he remained at the War College as a civilian professor of strategy from 1974-1975.
Joan Waugh is professor of history at the University of California in Los Angeles. She is the author or coeditor of Wars within a War: Controversy and Conflict over the American Civil War, among other books.
Joe Barrett, an actor and Audie Award and Earphones Award-winning narrator, has appeared both on and off Broadway as well as in hundreds of radio and television commercials.
Traber Burns worked for thirty-five years in regional theater, including the New York, Oregon, and Alabama Shakespeare festivals. He also spent five years in Los Angeles appearing in many television productions and commercials, including Lost, Close to Home, Without a Trace, Boston Legal, Grey's Anatomy, Cold Case, Gilmore Girls, and others.
Robin Field is the AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator of numerous audiobooks, as well as an award-winning actor, singer, writer, and lyricist whose career has spanned six decades. He has starred on and off Broadway, headlined at Carnegie Hall, authored numerous musical reviews, and hosted or performed on a number of television and radio programs over the years.
Grover Gardner, a professional actor, director, and teacher, has narrated over 650 audiobooks. He was named one of the Best Voices of the Century by AudioFile magazine as well as a Golden Voice, and he has received over twenty AudioFile Earphones Awards. He has also won two coveted Audie Awards, as well as being a three-time finalist. In 2005, Publishers Weekly named him Audiobook Narrator of the Year. Malcolm Hillgartner is an accomplished actor, writer, and musician. Named an AudioFile Best Voice of 2013 and the recipient of several Earphones Awards, he has narrated over 250 audiobooks.
John Pruden is an Earphones Award-winning audiobook narrator. His exposure to many people, places, and experiences throughout his life provides a deep creative well from which he draws his narrative and vocal characterizations. His narration of The Killing of Crazy Horse by Thomas Powers was chosen by the Washington Post as a Best Audiobook of 2010.
Sean Runnette, an Earphones Award-winning narrator, has also directed and produced more than two hundred audiobooks, including several Audie Award winners. He is a member of the American Repertory Theater company and has toured the United States and internationally with ART and Mabou Mines. His television and film appearances include Two If by Sea, Cop Land, Sex and the City, Law & Order, the award-winning film Easter, and numerous commercials.
Review :
"An engrossing account...stimulating and pleasurable."
-- "St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Harold Holzer's Lincoln at Cooper Union"
"There are few more essential books for Civil War buffs and professional historians alike. A welcome, valuable addition to the vast library devoted to the conflict."
-- "Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"
"This book is a must for anyone fascinated by Abraham Lincoln."
-- "Civil War Times on Harold Holzer's Lincoln at Cooper Union"
"This is a strong, listenable production of a mammoth and notable work."
-- "AudioFile "
