Product Description
April 1865 was a month that could have unraveled the nation. Instead, it saved it. Here 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, 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. It was not inevitable that the Civil War would end as it did, or that it would end at all well. Indeed, it almost didn't. Time and again, critical moments could have plunged the nation back into war or fashioned a far harsher, more violent, and volatile peace. Now, in a superbly told story, Winik captures the epic images and extraordinary history as never before. This one month 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 emerges as not just the tale of the war's denouement, but the story of the making of our nation. Provocative, bold, exquisitely rendered, and stunningly original, April 1865 is the first major reassessment of the Civil War's close and is destined to become one of the great stories of American history.
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Amazon.com Review
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
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 A Month of Sadness and Elation ( tmsx2 )
The author has, with vivid display and perception, shown how the events of one month in the history of our country has affected the USA we know today. If Lincoln wasn't the man he was or if Lee and Johnston were not the men they were we could still be a totally fragmented country on sectional lines. We have all learned these events in school but never have they been put into perspective in one volume as in this book. I highly recommend it to you.
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 Hyperbole gone wild ( rah101 )
I was quite disappointed in this book. I thought the topic sounded interesting, and indeed it is. However, the hyperbolic writing style constantly gets in the way.
Not only does he puff up his writing with exaggerated, overwrought prose, but his motto seems to be: "Why say something in one sentence that can be said in five paragraphs."
Plus, early on in the book, one has to endure a 15 page paean to Robert E. Lee that I found pretty astounding. I didn't really expect to find a modern Civil War writer so aggressively espousing the cult worship of Lee.
In defense of Mr. Wink, however, I would like to point out that an earlier reviewer is in error when he says, "He also muffed Stanton's great quote regarding Lincoln at the time of his death: 'Now he belongs to the ages' is mis-rendedred 'Now he belongs to the angels.'" The quote is thoroughly covered in the Notes section at the back of the book, where he discusses the various versions of it and why he chose this particular one.
However, given the inflated nature of the writing, I can understand why someone wouldn't want to wade through the Notes section too.
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Peace with honor, Union with peace ( entocaju )
This is a deeply moving history of the great men who believed in duty, honor, country and made courageous decisions that preserved the Union. I have read many of the very positive as well as the more critical reviews of this great work by Jay Winik. If Winik had included all of the detail of the final battles this would have been a lesser work. I would strongly recommend first reading "The Passing of the Armies" by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Chamberlain's memoir published in 1915 is a beautifuly written first-hand account of the final campaign that led to Lee's surrender. It is a must-read that helps to set the stage for what follows in Jay Winik's history of the month that saved America.
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The Rebirth of America ( sweat167 )
Alot of people assume that the Civil War abruptly ended at Appomattox and that our nation simply healed itself. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Jay Winik argues that April 1865 was perhaps the most crucial period of time in our history, even more so than July 1776. While the Founding Fathers may have established a set of ideals, it was the Civil War that put them to the test. As Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address, "...testing whether that nation or any nation can long endure". The Civil War never fully realized those ideals. It took over 100 years for civil rights laws to be passed and the process is still incomplete. But April 1865 was the painful start of that process of rebirth which saved our country.
What is unique about the American Civil war is that the nation actually did heal itself, unlike many other civil wars which degenerated into chaos, fragmentation, and prolonged guerilla warfare. All of these things could have happened in America had it not been for a few high-minded individuals from both sides of the conflict who put their personal animosities and ambitions aside for the good of the nation as a whole. Lincoln was the foremost of these individuals, but his assassination threatened to end any reconciliation between the north and the south. It was left to others to carry out that task.
Ironically, it was the warriors, the generals, who were most instrumental in making that happen. They were the ones who took the high road while many politicians succumbed to short-sighted and petty vindictiveness. Many southerners refused to accept defeat and wanted to disband their armies and carry out a guerilla war. Jefferson Davis was the foremost of these individuals. Rather than demonize Davis as a coward, as so many historians have done, Winik portrays him as a brave but tragic man who could never compromise his beliefs.
If there is one hero in this book, it is Robert E. Lee who could easily have been swayed into continuing the rebellion as a guerilla war. Lee, not Davis, was the only man in the south who had the respect and moral credibility among southerners to prevent that from happening. The other Confederate generals followed Lee's example, including Joe Johnston and the hard-bitten Nathan Bedford Forrest.
While many politicians in the north wanted to punish and subjugate the south as a conquered territory against Lincoln's wishes, it was the union generals like Grant and Sherman who showed generosity and magnanimity to their conquered foes. In fact, Sherman, who was so brutal to the south during the war, had to endure scathing criticism from his superiors in Washington for the lenient terms of surrender which he offered Joseph Johnston.
Jay Winik takes us back to the time and events at the end of the Civil War which are taken for granted in history classes but were as important as the founding of our nation. July 1776 may have been the first birth of our nation, but April 1865 was perhaps the more crucial rebirth.
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Amazing year of 1865 ( diary_of_a_ghost )
What a book! Until I read this I had no idea what that month meant to the US or the world. Lee chose to surrender so peace could prevail. He did have other choices. He could have hid in the Southern Hills for years like the Taliban has done in Afghanistan, but he cared too much about the stability of his country. I personally think it was the hardest decision he had and the best decision he made, Grant and Lee handled Appomattox with the best diplomacy as was possible. Many do not realize that Appomattox was the only the end of one part of the war a fact the Winik illustrates here well as does that it was a valiant fight to the end. Did I mention it was Palm Sunday?
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