The Whirlwind of War

Voices of the Storm, 1861-1865

By: Stephen B. Oates

Narrated by: David Colacci, Susan Ericksen, James Fouhey

The Whirlwind of War builds on the great themes and follows many of the important figures who were introduced in The Approaching Fury.

Stephen B. Oates's riveting narrative brings to life the complex and destructive war that is the central event in American history. He writes in the first person, assuming the viewpoints of several of the principal figures: the rival presidents, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis; the rival generals, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, and William Tecumseh Sherman; the great black abolitionist, editor, and orator, Frederick Douglass; the young Union battlefield nurse, Cornelia Hancock; the brilliant head of the Chicago Sanitary Commission and cocreator of the northern Sanitary Fair, Mary Livermore; the Confederate socialite and political insider, Mary Boykin Chesnut; the assassin, John Wilkes Booth; and the greatest poet of the era, Walt Whitman, who speaks in the coda about the meaning of war and Lincoln's death.

©1998 Stephen B. Oates (P)2022 Tantor

Perfection absolute Perfection

Stephen Oats two volume set on the Civil War are the best books you will find on the subject.

I love the first person perspective of the main characters in the drama. I truly wish more writers would employ this method.

Book One starts with an elderly Thomas Jefferson discussing slavery and continues through to Lincoln’s election. Book 2 (this book) takes the reader from Ft. Sumtner to the end of the war.

This is a book that I will read once a year. It’s just brilliant.

and odd book

Only northerners use the Nword. southerners either don't directly refer to slavery or are portrayed incorrect as being sympathizing to Black people. none of that fits with the whipping machine created to extract labor from Black people. The historical events appear accurate but the authors liberties don't really match the history of the characters. southerners were the most racist and violently so. stop pretending they where not. they wrote that way. Just read mary chestnut boydkin. her diary is full of discussion of how enslaved people are treated. it's monstrous.