Books with author J.G. McPherson

James McPherson, a bestselling historian of the Civil War, illuminates how Lincoln worked with—and often against— his senior commanders to defeat the Confederacy and create the role of commander in chief as we know it. Though Abraham Lincoln arrived at the White House with no previous military experience (apart from a couple of months spent soldiering in 1832), he quickly established himself as the greatest commander in chief in American history. James McPherson illuminates this often misunderstood and profoundly influential aspect of Lincoln’s legacy. In essence, Lincoln invented the idea of commander in chief, as neither the Constitution nor existing legislation specified how the president ought to declare war or dictate strategy. In fact, by assuming the powers we associate with the role of commander in chief, Lincoln often overstepped the narrow band of rights granted the president. Good thing too, because his strategic insight and will to fight changed the course of the war and saved the Union. For most of the conflict, he constantly had to goad his reluctant generals toward battle, and he oversaw strategy and planning for major engagements with the enemy. Lincoln was a self-taught military strategist (as he was a self-taught lawyer), which makes his adroit conduct of the war seem almost miraculous. To be sure, the Union’s campaigns often went awry, sometimes horribly so, but McPherson makes clear how the missteps arose from the all-too-common moments when Lincoln could neither threaten nor cajole his commanders to follow his orders. Because Lincoln’s war took place within our borders, the relationship between the front lines and the home front was especially close—and volatile. Here again, Lincoln faced enormous challenges in exemplary fashion. He was a masterly molder of public opinion, for instance, defining the war aims initially as preserving the Union and only later as ending slavery— when he sensed the public was at last ready to bear such a lofty burden. As we approach the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth in 2009, this book will be that rarest gift—a genuinely novel, even timely, view of the most-written-about figure in our history. Tried by War offers a revelatory portrait of leadership during the greatest crisis our nation has ever endured. How Lincoln overcame feckless generals, fickle public opinion, and his own paralyzing fears is a story at once suspenseful and inspiring.

This text offers a glimpse of a tumultuous time in US history. A primary source reference, it includes 400 biographies of prominent figures living during the American Civil War period, written by their contemporaries. The authors' observations of the time in which they lived, interwoven with biographical portraits of their subjects, add an extra dimension of interest to this illustrated A-Z reference. In addition to military and political leaders, the book covers major business leaders, scientists, inventors, artists, entertainers, publishers, abolitionists, and other notable persons such as the chief of the Wampanog Indians Elisha Converse, Barbara Fritchie and Tom Thumb.

When the Exlathars escaped the battle that night, their silhouetted figures merged with the sky, their wings swatted at stars and the Coltis people were too busy celebrating their victory to realise that there wasn’t one. Now the Exlathars are back. And they bring with them remnants of everybody’s past. Back in England, Dezaray discovers just how deep Coldivor’s connection to Earth really goes. But she cannot change their past and she cannot see how to alter their future. So it seems the ripples that shake the surface are only a glimpse of what’s brewing beneath. The young adult fantasy, 'Caught in the Ripples' delves deeper into the Water Rushes saga, answers questions the first book raised and plunges you into an ocean of intrigue and magic. They thought the Elenfar was the end…turns out it was only the beginning. "Caught in the Ripples by S. McPherson takes up the tale of magic, mayhem and other dimensions where magic is real and like the human world, there is always evil trying to impose itself on others."