Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of April 1865: The Month That Saved America

April 1865: The Month That Saved America
reviewed on + 3559 more book reviews


Beautiful Gift book.
One month in 1865 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 emerged as not just the tale of the war's official end, but the story of the making of our nation.
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, and 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.
All during the war, the confederate General Robert E Lee is vocal about ending slavery. AT the end of the war he is very vocal. WHY did Lee Compromise his Conscience and live and Lincoln follow his conscience and die? After all the problems that the south gave the Union on the Civil war, Lincoln does not seek revenge, but takes the South back like the prodigal son returning home. This is a very interesting book on how history plays out and how the personalities of our leaders shape the war. It has been said that State's rights and slavery are two separate issues In the Civil WAr, But I see them as two snakes writhing together: inseparable.