I have immense respect for authors who are able to do more with less. While it cannot be denied that writing a massive, multi-volume epic history of a subject is an impressive achievement, I am often more enamored with historians who manage to convey nearly as much in a fraction of text. I recently read Stephen Sears’ impressive tome of a history on the battle of Gettysburg, and there can be no denying that it is impressive, but it is James McPherson’s far shorter history of Antietam that has left me stunned with what it achieves.
McPherson is no stranger to impressive book lengths. Earlier this year I read his classic Battle Cry of Freedom, which, while also a very admirable example of compressing an enormous amount of history into a single volume, clocks in at over eight hundred pages of history. That is a book worthy of all of its praises, and while I love a good doorstopper to read, sometimes I want something quick and to the point. McPherson’s history of Antietam shows that he can deliver this in spades.
Measuring in at under two hundred pages, just over 150 if you discount notes and bibliography, Crossroads of Freedom manages to cover not just the battle itself but almost the entire American Civil War up to that fateful September day in 1862. The central framing device of Crossroads of Freedom is the notion that Antietam was a crucial turning point in the American Civil War, possibly the turning point. Certainly it suggests that the Confederacy came very close to winning the war in the late summer of 1862 and that their defeat at Antietam and its political aftermath (the Emancipation Declaration and favorable mid-term election results for the Lincoln administration) kept the war going and led eventually to the Confederacy’s defeat (albeit with many more bumps along the way). Antietam also marks the dividing line between the American Civil War as a war for reunion and one for emancipation - a critical difference which has had a lasting impact on America. While often overshadowed by Gettysburg in popular memory, McPherson makes a strong case for Antietam being the war’s most important single battle.
This is not a history for people who want every little detail of the order of battle, which regiment fought where, casualty numbers, etc. Instead it is a history of the importance of the battle in the context of its time - especially the pressures facing both sides leading up to the conflict and the impact it had on the overall shape of the war. While from time to time I enjoy the nitty gritty detail, I must confess that this kind of history appeals to me much more and that McPherson delivers it so well and so quickly is a master stroke. Highly recommended.