Rating: 
Summary: A Good Overview of "The Great Civil War"
Review: Written by a highly regarded US military historian, this book does a solid job of explaining why the Civil war happened, how it was fought, and why the North prevailed in the end. Dr. Weigley has done a nice job of adding his voice to the current discussion of the war by some of today's best historians.Overall, the book is not the most stimulating reading, unless you are very interested in the subject (i.e.- you have already done some reading about the war). None the less, I really enjoyed the first part of the book (about the roots of the war and military strategy used in this era), and the end of the book (about why the North prevailed, and how the Confederacy collapsed so quickly, in the end) the most. I think that Dr. Weigley makes some great insights during these two sections. In a bit of a surprise, the political sections of the book are better written and more interesting to read than the military sections. I find this slightly strange, because of Dr. Weigley's expertise in US military history. For some key battles (Fredricksburg, Chancellorsville), he gives only a cursory summary, and does not add any new insight into these battles and their outcomes. I guess I expected to learn more about the military perspective than the political one by reading this book. But I must admit that it ended up the other way around for me, in this case. Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I must agree with a previous reviewer that this book is not on the same level as Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson. Simply put, if you have time (and/or interest) to read only one book about the war, don't read this one. Read the McPherson book instead. It is a more thorough and enjoyable book. On the other hand, if you are a student of the war (I fall into this category), or consider yourself a Civil War buff, this would be a good choice to add to your Civil War library
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