James M. McPherson: Historian of the American Civil War
150 years ago: The election of Abraham Lincoln touches off secession crisis
By Shannon Jones, December 24, 2010
On December 20, 1860, six weeks after voters of the United States elected Abraham Lincoln as the 16th president, South Carolina seceded from the union. Other Southern states soon followed, leading within little over five months to the outbreak of the American Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in US history,
A conversation with historian James M. McPherson
How the US Civil War became “a remorseless revolutionary struggle”
By David Walsh, February 28, 2003
A recent conversation with historian James McPherson of Princeton University was prompted by two events: the appearance of Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York, which purports to deal with an episode of the Civil War, and the publication of Professor McPherson’s most recent work, Crossroads of Fr
An interview with historian James M. McPherson
The Civil War, impeachment then and now and Lincoln's legacy—Part 3
By David Walsh, May 21, 1999
This is the third part of an interview conducted by WSWS editorial board member David Walsh with James M. McPherson. Walsh spoke to McPherson, the distinguished historian of the Civil War era, in his office at Princeton University. Professor McPherson's works include Abraham Lincoln and the Second American
An interview with historian James M. McPherson
The Civil War, impeachment then and now and Lincoln's legacy—Part 2
By David Walsh, May 20, 1999
This is the second part of an interview conducted by WSWS editorial board member David Walsh with James M. McPherson. Walsh spoke to McPherson, the distinguished historian of the Civil War era, in his office at Princeton University. Professor McPherson's works include Abraham Lincoln and the Second American
An interview with historian James M. McPherson
The Civil War, impeachment then and now, and Lincoln's legacy—Part 1
By David Walsh, May 19, 1999
WSWS editorial board member David Walsh recently spoke to James McPherson, the distinguished historian of the Civil War era in his office at Princeton University. Professor McPherson's works include Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution; Battle Cry of Freedom [a Pulitzer Prize winner]; For Caus
Historian James M. McPherson and the cause of intellectual integrity
By David Walsh, May 18, 1999
Starting tomorrow we will be presenting on the WSWS a lengthy interview with James M. McPherson, probably the leading contemporary historian of the American Civil War era. We hope that readers will find that the subjects of the discussion—the political turmoil of the period leading up to the Civil War
James McPherson's What They Fought For: When great ideals gripped the American people
By David Walsh,
[Originally published in the International Workers Bulletin, December 5, 1994]
"There is a big idea which is at stake"—Corporal in the 105th Ohio, 1864
For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War, by James M. McPherson, New York, Oxford University Press, 1997
By David Walsh,
[Originally published in the International Workers Bulletin, November 3, 1997]
An exchange with a Civil War historian
By David Walsh,
[Originally published in the International Workers Bulletin, June 19, 1995]
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