Description

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The voices of those who witnessed the Battle of Gettysburg and its aftermath with their own eyes – who saw the bloodshed, heard its din, trembled in its crash, struggled with its aftermath – are collected for the first time by Allen C. Guelzo, America’s foremost Civil War scholar, in this moving and sobering oral history.

This treasure trove of original documents – many never-before published – creates a uniquely personal, day-by-day eyewitness account of the monumental collision at Gettysburg, in the words of the commanders, soldiers, politicians, and civilians from both the North and the South who experienced firsthand the changing course of the Civil War.

Three pivotal days in 1863 – July 1st through July 3rd – marked the beginning of the end of the Civil War. While the audible voices of those who experienced it first-hand in that crossroads town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania have been lost to history, their words live on in Voices from Gettysburg.

Gathering a treasure trove of powerful, rare, and haunting original documents, New York Times bestselling author and award-winning historian Allen C. Guelzo presents a uniquely readable and intimate oral history of the Civil War’s turning point. We hear from a Union staff officer, a Confederate amputee, artilleryman, a sympathetic Northern woman, a Union prisoner-of-war, Union colonels and Confederate generals, a drummer boy, a fearful college student, those who orchestrated the Battle of Gettysburg, those who survived it, and those who would perish.  

With introductions from Guelzo, a detailed order of battle, and comprehensive list of every unit that fought, each of these original maps, personal letters, excerpts from forgotten memoirs, and more never-before-published documents offers an unprecedented narrative of the Great Rebellion and the impetus for Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address – in the authentic words of fire, blood, and smoke by those who saw the battle, heard its din, trembled in its crash, and struggled with its aftermath.

About the Author

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Allen C. Guelzo is a New York Times best-selling author, senior research scholar in the Council of the Humanities at Princeton University, and the director of the Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship for Princeton's James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions. His acclaimed nonfiction books about the Civil War and early nineteenth-century American history, include The New York Times bestseller Gettysburg: The Last Invasion (Knopf), Robert E. Lee: A Life (Knopf), Reconstruction:  A Concise History (Oxford University Press), and Redeeming the Great Emancipator (Harvard University Press). He is a three-time recipient of the Lincoln Prize and many other honors, including the Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize for Military History and Wall Street Journal Best Books of the Year. He lives in Pennsylvania.  Learn more at AllenGuelzo.com.

Praise For…

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Praise for Allen C. Guelzo:
 
“It is a testament to the strength of Redeemer President that the matters it addresses resist easy summary. The value of the book itself, however, is easy enough to state: Out of the countless volumes written about our 16th president, it ranks quite simply among the best.” —The Wall Street Journal on Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President
 
"A deeply researched character study... Crisp and sound...  Allen C. Guelzo’s fine biography is an important contribution to reconciling the myths with the facts." —David Goldfield, New York Times Book Review on Robert E. Lee: A Life
 
“Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President is the best study of Lincoln’s religious thought, and all the better because it situates that thought in the context of Lincoln’s whole career. Guelzo’s purpose is to take Lincoln seriously ‘as a man of ideas.’ He succeeds admirably.” —The Times Literary Supplement
 
“(A) rich, original work…. Guelzo’s book enlarges the conventional battle narrative… It’s his expansive, rolling storytelling that makes this book so engrossing and sets Guelzo’s Gettysburg apart from the many others…. This one proceeds more like a stately symphony, solemn but enlivened by surprise digressions and meditations, taking its time, building to a finish that is familiar to all, yet seldom conducted so eloquently.” —The Washington Post on Gettysburg: The Last Invasion
 
“Allen Guelzo is one of the finest Lincoln scholars of our generation, and this book of essays reveals once again a unique combination of impeccable scholarship with a wonderfully readable narrative style.” —Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln on Abraham Lincoln, A Man of Ideas
 
" Allen C. Guelzo punctures the Lost Cause mythology without indulging in culture-war polemics, and he examines Lee’s life and moral culpability with a judicious eye." —Fergus M. Bordewich, Wall Street Journal on Robert E. Lee: A Life
 
"Allen C. Guelzo, an eminent Civil War historian, has now published exactly what the nation needs as it reappraises important historical figures who lived in challenging times with assumptions radically unlike today’s. Robert E. Lee: A Life, Guelzo’s scrupulously measured assessment, is mercifully free of the grandstanding by which many moralists nowadays celebrate themselves by indignantly deploring the shortcomings of those whose behavior offends current sensibilities. But by casting a cool eye on Lee, Guelzo allows facts to validate today’s removals of Lee’s name and statues from public buildings and places... Guelzo’s biography is necessary." —George F. Will, The Washington Post Robert E. Lee: A Life

"Robert E. Lee: A Life injects learning, subtlety, and even compassion into a debate that has more often been characterized by ignorance, simple-mindedness, and sanctimony.” —Andrew Ferguson, Washington Beacon on Robert E. Lee: A Life
 
"Allen C. Guelzo’s timely biography expertly scrubs off 150 years of political and cultural patina accumulated since the renowned general’s passing to reveal a tragic humanity... Guelzo’s formal yet enjoyable writing style evokes the period without getting lost in it. His presentation achieves relevance as America is once again riven with regional, cultural and political hostility." —Douglass K. Daniel, Associated Press on Robert E. Lee: A Life
 
"It is impossible to do justice to Guelzo’s splendid work. He has done what we ask biographers to do: provide an incisive look at a complex man, neither secular saint nor moral monster. Of course, complexity is the human condition. Thanks to Allen Guelzo for providing the definitive look at the life of a complex man." —The National Review on Robert E. Lee: A Life
 
"Allen C. Guelzo not only covers new ground with the incredible depth and breadth of his research, he does an exemplary job of showing how history should be written, keenly aware of historical context, contemporary values, and the space between them... Reading more histories like these would be a good start to dealing with our country’s racist past and the ways it permeates into the present day." —New York Journal of Books on Robert E. Lee: A Life

“One of America’s greatest Lincoln scholars, Allen Guelzo has written the definitive biography of Robert E. Lee for our time.” —Michael Lind, author of What Lincoln Believed on Robert E. Lee: A Life
 
“Allen Guelzo confirms his place in the top rank of Civil War historians with his masterly biography of Robert E. Lee. Well-researched, well-written and captivating, it will stand as the definitive single-volume life for decades to come. Guelzo’s judicious comments on Lee’s ‘crime and glory’ might be a good place for America to start healing her present-day wounds.” —Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill, Walking with Destiny on Robert E. Lee: A Life
  
“At once bold and balanced, Allen Guelzo's portrait is one of a man who could be alone in a crowd, inspiring to millions, and yet forever isolated and contained by his own personality and self-imposed martyrdom. He was dominant facing enemy legions in the field, and yet passive to timidity with his own government leaders. Backed by impressive research, honed on mature and even-handed judgment, and presented with the eloquence of a master craftsman, Robert E. Lee, A Life will please many, anger a few, and inform everyone who takes it up." —William C. Davis, author of Crucible of Command: Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, the War they Fought, the Peace they Forged.

“Deeply researched and elegantly written, this nuanced portrait captures Lee’s ambiguous place in American history." —Publishers Weekly on Robert E. Lee: A Life
 
"The award-winning Civil War historian offers a fresh assessment of Robert E. Lee... Pays close attention to modern evaluations... A fine biography of a flawed American icon." —Kirkus Reviews on Robert E. Lee: A Life
 
“Guelzo’s exploration of Lincoln’s reputation is both accessible and thought provoking.” —Publishers Weekly on Redeeming the Great Emancipator
 
“Allen C. Guelzo’s new book should occupy the same position in the current civil war sesquicentennial as Bruce Catton’s books did 50 years ago during the War’s centennial.  Fateful Lightning deserves this prominence for Guelzo’s thorough knowledge of the subject and his ability to draw fresh conclusions, and his exceptional writing skills.”  —The Saturday Evening Post on Fateful Lightning