Book Review: The War for the Union: The Organized War to Victory, 1864-1865 by Allan Nevins

The War for the Union: The Organized War to Victory 1864-1865 by Allan Nevins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Confederates had to turn their entire economy towards total war to gain independence, the Union organized its war effort with one arm tied behind its back and as a result the Union was victorious. The War for the Union, Volume IV: The Organized War to Victory, 1864-1865 is the eighth and final volume of Allan Nevins’ Ordeal of the Union series covers the last year of the Civil War which saw U.S. Grant’s multiple offensive strategy to stretch the Confederate’s resources to the breakpoint as the United States held a national election in the midst of a civil war, which both saw the collapse of the rebellion.

Throughout 404 pages of well-written and researched text, Nevins covers the military and political history during the last year of the war along with the “home fronts” and economic realities that each side faced during this last year then a glance in the immediate aftermath before concluding with a summing up of how the United States had changed in over four years of war. While Nevins coverage of Grant and Sherman’s campaigns were excellent, in particular the decision-making and preparation surrounding the March to the Sea, as was his writing on the 1864 Presidential election to me the most interesting chapters covered the Southern war effort in one and how it compared to another when Nevins detailed what Northerners were doing besides participating in the war effort, the juxtaposition between how both sections home fronts were like during this last year of the war was startling. The last chapter, “Toward a Mature Nation”, is Nevins glance at the United States in the aftermath of the war and how it had changed, though Nevins planned to write about Reconstruction but passed away before he could this chapter highlights how the nation changed over the course of 18 years in which he covered in the eight volumes of the overall historical series he wrote over the course of 24 years.

The War for the Union, Volume IV: The Organized War to Victory, 1864-1865 culminates a near quarter century of writing by Allan Nevins to detail how victory in a war against Mexico lead to Civil War and the birth of a new United States.

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