What They Fought for by McPherson - Book Report/Review Example

“What they fought for by McPherson” is a book that reviews what motivated the soldiers to fight in the Civil war. The thesis of the book is about the force behind the determination of the soldiers on both sides, considering the fact that 90 % of them volunteered to fight (McPherson 4). The book is about three lectures given by the author on the civil war hence it addresses mainly what he taught concerning why the soldiers fought with determination yet they were only volunteering. The resilience and determination among the fighters motivated the author in researching the focus they fought for during the civil war.

From the book, I learned many lessons. First, when people are patriotic to their people, they will fight for what they believe in. Most of the fighters and volunteers believed in the ideologies that their leadership held in the war. In the letters that the fighters sent to their families, they insisted that they fought for their patriotism and love for their people. The volunteers believed that the ideologies of their countries were the best ad that any conflicting ideologies were wrong. With utmost conviction, they defended their countries. From this, another lesson is imperative. When a person loves and believes in something, they will fight to protect it. The volunteer fighters loved their families and their friends in their states. They fought tirelessly for them. The need to protect the people at home propelled the fighters.

From the book by McPherson, the civil war was a matter of a nation divided among itself (McPherson 22). The people fought because of the identity and ideology and the belief that a faction of Americans undertook slavery. The war was triggered by ill feelings that the people kept in their hearts for a long time. As the slave owners went about their business, the north waited for their chance to hit back and when the chance came along, the four-year ordeal was imminent. I also learn that the civil war in America was not only a product of slavery in the south but also a result of political fear after the Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln won the elections. The people in the south felt that they had lost control of the political situation in the country and would soon lose control of slavery thus they demanded a succession of 11 states in the south. When the government refused to grant the succession, war was the ultimate solution, with only a trigger event missing. However, the firing at Fort Sumter led to war fear and eventually, the civil war.

While the civil war in America had many things to learn, some things surprised me about the war. The first surprising thing is the determination of the people to fight on even after many people had died. Many people would have stopped the war when they realized that many citizens were losing their lives. However, McPherson states that the young volunteers fought with more determination even after over half a million people perished in the civil war (McPherson 63). The ending of the war also surprised and the events that followed the end of the civil war surprised me. Lee, the commander of the confederate army made a decision to surrender in order to end the war. As if this was not enough, five days later, Lincoln was assassinated raising questions on the surrender of the confederate army. However, the civil war ended anyway.

I would recommend the book to another person to read because it gives one of the best coverage of facts behind the civil war. Most of the other materials only covered the war and the way people fought. However, this book covers the reasons behind the resilience and determination of the soldiers. For that reason, it is a good complementary reading material. I liked the source of information used by McPherson in writing the book. The fact that he used the letters from the fighters makes the information credible and real for the war. I also liked the statistical and strategic analysis that McPherson used in the book.

The author succeeded in proving that the fighters loved their families to a state that they fought with them in mind. Through reviewing the diaries of the fighters, McPherson explained that they did not expect any rewards but they expected their family members and friends to live better thereafter.

The author could interview some of the survivors of the war to find out what exactly transpired on the war front. The author can improve the book by finding out more reasons why Lincoln was assassinated.