The Fate of Their Country
Zubair Farooq,
History,
27th November 2012.
“The Fate of Their Country”
Michael F. Holt.
"To locate the most direct causes of the American Civil War," he contends in the preface, "one must look at the actions of governmental officeholders in the decades before that horrific conflict." Professor Michael F Holt needs no introduction among historians. He is single handedly regarded as one of the scholars who is most responsible for the emergence of what some call a neo-revisionist interpretation and outlook about the origins and circumstances that resulted in the Civil War. His ideas which are reflected throughout his books especially “The Fate of their country” emphasize that the reasons which caused The Civil War could have been and should have been averted. Defending this ideology Holt criticizes historians who stand by their argument of “Sectional conflict over slavery and slavery extension caused the Civil War”. Instead he preaches throughout his works that include many influential books including “The Fate of their Country” that, contingent political factors played a very huge and predominant role is stimulations factors causing disunion among the states.
“The Fate of their Country” is basically an annotated distillation of 2 other books written by Professor Holt “Political Crisis of the 1850s” and “The Rise of Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War.” After reading “The Fall of their Country” it seems like it is a much more concise and direct version of his ideas which appeals to students and casual readers as well as historians and scholars due to not only being a mere 127 pages but also because it drives its points home. He gives a wonderful summary of the territorial debates in Congress starting with the Missouri Compromise then the Compromise of 1850 and finishing at the notorious and disastrous Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. One could argue that this book in short is a greatly abbreviated
History,
27th November 2012.
“The Fate of Their Country”
Michael F. Holt.
"To locate the most direct causes of the American Civil War," he contends in the preface, "one must look at the actions of governmental officeholders in the decades before that horrific conflict." Professor Michael F Holt needs no introduction among historians. He is single handedly regarded as one of the scholars who is most responsible for the emergence of what some call a neo-revisionist interpretation and outlook about the origins and circumstances that resulted in the Civil War. His ideas which are reflected throughout his books especially “The Fate of their country” emphasize that the reasons which caused The Civil War could have been and should have been averted. Defending this ideology Holt criticizes historians who stand by their argument of “Sectional conflict over slavery and slavery extension caused the Civil War”. Instead he preaches throughout his works that include many influential books including “The Fate of their Country” that, contingent political factors played a very huge and predominant role is stimulations factors causing disunion among the states.
“The Fate of their Country” is basically an annotated distillation of 2 other books written by Professor Holt “Political Crisis of the 1850s” and “The Rise of Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War.” After reading “The Fall of their Country” it seems like it is a much more concise and direct version of his ideas which appeals to students and casual readers as well as historians and scholars due to not only being a mere 127 pages but also because it drives its points home. He gives a wonderful summary of the territorial debates in Congress starting with the Missouri Compromise then the Compromise of 1850 and finishing at the notorious and disastrous Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. One could argue that this book in short is a greatly abbreviated