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  • War on the Waters

  • The Union and Confederate Navies, 1861–1865
  • Written by: James M. McPherson
  • Narrated by: Joe Barrett
  • Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (13 ratings)

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War on the Waters

Written by: James M. McPherson
Narrated by: Joe Barrett
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Publisher's Summary

Although previously undervalued for their strategic impact because they represented only a small percentage of total forces, the Union and Confederate navies were crucial to the outcome of the Civil War. In War on the Waters, James M. McPherson has crafted an enlightening, at times harrowing, and ultimately thrilling account of the war’s naval campaigns and their military leaders.

McPherson recounts how the Union navy’s blockade of the Confederate coast, leaky as a sieve in the war’s early months, became increasingly effective as it choked off vital imports and exports. Meanwhile, the Confederate navy, dwarfed by its giant adversary, demonstrated daring and military innovation. Commerce raiders sank Union ships and drove the American merchant marine from the high seas. Southern ironclads sent several Union warships to the bottom, naval mines sank many more, and the Confederates deployed the world’s first submarine to sink an enemy vessel. But in the end, it was the Union navy that won some of the war’s most important strategic victories - as an essential partner to the army on the ground at Fort Donelson, Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Mobile Bay, and Fort Fisher, and all by itself at Port Royal, Fort Henry, New Orleans, and Memphis.

James M. McPherson taught US history at Princeton University for 42 years and is the author of more than a dozen books on the Civil War era. His books have won a Pulitzer Prize and two Lincoln Prizes.
©2012 the University of North Carolina Press (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
Armed Forces Wars & Conflicts American Military History
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What the critics say

"McPherson, professor emeritus of Princeton and dean of Civil War historians, enhances our knowledge with this history of the conflict’s naval aspects. As definitive as it is economical, the work establishes beyond question the decisive contributions of maritime power to Union victory." ( Publishers Weekly)
"With martial verve, McPherson’s prose dramatizes their battles and places those within strategic contexts, such as the US Navy’s campaigns to control the Mississippi River. As always, McPherson’s latest is a sound collection-development investment." ( Booklist)
"With all the narrative grace, original scholarship, and equal grasp of both big picture and telling detail, Civil War historian nonpareil James McPherson has provided his admirers with another authoritative entry in his roster of essential books. McPherson never argues that the Union navy won the Civil War, but readers will argue that no Civil War library will ever be complete without this volume." (Harold Holzer, award-winning author and chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation)

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Profile Image for Langer MD

Fascinating Information. Acceptable Delivery

Princeton Civil War Historian James M. MacPherson tackles a relatively little-discussed front in the Civil War: the naval conflict. Most casual readers are familiar with Ironclads, Blockade-runners/Privateers, offshore bombardment incidents (and perhaps the advent of Naval Mines/Torpedoes and the first successful military Submarine), but MacPherson goes far deeper into the story.
Yes, there are the expected pinpoint accurate descriptions of technology and battles, but MacPherson also uses documents & letters to bring the politics & personalities of the Union and Confederate Navies to life. This book is very well-written and presented in a consumable style (this is no dry textbook reciting names and dates).
Less fortunately, the author's narrative structure is a little hard to follow. MacPherson breaks his chronicle up into chapters dealing with specific aspects of the conflict ('Chapter 1: Bombardments' or 'Chapter 4: Blockades', for example), reimposing chronological structure each time. The book consequently "jumps around" quite a lot. Perhaps this is a bigger issue in the Audiobook format (less noticeable in a text - Paper or eBook - copy).. but it definitely gets annoying.

Also notable in this iteration: the narration is professional - but merely "adequate". Joe Barrett reads with admirable diction, cadence, and tone - but too slowly, with an often uncomfortable nasal timbre, and with injudicious Southern drawls and New England accents when reading excerpts. The presentation is thus fine for a listening experience but unspectacular.

You might be better off reading a text copy of this edifying 7.5/10 star book if you're genuinely interested in the topic. This audiobook version is a decent listen but appropriately made available in the 'Plus' catalogue for free. Unless you're a dedicated Civil War afficianado, it likely wouldn't rate a Credit if they asked for it.

[ATTN PRODUCERS: An appended PDF with a Glossary and a Timeline would improve this offering immeasurably]

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