Glory Road

The saga of a nation divided—from the Union Army’s disaster at Fredericksburg to its triumph at Gettysburg—by a Pulitzer Prize–winning Civil War chronicler.

In the second book of the Army of the Potomac Trilogy, Bruce Catton—one of America’s most honored Civil War historians—once again brings the great battles and the men who fought them to breathtaking life. As the War Between the States moved through its second bloody year, General Ambrose Burnside was selected by President Lincoln to replace the ineffectual George “Little Mac” McClellan as commander of the Union Army. But the hope that greeted Burnside’s ascension was quickly dashed in December 1862 in the wake of his devastating defeat at Fredericksburg.

Following Burnside’s exit, a mediocre new commander, Joseph “Fighting Joe” Hooker, turned a sure victory into tragedy at Chancellorsville, continuing the Union’s woes and ensuring Robert E. Lee’s greatest triumph of the war. But the tide began to turn over the course of three days in July 1863, when the Union won a decisive victory on the battlefield of Gettysburg. Months later, Lincoln would give his historic address on this ground, honoring the fallen soldiers and strengthening the Union Army’s resolve to fight for a united and equal nation for all of its people.

With brilliant insight, color, and detail, Catton interweaves thrilling narratives of combat with remarkable portrayals of politics and life on the home front. Glory Road is a sweeping account of extraordinary bravery and shocking incompetence during what were arguably the war’s darkest days.