S. after the slavery period. In spite of the gravity that his statements have, the author insists that the U.S. is always going to be guilty for having destroyed black people through convincing them that they had been inferior.
In contrast to Elkins, McPherson does not wish to condemn an entire nation for the atrocities committed by a number of people during a time when circumstances had led them in acting accordingly. McPherson considers that capitalism and laissez faire theories had actually brought benefits to the way that people had behaved until the time. Such concepts had brought the faults of the slavery system into public attention, and, as a result, more and more Americans began to consider slavery as being corrupt.
While Elkins attempts to sustain his arguments through presumptions and unconfirmed statements, McPherson brings solid proof to back up his book. Elkins almost seems to be more catholic than the Pope when trying to describe the present-situation in the U.S. Despite his book also brings important information relating to the slavery era, the author tends to exaggerate when claiming that slavery affected black people permanently, with the minority being unable to escape it.
McPherson appears to have given more attention to details and to their accuracy, and, in an effort to do so he gathered rock-hard information from the period. A main...
Because of the exact data written by McPherson, the book is quite similar to a standard textbook.
Elkins presents his readers with a detailed account on the era before the American Civil War, as he gave more interest to the slavery period than to the war period or to the Reconstruction one. Slavery is a more reader-friendly book, since the author apparently wanted to present the readers with his point-of-view more than he wanted them to get bored after receiving too much information at once.
The two books are very different when considering the manner of writing and when considering the target audience chosen by the writers. Even with the fact that Elkins's book appears to be unconventional and not the most appropriate book to read on the subject of slavery, it comes with an interesting account. Ordeal by Fire is certainly a perfect book to read by the Civil War and slavery period enthusiast.
Works cited:
1. Elkins, Stanley. (1976). "Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life." University of Chicago Press.
2. McPherson, James M. (2000). "Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction." McGraw-Hill College.
