I grabbed Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era because I’ve never actually read it, hey? I usually read American Civil War books that concentrate on one thing or another, like a campaign or a general. Overviews are comparatively rare, for me.
And it’s such a big, fat book too! I can spend more than a day reading it, for a change.
I think you’ll enjoy it. I found it to be entertaining and thought that McPherson did a pretty good job of giving readers an overview of a critical period in our history. He covered a lot of ground.