American Civil War History

The American Civil War killed over 600,000 people, ended the institution of slavery, and permanently redefined what the United States was supposed to be. More than 150 years later, Americans still argue about what it meant. This book gives you the history you need to understand that argument.

You'll cover the decades of political tension that built toward war, the economic and moral conflict over slavery that politicians kept trying and failing to avoid, the military campaigns from Fort Sumter to Appomattox, the extraordinary figures on both sides, the experiences of enslaved people during the war and in the chaos that followed, and the Reconstruction period that briefly promised a transformed South before being dismantled by political compromise and racial violence.

What you gain is a real understanding of why this war still matters: why the battles over monuments, flags, and historical memory are actually battles about present-day America, and why a conflict that ended in 1865 is still shaping the country's political fault lines today.

You cannot understand modern America without understanding its Civil War. This book is where that understanding starts.

Product Details

Dimensions: 6 × 9 inches / 15.24 x 22.86 cm
Cover: Paperback