Based on a lecture series delivered at Wesleyan University, these essays come from Bruce Catton, a New York Times-bestselling and National Book Award-winning author acclaimed as "one of America's foremost Civil War authorities" (Kirkus Reviews). In them, he delves more deeply into the subject of the war and its meaning for America-addressing such issues as the psychology of the citizen soldier; the presidential career of Ulysses S. Grant; and what happens to civil liberties in wartime. He explores how the war compelled the nation to confront questions about race and democracy, and places the conflict in a wider context, identifying it as the world's first truly modern war.
"Nothing in our time makes the Civil War as alive as the writings of Bruce Catton." -The Baltimore Sun