The Civil War: A Concise History
- ISBN-10
- 0199792399
- ISBN-13
- 9780199792399
- Series
- The Civil War
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 136
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2011-02-10
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Author
- Louis P. Masur
Description
One hundred and fifty years after the first shots were fired on Fort Sumter, the Civil War still captures the American imagination, and its reverberations can still be felt throughout America's social and political landscape. Louis P. Masur's The Civil War: A Concise History offers a masterful and eminently readable overview of the war's multiple causes and catastrophic effects. Masur begins by examining the complex origins of the war, focusing on the pulsating tensions over states rights and slavery. The book then proceeds to cover, year by year, the major political, social, and military events, highlighting two important themes: how the war shifted from a limited conflict to restore the Union to an all-out war that would fundamentally transform Southern society, and the process by which the war ultimately became a battle to abolish slavery. Masur explains how the war turned what had been a loose collection of fiercely independent states into a nation, remaking its political, cultural, and social institutions. But he also focuses on the soldiers themselves, both Union and Confederate, whose stories constitute nothing less than America's Iliad. In the final chapter Masur considers the aftermath of the South's surrender at Appomattox and the clash over the policies of reconstruction that continued to divide President and Congress, conservatives and radicals, Southerners and Northerners for years to come. In 1873, Mark Twain and Charles Dudley wrote that the war had "wrought so profoundly upon the entire national character that the influence cannot be measured short of two or three generations." From the vantage of the war's sesquicentennial, this concise history of the entire Civil War era offers an invaluable introduction to the dramatic events whose effects are still felt today.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2018-01-02
- 96 pages
- Ebook
- Carson-Dellosa Publishing
Similar books
-
The Civil War For Dummies
By Keith D. DicksonThe second problem was if Porter failed, or if a large number of his ships were damaged or destroyed, the campaign was effectively ended (and with it, Grant's career). As the calls for Grant's dismissal rose with each passing day of no ...
-
Writing the Civil War: The Quest to Understand
By William James Cooper, James M. McPhersonNo event has transformed the United States more fundamentally - or been studied more exhaustively - than the Civil War. In Writing the Civil War, fourteen distinguished historians present a...
-
Music of the Civil War Era
By Steven CorneliusExamines the popular songs of the Civil War and those who composed and played them, includes biographies of musicians of the era and a dictionary of Civil War music.
-
Railroads in the Civil War: The Impact of Management on Victory and Defeat
By Jr., John E. ClarkBy the time of the Civil War, the railroads had advanced to allow the movement of large numbers of troops even though railways had not yet matured into a truly integrated transportation system.
-
Technology and the Civil War
By Shane MountjoyDescribes the developing technologies explored and implemented during the Civil War, including exploding shells, hot air balloons, anesthesia, land mines, submarines, and the telegraph.
-
Campaigns of the Civil War
By Walter GeerCampaignes of the Civil War - inclusive.
-
Receding Tide: Vicksburg and Gettysburg : the Campaigns that Changed the Civil War
By Edwin C. BearssChronicles the two battles of Independence Day, 1863 that ended in Union victory and marked the demise of the Confederacy, including information about the terrain, tactics, and the colorful personalities of America's soldiers.
-
For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War
By James M. McPhersonWhy Men Fought in the Civil War James M. McPherson. 2. Bell Irvin Wiley, The Life of Billy Yank (Indianapolis, 1952), 40; Chauncey Cooke to Doe Cooke, Jan. 6, 1863, in "A Badger Boy in Blue: The Letters of Chauncey H. Cooke,” WMH 4 ...
-
Jefferson Davis and the Civil War Era
By William J. Cooper, Jr.This volume offers rare insight into one of American history's most complicated and provocative figures. William J. Cooper, Jr., is the author or coauthor of six books.
-
Civil War Generals of Tennessee
By Bishop, RandyCampbell ran against Trousdale for a seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives . Although Trousdale had the endorsement and support of former president Andrew Jackson , Campbell defeated him . One presumed reason for Campbell's ...