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Books > History > American history > 1800 to 1900
WINNER OF THE LINCOLN FORUM BOOK PRIZE "A Lincoln
classic...superb." -The Washington Post "A book for our
time."-Doris Kearns Goodwin Lincoln on the Verge tells the dramatic
story of America's greatest president discovering his own strength
to save the Republic. As a divided nation plunges into the deepest
crisis in its history, Abraham Lincoln boards a train for
Washington and his inauguration-an inauguration Southerners have
vowed to prevent. Lincoln on the Verge charts these pivotal
thirteen days of travel, as Lincoln discovers his power, speaks
directly to the public, and sees his country up close. Drawing on
new research, this riveting account reveals the president-elect as
a work in progress, showing him on the verge of greatness, as he
foils an assassination attempt, forges an unbreakable bond with the
American people, and overcomes formidable obstacles in order to
take his oath of office.
Explore the Civil War history of West Virginia's Coal River Valley.
The American Civil War shaped the course of the country's history
and its national identity. This is no less true for the state of
Arkansas. Throughout the Natural State, people have paid homage and
remembrance to those who fought and what was fought for in memorial
celebrations and rituals. The memory of the war has been kept alive
by reunions and preservationists, continuing to shape the way the
War Between the States affects Arkansas and its people. Historian
W. Stuart Towns expertly tells the story of Arkansas's Civil War
heritage through its rituals of memorial, commemoration and
celebration that continue today.
Desperate to seize control of Kentucky, the Confederate army
launched an invasion into the commonwealth in the fall of 1862,
viciously culminating at an otherwise quiet Bluegrass crossroads
and forever altering the landscape of the war. The Battle of
Perryville lasted just one day yet produced nearly eight thousand
combined casualties and losses, and some say nary a victor. The
Rebel army was forced to retreat, and the United States kept its
imperative grasp on Kentucky throughout the war. Few know this
hallowed ground like Christopher L. Kolakowski, former director of
the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association, who draws on
letters, reports, memoirs and other primary sources to offer the
most accessible and engaging account of the Kentucky Campaign yet,
featuring over sixty historic images and maps.
Why did Abraham Lincoln sneak into Washington for his inauguration? was the Gettysburg Address written on the back of an envelope? Where did the Underground Railroad run? Did General Sherman really say, "War is Hell"? If you can't answer these questions, you're not alone. Millions of Americans, bored by dull textbooks, are in the dark about the most significant event in our history. Now New York Times bestselling author Kenneth C. Davis comes to the rescue, deftly sorting out the players, the politics, and the key events - Emancipation and Reconstruction, Shiloh and Gettysburg, Generals Grant and Lee, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and much more. Drawing on moving eyewitness accounts, Davis includes a wealth of "hidden history" about the roles played by women and African Americans before and during the war, along with lesser-known facts that will enthrall even learned Civil War buffs. Vivid, informative, and hugely entertaining, Don't Know Much About the Civil War is the only book you'll ever need on "the war that never ended."
Overnight settlements, better known as 'Hell on Wheels, ' sprang up
as the transcontinental railroad crossed Nebraska and Wyoming. They
brought opportunity not only for legitimate business but also for
gamblers, land speculators, prostitutes, and thugs. Dick Kreck
tells their stories along with the heroic individuals who managed,
finally, to create permanent towns in the interior West
On September 10, 1813, the hot, still air that hung over Lake Erie
was broken by the sounds of sharp conflict. Led by Oliver Hazard
Perry, the American fleet met the British, and though they
sustained heavy losses, Perry and his men achieved one of the most
stunning victories in the War of 1812. Author Walter Rybka traces
the Lake Erie Campaign from the struggle to build the fleet in
Erie, Pennsylvania, during the dead of winter and the conflict
between rival egos of Perry and his second in command, Jesse Duncan
Elliott, through the exceptionally bloody battle that was the first
U.S. victory in a fleet action. With the singular perspective of
having sailed the reconstructed U.S. brig Niagara for over twenty
years, Rybka brings the knowledge of a shipmaster to the story of
the Lake Erie Campaign and the culminating Battle of Lake Erie.
Leonidas Polk is one of the most fascinating figures of the Civil
War. Consecrated as a bishop of the Episcopal Church and
commissioned as a general into the Confederate army, Polk's life in
both spheres blended into a unique historical composite. Polk was a
man with deep religious convictions but equally committed to the
Confederate cause. He baptized soldiers on the eve of bloody
battles, administered last rites and even presided over officers'
weddings, all while leading his soldiers into battle. Historian
Cheryl White examines the life of this soldier-saint and the legacy
of a man who unquestionably brought the first viable and lively
Protestant presence to Louisiana and yet represents the politics of
one of the darkest periods in American history.
Virginia's Shenandoah Valley was known as the "Breadbasket of the
Confederacy" due to its ample harvests and transportation centers,
its role as an avenue of invasion into the North and its capacity
to serve as a diversionary theater of war. The region became a
magnet for both Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War,
and nearly half of the thirteen major battles fought in the valley
occurred as part of General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's 1862
Valley Campaign. Civil War historian Jonathan A. Noyalas examines
Jackson's Valley Campaign and how those victories brought hope to
an infant Confederate nation, transformed the lives of the
Shenandoah Valley's civilians and emerged as Stonewall Jackson's
defining moment.
Too far north, the great state of Maine did not witness any Civil
War battles. However, Mainers contributed to the war in many
important ways. From the mainland to the islands, soldiers bravely
fought to preserve the United States in all major battles. Men like
General Joshua Chamberlain, a hero of Little Round Top, proudly
returned home to serve as governor. Maine native Hannibal Hamlin
served as Abraham Lincoln's first vice president. And Maine's
strong women sacrificed and struggled to maintain their communities
and support the men who had left to fight. Author Harry Gratwick
diligently documents the stories of these Mainers, who preserved
"The Way Life Should Be" for Maine and the entire United States.
On July 11, 1864, some residents cheered and others watched in
horror as Confederate troops spread across the fields and orchards
of Silver Spring, Maryland. Many fled to the capital while General
Jubal Early's troops ransacked their property. The estate of
Lincoln's postmaster general, Montgomery Blair, was burned, and his
father's home was used by Early as headquarters from which to
launch an attack on Washington's defenses. Yet the first Civil War
casualty in Silver Spring came well before Early's raid, when Union
soldiers killed a prominent local farmer in 1862. This was life in
the shadow of the Federal City. Drawing on contemporary accounts
and memoirs, Dr. Robert E. Oshel tells the story of Silver Spring
over the tumultuous course of the Civil War.
A military operation unlike any other on American soil, Morgan's
Raid was characterized by incredible speed, superhuman endurance
and innovative tactics. One of the nation's most colorful leaders,
Confederate general John Hunt Morgan, took his cavalry through
enemy-occupied territory in three states in one of the longest
offensives of the Civil War. The effort produced the only battles
fought north of the Ohio River and reached farther north than any
other regular Confederate force. With twenty-five maps and more
than forty illustrations, Morgan's Raid historian David L. Mowery
takes a new look at this unprecedented event in American history,
one historians rank among the world's greatest land-based raids
since Elizabethan times.
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