Americans have always defined themselves in terms of their freedoms--of speech, of religion, of political dissent. How we interpret our history of slavery--the ultimate denial of these freedoms--deeply affects how we understand the very fabric of our democracy.
This extraordinary collection of essays by some of America's top historians focuses on how African Americans resisted slavery and how they responded when finally free. Ira Berlin sets the stage by stressing the relationship between how we understand slavery and how we discuss race today. The remaining essays offer a richly textured examination of all aspects of slavery in America. John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger recount actual cases of runaway slaves, their motivations for escape and the strains this widespread phenomenon put on white slave-owners. Scott Hancock explores how free black Northerners created a proud African American identity out of the oral history of slavery in the south. Edward L. Ayers, William G. Thomas III, and Anne Sarah Rubin draw upon their remarkable Valley of the Shadow website to describe the wartime experiences of African Americans living on both borders of the Mason-Dixon line. Noah Andre Trudeau turns our attention to the war itself, examining the military experience of the only all-black division in the Army of the Potomac. And Eric Foner gives us a new look at how black leaders performed during the Reconstruction, revealing that they were far more successful than is commonly acknowledged--indeed, they represented, for a time, the fulfillment of the American ideal that all people could aspire to political office.
Wide-ranging, authoritative, and filled with invaluable historicalinsight, Slavery, Resistance, Freedom brings a host of powerful voices to America's evolving conversation about race.

A collection of essays on the leading military figures of the Confederacy by eight leading Civil War historians including Emory Thomas and James McPherson, focusing in particular on Jefferson Davis's relationships with five key generals: Joseph E. Johnston, Robert E. Lee, P.G.T. Beauregard, Braxton Bragg, and John Bell Hood.

A collection of essays on the leading military figures of the Confederacy by eight leading Civil War historians including Emory Thomas and James McPherson, focusing in particular on Jefferson Davis's relationships with five key generals: Joseph E. Johnston, Robert E. Lee, P.G.T. Beauregard, Braxton Bragg, and John Bell Hood.

The Civil War and the World War II stand as the two great cataclysms of American history. They were our two costliest wars, with well over a million casualties suffered in each. And they were transforming moments in our history as well, times when the life of the nation and the great experiment in democracy--government of the people, by the people, for the people--seemed to hang in the balance. Now, in War Comes Again, eleven eminent historians--including three Pulitzer Prize winners, all veterans of the Second World War--offer an illuminating comparison of these two epic events in our national life.
The range of essays here is remarkable, the level of insight consistently high, and the quality of the writing is superb. For instance, Stephen Ambrose, the bestselling author of D-Day, June 6th, 1944, offers an intriguing comparison of the two great military leaders of each war--Grant and Eisenhower. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Robert V. Bruce takes a revealing look at the events that foreshadowed the two wars. Gerald Linderman, author of Embattled Courage, examines the two wars from the point of view of the combat soldier. And Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., describes how both Lincoln and FDR went around strict observance of the Constitution in order to preserve the Constitution. There is, in addition, a fascinating discussion of the crucial role played by spying during the two wars, by Peter Maslowski; a look at the diplomacy of Lincoln and Roosevelt, by Howard Jones; and essays on the impact of the wars on women and on African Americans, by D'Ann Campbell, Richard Jensen, and Ira Berlin. In perhaps the most gripping piece in the book, Michael C.C. Adams offers an unflinching look at war's destructiveness, as he argues that the evils we associate with "bad wars" (such as Vietnam) are equally true of "good wars." And finally, in perhaps the most provocative essay in the book, Russell Weigley, one of America's most eminent military historians, maps the evolution of American attitudes toward war to our present belief that the only acceptable war is one that is short, inexpensive, and certain of victory. Would any great commander, Weigley asks, would a Lee or a Grant or a Marshall, refuse to fight unless he knew he couldn't lose? "Is not a willingness to run risks for the sake of cherished values and interests close to the heart of what defines greatness in a human being or in a nation?"
Another Pulitzer winner and World War II veteran, Don E. Fehrenbacher, concludes War Comes Again with a very personal look at two common soldiers who have no monuments, who have not been mentioned in previous histories, but who point at the essence of these two wars and are "embedded in the very structure of the enduring nation and the world we live in."

Americans have always defined themselves in terms of their freedoms--of speech, of religion, of political dissent. How we interpret our history of slavery--the ultimate denial of these freedoms--deeply affects how we understand the very fabric of our democracy.
This extraordinary collection of essays by some of America's top historians focuses on how African Americans resisted slavery and how they responded when finally free. Ira Berlin sets the stage by stressing the relationship between how we understand slavery and how we discuss race today. The remaining essays offer a richly textured examination of all aspects of slavery in America. John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger recount actual cases of runaway slaves, their motivations for escape and the strains this widespread phenomenon put on white slave-owners. Scott Hancock explores how free black Northerners created a proud African American identity out of the oral history of slavery in the south. Edward L. Ayers, William G. Thomas III, and Anne Sarah Rubin draw upon their remarkable Valley of the Shadow website to describe the wartime experiences of African Americans living on both borders of the Mason-Dixon line. Noah Andre Trudeau turns our attention to the war itself, examining the military experience of the only all-black division in the Army of the Potomac. And Eric Foner gives us a new look at how black leaders performed during the Reconstruction, revealing that they were far more successful than is commonly acknowledged--indeed, they represented, for a time, the fulfillment of the American ideal that all people could aspire to political office.
Wide-ranging, authoritative, and filled with invaluable historical insight, Slavery, Resistance, Freedom brings a host of powerful voices to America's evolving conversation about race.

A collection of five essays by Civil War historians examining the military aspects of why the Confederacy lost the American Civil War.

In LINCOLN, THE WAR PRESIDENT, no fewer than five Pulitzer Prize-winning historians - James McPherson, Carl Degler, Arthur Schlesinger Jr, David Brion Davis, and Robert Bruce - join eminent historian Kenneth Stampp and editor Gabor Boritt to offer a fresh look at how Lincoln confronted the central issues of the Civil War era, throwing sharp new light on the revolutionary changes he helped usher in. Kenneth Stampp explores the issue of self-determination, illuminating Lincoln's views and comparing the South's struggle for independence to others in history (including the post-Soviet situation in Eastern Europe). Arthur Schlesinger Jr, offers a provocative comparison of how Lincoln and our other outstanding war president, FDR, went beyond the limits of the Constitution in defence of the nation and freedom - as they understood them. David Brion Davis focuses on both the exhilarating moment of emancipation and its disappointing results. Gabor Boritt traces Lincoln's transition from strident opponent of the Mexican War, to resolute war leader, ("Destroy the rebel army," were his terse orders) to speaking out for reconciliation (after Appomattox he exclaimed, "Enemies, never again must we repeat that word"). Carl Degler compares the Civil War as a successful attempt at true national unification with the unifications of Italy, Germany, and even Switzerland (which waged a fraternal war not many years earlier). Robert Bruce provides an incisive look at the premonitions of civil war that haunted the American republic since independence, including Lincoln's reluctance to accept war as a possibility. And James McPherson establishes once and for all Lincoln's brilliance as a national strategist. Historians have often criticized specific military decisions Lincoln made, McPherson writes, ignoring his grasp of an overall national strategy that calculated political, economic, and military needs together. These outstanding essays - all but one published here for the first tiem - offer a new understanding of a revolutionary epoch in American history, and of the role of the leader who helped transform the nation forever.

In "Lincoln's Generals," Gabor S. Boritt and a team of distinguished historians examine the interaction between Abraham Lincoln and his five key Civil War generals: McClellan, Hooker, Meade, Sherman, and Grant, providing fresh insight into this mixed bag of officers and the president's tireless efforts to work with them. The president's relationship with his generals was never easy. Stephen W. Sears underscores McClellan's perverse obstinacy as Lincoln tried to drive him ahead. Pulitzer Prize-winner Mark E. Neely Jr. sheds new light on the president's relationship with Hooker, arguing that he was wrong to push the general to attack at Chancellorsville. Boritt writes about Lincoln's prickly relationship with the victor of Gettysburg, "old snapping turtle" George Meade. Michael Fellman reveals the political stress between the White House and Sherman, a staunch conservative who did not want blacks in his army but who was crucial to the war effort. And John Y. Simon looks past the legendary camaraderie between Lincoln and Grant to reveal the tensions in their relationship. These authors take us inside the personalities and relationships that shaped the course of the nation's most costly war.

The Battle of Gettysburg is the best known battle of the American Civil War and has been hailed as the turning point of the war. In The Gettysburg Nobody Knows, Gabor S. Boritt, director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, has invited nine leading authorities to shed new light on the greatest battle in American history.

Why the Civil War Came brings talented scholars together to recapture the feel of a very different time and place, helping the reader to grasp more fully the commencement of our bloodiest war.