Neenah Public Library

The war that forged a nation, why the Civil War still matters, James McPherson

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

index present

non fiction

The war that forged a nation

bibliography

891121613

James McPherson

why the Civil War still matters

"In The Long Shadow of War, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James M. McPherson considers why the Civil War retains such a hold on our national psyche and identity. Though the drama and tragedy of the subject, from the war's scope and size--an estimated death toll of 750,000, far more than all the rest of the country's wars combined--to the nearly mythical individuals involved--Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson--help explain why the Civil War remains so popular among historians, it does not entirely explain why the war still matters to us today. Through twelve essays, McPherson dissects this question, exploring the war's impact across many dimensions of American life. The essays consider variously the war's causes and consequences; the morality and cost of the war in comparative context; the naval war; slavery and its abolition; and Abraham Lincoln as emancipator, political leader, and commander in chief, among many other topics. Ultimately, McPherson illuminates the impossibility of understanding the issues of our own time unless we first understand their roots in the era of the Civil War: slavery and its abolition; the conflict between the North and South; the struggle between state sovereignty and the federal government; the role of government in social change-these issues, McPherson shows, are as salient and controversial today as they were in the 1860s. Thoughtful, provocative, and authoritative, The Long Shadow of War looks anew at the reasons America's civil war has remained a subject of intense interest for the past century and a half, and affirms the enduring relevance of the conflict for America today"--, Provided by publisher

Why the Civil War Still Matters -- Mexico, California, and the Coming of the Civil War -- A Just War? -- Death and Destruction in the Civil War -- American Navies and British Neutrality During the Civil War -- The Rewards of Risk-Taking : Two Civil War Admirals -- How Did Freedom Come? -- Lincoln, Slavery, and Freedom -- A. Lincoln, Commander in Chief -- The Commander Who Would Not Fight : McClellan and Lincoln -- Lincoln's Legacy for Our Time -- War and Peace in the Post-Civil War South