Fateful lightning : a new history of the Civil War and Reconstruction / Allen C. Guelzo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Guelzo, Allen C.

Contributor:

Guelzo, Allen C.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.

United States.

History.

Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877).

Physical Description:

576 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, [2012]

Summary:

A four-year paroxysm of violence that left in its wake more than 600,000 dead, more than 2 million refugees, and the destruction (in modern dollars) of more than $700 billion in property, the Civil War also sparked some of the most heroic moments in American history. Above all, it permanently ended the practice of slavery and proved that a liberal democracy could survive the most frightful of challenges. In Fateful Lightning, Allen C. Guelzo offers a marvelous portrait of the Civil War and its era, covering not only the major figures and epic battles but also politics, religion, gender, race, diplomacy, and technology. And unlike other surveys of the Civil War era, this book extends the reader's vista to include the postwar Reconstruction period and discusses the legacy of the Civil War in American literature and popular culture. Guelzo also puts the conflict in a global perspective, underscoring Americans' acute sense of the vulnerability of their republic in a world of monarchies. He examines the strategy, the tactics, and especially the logistics of the Civil War and brings the most recent historical thinking to bear on emancipation, the presidency and war powers, the blockade and international law, and the role of intellectuals, North and South. Book jacket.

Contents:

A Nation Announcing Itself

The Game of Balances

Year of Meteors

Sullen Hymns of Defeat

Elusive Victories : East and West, 1862-1863

The Soldier's Tale

The Manufacture of War

Year That Trembled : East and West, 1863

World Turned Upside Down

Stalemate and Triumph

A Dim Shore Ahead

Epilogue.

Notes:

"First edition ... was originally published as The crisis of the American Republic : a history of the Civil War and Reconstruction Era, St. Martin's Press, 1994"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Related Work:

Guelzo, Allen C. Crisis of the American republic.

ISBN:

9780199843282

0199843287

OCLC:

757133879