The war that forged a nation : why the Civil War still matters / James McPherson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McPherson, James M., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social change.

History.

War and society.

Psychological aspects.

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

United States.

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

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

Social aspects.

War and society--United States--History.

Social change--United States--History.

National characteristics, American--History.

National characteristics, American.

Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.).

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

x, 219 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2015]

Summary:

"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.

Contents:

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.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199375776

0199375771

OCLC:

891121613