The Civil War

Starred review from February 1, 2011

Drawing on diaries, letters, speeches, newspaper reports and editorials, memoirs, songs, poems, and other sources, the editors bring together a rich variety of voices relating or remembering the crisis of the Union from Lincoln's election in 1860 through the first year of war. Running through these accounts is white Southerners' certainty in the right of secession and their right to undertake war to defend slavery's interest and white man's liberty, as is the certainty of Northerners in the right and necessity of saving the Union by whatever means to continue the great experiment in self-government. At the same time, confusion and doubt reign as contemporaries worry about how to achieve their ends and whom to trust to do so. VERDICT Readable and riveting, this "you are there" collection makes real the sense of urgency that gripped Americans as the nation came apart and as the war began, 175 years ago. An excellent primer on why the Civil War mattered to those living it. Highly recommended. [Look out for LJ's roundup of several more sesquicentennial Civil War titles in the 3/15/11 issue.--Ed.]--Randall M. Miller, Saint Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia

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