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Why the Civil War Still Matters
Oxford University Press
March 2015
On Sale: March 12, 2015
232 pages
ISBN: 0199375771
EAN: 9780199375776
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction History
More than 140 years ago, Mark Twain observed that the Civil
War had "uprooted institutions that were centuries old,
changed the politics of a people, transformed the social
life of half the country, and wrought so profoundly upon the
entire national character that the influence cannot be
measured short of two or three generations." In fact, five generations have passed, and Americans are
still trying to measure the influence of the immense
fratricidal conflict that nearly tore the nation apart. In The War that Forged a Nation, Pulitzer Prize-winning
historian James M. McPherson considers why the Civil War
remains so deeply embedded in our national psyche and
identity. The drama and tragedy of the war, from its scope
and size--an estimated death toll of 750,000, far more than
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 a topic of interest. But the legacy of the war extends far beyond historical
interest or scholarly attention. Here, McPherson draws upon
his work over the past fifty years to illuminate the war's
continuing resonance across many dimensions of American life. Touching upon themes that include the war's causes and
consequences; the naval war; slavery and its abolition; and
Lincoln as commander in chief, McPherson ultimately proves
the impossibility of understanding the issues of our own
time unless we first understand their roots in the era of
the Civil War. From racial inequality and conflict between the North and
South to questions of state sovereignty or 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 War that
Forged a Nation 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.
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