Description
Book SynopsisThe American Civil War: A Racial Reckoning provides a concise but comprehensive overview of the American Civil War, placing race at the center of the war and Reconstruction experience.
The book discusses the sectional crisis and the expansion of slavery into new territories as precipitating events that led many Americans to see slavery as the most important issue facing the nation. Political developments and the military struggle are addressed in detail as well as the dramatic social and political changes that occurred as slavery and plantation societies crumbled. The author addresses the creation of Confederate monuments, the denial of the centrality of slavery in the conflict, and other efforts to redeem and memorialize the Confederacy as key components of the Lost Cause, as well as enduring reminders that the issues of white supremacy and racial inequality have yet to be resolved. Placing the Civil War and Reconstruction into the context of the nation's con
Table of Contents
Part I: Analysis and Assessment 1. Sectional Crisis and Secession 2. Great Expectations 3. Dashed Hopes and New Realities 4. War on the Homefront 5. Hard, Earnest War 6. The Last Full Measure 7. Building a New World Part II: Documents
