Book Reviewed: The New York Times Disunion: A History of the Civil War by Edward L. Widmer

The Civil War

This is an edited book with essays contributed by some of the well-known scholars in the field, with a fresh look at the history of the American conflict. The political perspectives of the leaders differed during the events leading to the war. But the determination to preserve a southern tradition of slavery lead to the bloodiest battle with the loss of a million lives. The book reviews the politics, economics and sociology of secession and slavery and the differing views of many historians.

The causes of the Civil War were complex and have been controversial since the war began. Slavery was escalating political tension in the 1850s, and the Republican Party was determined to prevent any spread of slavery. But the Southern leaders had threatened secession if the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 election. During the presidential campaign, Abraham Lincoln supported banning slavery in all the U.S. territories angering the Southern states that viewed slavery was their constitutional rights. But Lincoln won the election without carrying a single Southern state, and Southerners felt that disunion was their only option. Before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy, and in February 1861 they individually declared their secession from the U.S. to form the Confederate States of America. The Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on cotton would intervene, but they did not and they never recognized the new Confederate States of America.

The causes of the war and the outcome are subjects of lingering contention today. The North and West grew rich while the once-rich South became poor for a century. The national political power of the slave owners and rich southerners were dwindling. Some scholars argue that the Union held an insurmountable long-term advantage over the Confederacy in industrial strength and population. To many Northerners the motivation was primarily to preserve the Union, and progressively discouraging slavery.

I found the following essays interesting; “How the civil war created college football” by Amanda Bellows; “Remembering Gettysburg Address” by Joshua Zeitz; “Birth of Thanksgiving” by Paul Quigly; “The sound of Lincoln’s silence” by Harold Selzer; “Rewriting Gettysburg Address” by Martin Johnson; “The drought that changed the war” by Kenneth Noe; “The lone star state turns south” by Richard Parker; Humanity and hope in a southern prison” by Peter Cozzens; “The women at war” by Elizabeth Varon; “What Lincoln meant to the slaves” by Steven Hahn; and How Lincoln undid the slavery” by Richard Stringer.

This is an excellent review of civil war and I recommend this book to anyone interested in American history, slavery and civil war era. This book also makes a good teaching tool at both high school and college.