Prologue: America's Crisis -- 1. Slavery and States' Rights in the Early Republic -- 2. The Political Economy of Slavery and Secession -- 3. The Slave Power Seeks Foreign Conquest -- 4. Emergence of the Republican Party -- 5. The Confederate States of America -- 6. Mobilizing for Conflict -- 7. The Military Struggle -- 8. The War to Abolish Slavery? -- 9. Republican Neo-Mercantilism Versus Confederate War Socialism -- 10. Dissent and Disaffection - North and South -- 11. The Ravages of Total War -- 12. The Politics of Reconstruction -- 13. American Society Transformed -- Epilogue: America's Turning Point.
Summary
This book combines a sweeping narrative history of the Civil War with a bold new look at the war's significance for American society. Professor Hummel sees the Civil War as America's turning point: simultaneously the culmination and repudiation of the American revolution. A unique feature of the book is the bibliographical essays which follow every chapter. Here the author surveys the literature and points out where his own interpretation fits into the continuing clash of viewpoints which informs historical debate on the Civil War.
Keystone Confederates : Pennsylvanians who fought for Dixie / Christian B. Keller -- Avenue of dreams : patriotism and the spectator at Philadelphia's Great Central Sanitary Fair / Elizabeth Milroy -- "We were enlisted for the war" : ladies' aid societies and the politics of women's work during the Civil War / Rachel Filene Seidman -- "The world will little note nor long remember" : gender analysis of civilian responses to the Battle of Gettysburg / Christina Ericson -- The Avery Monument : the elevation of race in public sculpture and the Republican Party / Henry Pisciotta -- The Civil War letters of Quartermaster Sergeant John C. Brock, 43rd regiment, United States Colored Troops / edited by Eric Ledell Smith -- Sites of memory, sites of glory : African-American Grand Army of the Republic posts in Pennsylvania / Barbara A. Gannon -- "A disgrace that can never be washed out" : Gettysburg and the lingering stigma of 1863 / Jim Weeks -- "Magnificence and terrible truthfulness" : Peter F. Rothermel's The Battle of Gettysburg / Mark Thistlethwaite -- The brothers' war : Gettysburg the movie and American memory / William Blair.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-243) and index.
Summary
"As a nation we bring many perspectives to our commemorative places and our ideas may change over time, especially on difficult topics like slavery and racism. Why a place is saved and how it is interpreted to visitors has much to do with our collective memory of the events that took place there. Using the skills of an archaeologist and a historian, Paul Shackel examines four well-known Civil War-era National Park sites and shows us how public memory shaped their creation and continues to shape their interpretation. Shackel shows us that 'public memory' is really 'public memories'. and interpretation may change dramatically from one generation to another as interpreters try to accommodate, or ignore, certain memories. Memory in Black and White is important reading for all who are interested in history and memory of landscapes, and will be especially useful to those involved in preserving and interpreting a controversial place." [from the publisher]
