A People's History of the Civil War: Struggles For The Meaning of Freedom

"A startling contrast to the other literature on the Civil War." Howard Zinn

Moving beyond presidents and generals, A People's History of the Civil War tells a new and powerful story of America's most destructive conflict. In the first book to view the Civil War through the eyes of common people, historian David Williams presents long-overlooked perspectives and forgotten voices, offering a comprehensive account of the war to general readers.

The Civil War's most decisive battles, Williams argues, took place not only on the fields of Gettysburg, Antietam, and Vicksburg, but also on the streets of New York, in prison camps, in the West, and on the starving home front. Laboring people, urban and rural, fought for economic justice. Women struggled for rights, opportunities, and their family's survival. Volunteers and conscripts demanded respect. Native Americans struggled to hold their land and maintain their very existence. And African Americans made the Civil War a war for freedom long before Lincoln embraced emancipation.

"Bottom up" history at its very best, A People's History of the Civil War offers a rich and complex portrait of a nation at war with itself.