The Struggle for Equality

This collection of nineteen essays on equality in the Civil War and Reconstruction periods showcases current scholarship in a variety of topics surrounding the causes of the war and the unfinished nature of the debate on sectionalism, race, and national unity in the century following the conflict. The volume is divided into sections dealing with sectional conflicts, the war years, and Reconstruction through the 1960s, and individual papers address topics such as the radicalism of abolitionism, the politicization of the Union Army and its effect on Lincoln's presidency, sexual politics during the Civil War, industrial democracy in early postbellum America, black fraternal organizations and the evolution of African American religion, and southern white women and the promulgation of the Lost Cause. Contributors include academics and researchers in history and related fields from several US universities. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Orville Vernon Burton, Professor of History at Clemson University and Director of the Cyberinstitute, is the author ofThe Age of Lincoln. He is also Emeritus University Distinguished Teacher/Scholar and Professor of History, African American Studies, and Sociology at the University of Illinois. Jerald Podair, Professor of History and Robert S. French Professor of American Studies at Lawrence University, is the author of The Strike That Changed New York: Blacks, Whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Crisis. Jennifer L. Weber, Associate Professor of History at the University of Kansas, is the author ofCopperheads: the Rise and Fall of Lincoln’s Opponents in the North.