"When it comes to Confederate monuments, there is no common ground. Polarizing debates over their meaning have intensified into legislative maneuvering to preserve the statues, legal battles to remove them, and rowdy crowds taking matters into their own hands. These conflicts have raged for well over a century--but they've never been as intense as they are today. In this eye-opening narrative of the efforts to raise, preserve, protest, and remove...

"This title takes a close look at the operatives who collected intelligence for the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War, introducing readers to these colorful characters and explaining how they carried out their risky missions."--Publisher's website.

"A timely new look at the key military leaders of the Civil War--with rankings, photos, and more. By the time the Civil War was over, 583 generals had served in the Union army and 572 in the Confederate army. A few were brilliant. Many should never have held command. But others learned on the job and did their utmost--or even gave their utmost...best-selling author and military historian Alan Axelrod chooses the two dozen generals who had the greatest...

In this first academic biography of Jefferson Davis's wife, Varina, Cashin (Ohio State Univ.) presents an engaging look at the Confederacy's first lady, who surprisingly did not believe in the Southern cause. Much of the book, however, focuses on Davis's life after the Civil War, when she struggled to support her penniless husband and later managed her own survival as a widow for over 25 years. Varina Davis drew vast criticism during the postbellum...

"Beginning with Frederick Douglass's escape from slavery in 1838 on the railroad, and ending with the driving of the golden spike to link the transcontinental railroad in 1869, this book charts a critical period of American expansion and national formation, one largely dominated by the dynamic growth of railroads and telegraphs. William G. Thomas brings new evidence to bear on railroads, the Confederate South, slavery, and the Civil War era, based...

In recent years, the Confederate flag has become as much a news item as a Civil War relic. Intense public debates have erupted over Confederate flags flying atop state capitols, being incorporated into state flags, waving from dormitory windows, or adorning the T-shirts and jeans of public school children. To some, this piece of cloth is a symbol of white supremacy and enduring racial injustice; to others, it represents a rich Southern heritage and...

The Civil War is remembered as a war of brother against brother, with women standing innocently on the sidelines. But battlefield realities soon challenged this simplistic understanding of women's place in war. Stephanie McCurry shows that women were indispensable to the unfolding of the Civil War, as they have been--and continue to be--in all wars. With a trio of dramatic stories, McCurry explores unique facets of women's wartime experiences, each...

Describes the dangerous missions of several Civil War spies.

A brief introduction to the South's greatest calvary officer, Jeb Stuart, and his contribution to the many battles he fought.

"Drawing on a wide range of sources including correspondence with descendants, this book covers the last living Civil War veterans in each state, providing details of their wartime service as soldiers and sailors and their postwar lives as family men, entrepreneurs, politicians, frontier pioneers and honored veterans"--