Gabor S. Boritt - Why the Civil War Came (innbundet)

"Strike a blow!" Roger Pryor, the Virginia fire-eater, had preached the spirit for years. On April 10, 1861, in Charleston he said it again from the balcony of the local hotel. But now, in the early morning hours of the 12th, this night of no rest, when Captain George S. James offered him the "honor" of firing a ten-inch mortar to signal the start of the general bombardment, he quailed. Fighting to control his voice he said No: "I could not fire the first gun of the war." At times the distance between words and deeds can be an eternity.

-From Chapter 1

"A scintillating look at an historical question that won't go away. The answers, in thiscollection of seven essays, are fresh and evocative, as seven of the leading scholars in the field offer new perspectives on the role of blacks, women, Lincoln, and the nation's democratic procedures in the coming of the Civil War. The result is 'must' reading for all students of the period."

-Jean H. Baker, Goucher College, author of Affairs of Party

"Certain to breathe new life into an old subject, whose literature for too long hasseemed formulaic and dated."

-Eric Foner, Columbia University, author of Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men

"Why the Civil War Came is an invaluable collection of essays exploring a variety of aspects of the war's origins. The book provides the fullest portrait yet available about the relationship of different groups of American society to the coming of war, for it examines the actions and attitudes of women, of African Americans, of North erners, of Southerners, of politicians, and of ordinary citizens. Highly readable, it offers new approaches to traditional questions and will stimulate fresh discussion about one of the most important problems in American history. It will also be an excellent book for use in undergraduate teaching."

-Drew Gilpin Faust, University of Pennsylvania, author of Mothers of Invention

"A fine addition to the distinguished series of Gettysburg Civil War Institute books."

-Richard Nelson Current, author of Lincoln and the First Shot

"Elegant, provocative, edifying."

-Kenneth Stampp, author of And the War Came