The U.S. Civil War: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #641

by Louis P. Masur

More than one hundred and fifty years after the first shots were fired on Fort Sumter, the Civil War still captures the American imagination, and its reverberations can still be felt throughout America's social and political landscape. Louis P. Masur's The U.S. Civil A Very Short Introduction offers a masterful and eminently readable overview of the war's multiple causes and catastrophic effects. Masur begins by examining the complex origins of the war, focusing on the pulsating tensions over states rights and slavery. The book then proceeds to cover, year by year, the major political, social, and military events, highlighting two important how the war shifted from a limited conflict to restore the Union to an all-out war that would fundamentally transform Southern society, and the process by which the war ultimately became a battle to abolish slavery. Masur explains how the war turned what had been a loose collection of fiercely independent states into a nation, remaking its political, cultural, and social institutions. But he also focuses on the soldiers themselves, both Union and Confederate, whose stories constitute nothing less than America's Iliad. In the final chapter Masur considers the aftermath of the South's surrender at Appomattox and the clash over the policies of reconstruction that continued to divide President and Congress, conservatives and radicals, Southerners and Northerners for years to come. In 1873, Mark Twain and Charles Dudley wrote that the war had "wrought so profoundly upon the entire national character that the influence cannot be measured short of two or three generations." This concise history of the entire Civil War era offers an invaluable introduction to the dramatic events whose effects are still felt today.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Politics, Civil War, Race, Military History

176 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 21, 2020

Reviews

[EP]

"He often recalled his dreams, and after meeting with Grant to hear a firsthand account of what transpired at Appomattox, he told of one in which he was in a vessel and "moving with great rapidity towards an indefinite shore.'"

"Why do "I accept so imperfect a proposition?" he asked rhetorically. "I answer, be cause I live among men and not among angels.""

"What are names if the thing itself remains?'"

"Future years will never know the seething hell and the black infernal background of countless minor scenes and inter. iors, (not the official surface courteousness of the Generals, not the few great battles) of the Secession war; and it is best they should not-the real war will never get in the books. In the mushy influences of current times, too, the fervid atmosphere and typical events of those years are in danger of being totally forgotten...Such was the war. It was not a quadrille in a ball-room. Its interior history will not onlv never be written-its practicality, minutiæ of deeds and passions, will never be ever suggested. The actual soldier of 1862-'65. North and South, with all his ways, his incredible daunt lessness, habits, practices, tastes, language, his fierce friendship, his appetite, rankness, his superb strength and animality, lawless gait, and a hundred unnamed lights and shades of camp, I say, wil never be written--perhaps must not and should not be."

""Suppose you ga to war, you cannot fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on either you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of intercourse, are again upon you. ... In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war.""

""My heart was rilled with hatred and revenge against the enemy. ...I could not restrain my tears and felt that I would hazard my life in any position to mow down their ranks with canister. After this I had a feeling of utmost indifference as to my fate."

"One exasperated officer exclaimed, "If the men pursue the enemy as vigor- ously as they do whores they will make very effi- cient soldiers.""

"A supplemental act later in the year exempted one white man for every twenty slaves on a plantation and provided for the purchasing of substitutes. which favored the wealthy and led some to call the conflict "a rich man's war but a poor man's fight.""

""I cannot write anvmore long letters like I used to. I do not feel like the same person I was a year ago." A captain reflected, "I do actually believe that I have forgotten how to act look or walk like a civilian.""

"A Union soldier observed after one battle that the "sun rose bright and clear this morning to spread his brilliant light over thousands of mangled human bodies.""

[AC]

Much too superficial

[Ironically Nostalgic]

A very fine introduction that lives up to its title. The narrative focuses on Lincoln's role--in particular, the conflicts he navigated as president throughout the Civil War. This approach keeps the reader focused on the broader picture. While the author sows some seeds regarding more in-depth topics (e.g. Contraband Camps, complex military conflicts, the 'Lost Cause', etc.), the reader may be left wanting by the epilogue. That said, the author leaves us with a solid further reading section. If you want a concise survey of the Civil War, you won't be disappointed.

[Pete]

The US Civil War : A Very Short Introduction (2020) by Louis P Masur is a fine short book describing the Civil War in the US. Masur is a professor of History and American studies.

The book has a chapter on the long and short term causes of the war and then chapters for each year of the war from 1861 onwards with the final chapter covering 1865 and beyond.

Masur writes well and the book gives an excellent outline of the war that most people should learn something from. The US Civil War is a very good book from the Very Short Introductions series.

[benjamin m. guyer]

Great introduction

This is the first overview of the American Civil War that I have read since undergrad (more than 20 years ago!). I learned much and was fascinated to see that the actual history complicates and even contradicts the folk memories/folk wisdom that defines so much of modern American political partisanship. I highly recommend this volume.

[Santiago F. Moreno Solana]

This book opened up my mind and made me understand why the USA of today never cured their wounds. To understand a conflict which started (for historians) a certain day of 1860 but did not end the 14th of April of 1865 and, I dare to say, it does not seem to have ended.
A read I recommend to anyone willing to know the roots of many conflicts of the modern USA.

[Devin]

Worthy of 4 stars, but I took another star off because of the way the bibliographical notes were organized; it was sometimes hard to find what source he was quoting from (could have just numbered the citations like most history books).

[Adam Bricker]

Exactly what it says it is.

[Christy]

This is the best short introduction I’ve read so far- it captured the emotional aspects of the war along with the facts along with key highlights and quotes.

[Peter Sannizzaro]

I love this series! I use it to gain a good high level overview of a particular topic before I read something that goes into greater depth. Super helpful.

[Ash B]

Probably the most straightforward recounting if the war I have read. The Short Introduction series makes me so happy. The authors who write for this series know how to divide content to create an information-heavy but easy read for the audience. The breakdown by years also makes this such a great book when you need to find sources. My knowledge of the war has expanded in a way that allows me to go back and touch on points I find important.