As war raged on the battlefields of the Civil War, men and women all over the nation continued their daily routines. They celebrated holidays, ran households, wrote letters, read newspapers, joined unions, attended plays, and graduated from high school and college. Civil War America reveals how Americans, both Northern and Southern, lived during the Civil War-the ways they worked, expressed themselves artistically, organized their family lives, treated illness, and worshipped.
Written by specialists, the chapters in this book cover the war's impact on the economy, the role of the federal government, labor, welfare and reform efforts, the Indian nations, universities, healthcare and medicine, news coverage, photography, and a host of other topics that flesh out the lives of ordinary Americans who just happened to be living through the biggest conflict in American history. Along with the original material presented in the book chapters, the website accompanying the book is a treasure trove of primary sources, both textual and visual, keyed for each chapter topic.
Civil War America and its companion website uncover seismic shifts in the cultural and social landscape of the United States, providing the perfect addition to any course on the Civil War.
"Civil War America?offers readers a remarkably insightful and comprehensive collection of essays on the social and cultural history of the home front and the battlefield. Students and professors alike will find the essays accessible and substantive, perfect for sparking classroom discussions of this vital era. Covering a range of diverse topics such as wartime music and theater, education, sports, draft resistance, and African American troops, Civil War America?opens myriad avenues for dialogue and understanding."
Jonathan D. Wells, author of A House Divided: The Civil War and Nineteenth Century America (Routledge)
"A new collection of twenty-nine short essays edited by Maggi Morehouse and Zoe Trodd falls into new thinking about the war...Especially useful are chapters covering cultural metamorphoses. These help students think beyond military and political institutions and consider the roles played by newspapers, literature, photography, the fine arts, music, and sports in shaping perceptions of the war and the broader, slippery entity called "American" culture."
Robert E. Weir, Smith College/University of Massachusetts Amherst
