The World the Civil War Made - (Steven and Janice Brose Lectures in the Civil War Era) by Gregory P Downs & Kate Masur (Paperback)

About the Book

"This provocative collection boldly rewrites the way we understand the United States in the post-Civil War era. The editors argue for thinking beyond the traditional framework of Reconstruction and considering, instead, regionally interconnected struggles over the capacity of the federal government (which they term a Stockade State) and over the boundaries of coercion in the aftermath of slavery"--

Book Synopsis

At the close of the Civil War, it was clear that the military conflict that began in South Carolina and was fought largely east of the Mississippi River had changed the politics, policy, and daily life of the entire nation. In an expansive reimagining of post-Civil War America, the essays in this volume explore these profound changes not only in the South but also in the Southwest, in the Great Plains, and abroad. Resisting the tendency to use Reconstruction as a catchall, the contributors instead present diverse histories of a postwar nation that stubbornly refused to adopt a unified ideology and remained violently in flux. Portraying the social and political landscape of postbellum America writ large, this volume demonstrates that by breaking the boundaries of region and race and moving past existing critical frameworks, we can appreciate more fully the competing and often contradictory ideas about freedom and equality that continued to define the United States and its place in the nineteenth-century world.

Contributors include Amanda Claybaugh, Laura F. Edwards, Crystal N. Feimster, C. Joseph Genetin-Pilawa, Steven Hahn, Luke E. Harlow, Stephen Kantrowitz, Barbara Krauthamer, K. Stephen Prince, Stacey L. Smith, Amy Dru Stanley, Kidada E. Williams, and Andrew Zimmerman.

Review Quotes

"A thought-provoking collection that points toward exciting new directions for Civil War and postbellum studies." -- American Historical Review

"An undoubtedly important contribution to the literature on Reconstruction. . . . Break[s] new ground and offer[s] excellent suggestions and inspirations for future study." -- Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"Ponder these essays, assign this volume, and join the authors in rethinking the many worlds the Civil War made." -- Journal of American History

"Rather than stretching existing historiographical concepts to fit the seemingly exceptional, these writers suggest ongoing reenvisioning of Civil War origins. . . . Recommended." -- CHOICE

"The essays in the collection engage with one another and with these key ideas better than in almost any other edited volume I have read." -- Journal of Southern History

About the Author

Gregory P. Downs is associate professor of history at University of California, Davis.

Kate Masur is associate professor of history at Northwestern University.