MARC Record from Library of Congress

LEADER: 02666cam a22003374a 4500
001 2010051977
003 DLC
005 20110624140237.0
008 101217s2011 maua b 001 0 eng
010 $a 2010051977
020 $a9780674045620 (alk. paper)
020 $a0674045629 (alk. paper)
035 $a(OCoLC)ocn676725366
040 $aDLC$cDLC$erda$dYDX$dBTCTA$dYDXCP$dJQQ$dBWX$dZAD$dEEK$dCDX$dTEF$dDLC
042 $apcc
043 $an-us---
050 00 $aE468$b.G349 2011
082 00 $a973.7$222
100 1 $aGallagher, Gary W.
245 14 $aThe union war /$cGary W. Gallagher.
260 $aCambridge, Mass. :$bHarvard University Press,$c2011.
300 $a215 p. :$bill. ;$c24 cm.
336 $atext$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$2rdacarrier
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520 $aEven one hundred and fifty years later, we are haunted by the Civil War--by its division, its bloodshed, and its origins. Today, many believe that the war was fought over slavery. This answer satisfies our contemporary sense of justice, but as Gary Gallagher shows in this revisionist history, it is an anachronistic judgment. In a searing analysis of the Civil War North as revealed in contemporary letters, diaries, and documents, Gallagher demonstrates that what motivated the North to go to war and persist in an increasingly bloody effort was primarily preservation of the Union. Devotion to the Union bonded nineteenth-century Americans in the North and West against a slaveholding aristocracy in the South and a Europe that seemed destined for oligarchy. Northerners believed they were fighting to save the republic, and with it the world's best hope for democracy. Once we understand the centrality of union, we can in turn appreciate the force that made northern victory possible: the citizen-soldier. Gallagher reveals how the massive volunteer army of the North fought to confirm American exceptionalism by salvaging the Union. Contemporary concerns have distorted the reality of nineteenth-century Americans, who embraced emancipation primarily to punish secessionists and remove slavery as a future threat to union-goals that emerged in the process of war. As Gallagher recovers why and how the Civil War was fought, we gain a more honest understanding of why and how it was won--From book jacket.
505 0 $aThe grand review -- Union -- Emancipation -- The armies -- Affirmation.
651 0 $aUnited States$xHistory$yCivil War, 1861-1865.
651 0 $aUnited States$xPolitics and government$y1861-1865.
650 0 $aPolitical culture$zUnited States$xHistory$y19th century.