Mark E. Neely, Jr., is McCabe-Greer Professor of the History of the Civil War Era at Pennsylvania State University and the author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties.

• Introduction: Destructiveness in the Civil War 1. The Mexican-American War: Republicanism and the Ethos of War 2. Price's Raid: Limited War in Missouri 3. Emperor Maximilian's Black Decree: War in the Tropics 4. The Shenandoah Valley: Sheridan and Scorched Earth 5. The Sand Creek Massacre: The Grand Burning of the Prairie 6. Avenging Andersonville: Retaliation and the Political Uses of Hatred Conclusion: The Cult of Violence in Civil War History Notes Selected Bibliography Acknowledgments Illustration Sources Index

In a perceptive and rigorously argued call to resist the temptation to describe the Civil War as an unusually destructive or brutal war, Mark Neely finds new ways to examine old questions and to challenge prevailing interpretations. This is another first-rate work from one of the best and most imaginative scholars working in the field of Civil War history.

Mark E. Neely, Jr., is McCabe-Greer Professor of the History of the Civil War Era at Pennsylvania State University and the author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties.

• Introduction: Destructiveness in the Civil War 1. The Mexican-American War: Republicanism and the Ethos of War 2. Price's Raid: Limited War in Missouri 3. Emperor Maximilian's Black Decree: War in the Tropics 4. The Shenandoah Valley: Sheridan and Scorched Earth 5. The Sand Creek Massacre: The Grand Burning of the Prairie 6. Avenging Andersonville: Retaliation and the Political Uses of Hatred Conclusion: The Cult of Violence in Civil War History Notes Selected Bibliography Acknowledgments Illustration Sources Index

In a perceptive and rigorously argued call to resist the temptation to describe the Civil War as an unusually destructive or brutal war, Mark Neely finds new ways to examine old questions and to challenge prevailing interpretations. This is another first-rate work from one of the best and most imaginative scholars working in the field of Civil War history.

Mark E. Neely, Jr., is McCabe-Greer Professor of the History of the Civil War Era at Pennsylvania State University and the author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties.

• Introduction: Destructiveness in the Civil War 1. The Mexican-American War: Republicanism and the Ethos of War 2. Price's Raid: Limited War in Missouri 3. Emperor Maximilian's Black Decree: War in the Tropics 4. The Shenandoah Valley: Sheridan and Scorched Earth 5. The Sand Creek Massacre: The Grand Burning of the Prairie 6. Avenging Andersonville: Retaliation and the Political Uses of Hatred Conclusion: The Cult of Violence in Civil War History Notes Selected Bibliography Acknowledgments Illustration Sources Index

In a perceptive and rigorously argued call to resist the temptation to describe the Civil War as an unusually destructive or brutal war, Mark Neely finds new ways to examine old questions and to challenge prevailing interpretations. This is another first-rate work from one of the best and most imaginative scholars working in the field of Civil War history.