Len Gougeon is Distinguished Professor of American Literature, Emeritus, at the University of Scranton, past President of the Ralph Waldo Emerson Society, and recipient of the society's Distinguished Achievement Award. He is the author of Emerson and Eros: The Making of a Cultural Hero, also by SUNY Press.

• AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroduction1. 1860: Slavery, Race, and the Seeds of Cultural Conflict2. 1861: As Civil War Approaches, the Debate over Slavery Intensifies at Home and Abroad3. War Against Slavery at Home Brings Conflict Abroad4. The North Suffers a Humiliating Defeat: British Critics Gloat5. The Old World and the New Collide: The Trent Affair Brings the Threat of War6. 1862: Talk of Emancipation Fuels British Fears of a Global Race War7. Union Victories Temper British Critics8. The North Suffers Military Reversals: British Consider Intervention9. Lincoln Proclaims Emancipation as Race Takes Center Stage10. Midterm Elections Focus on Race11. 1863: As the Civil War Becomes a Second Revolution, Conflict with Great Britain Looms12. British Conservatives React with Alarm as Race and Class Become Central Issues13. New England Liberals Herald the Rise of the "African American": British Critics Scoff14. Union Victories and Colored Soldiers Change the Course and Complexion of the War15. Lincoln Affirms Commitment to Emancipation: Animosity Toward Great Britain Deepens16. Lincoln Speaks for Equality: The Anglo-American Divide Widens17. 1864: The "Negro Question" Spurs Intense International Debate18. Republican Radicals Declare Slavery Must Go: British Call for "Regulated Coercion"19. Atlanta Falls and Lincoln Rises: British Criticism Intensifies20. 1865: The Civil War Ends, but the Battle for Human Rights ContinuesEpilogueNotesBibliographyIndex

"Old England, New England, and the Civil War details a story never told with such precision and accuracy: why English intellectuals, at first sympathetic to the cause of their New England counterparts, over the course of the Civil War became estranged as abolitionists began to stress the inherent dignity—and humanity—of the enslaved. Based on prodigious research in primary sources, this should be required reading for anyone interested in Anglo-American relations during the War." — Philip F. Gura, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill