War for a Nation

Susan-Mary Grant is Reader in American History at the Newcastle University, UK. She is the author North Over South: Northern Nationalism and AmericanIdentity in the Antebellum Era (Kansas 2000) and the editor of Legacy of Disunion (LSU 2003). She is editor of American Nineteenth Century History (Taylor and Francis), and on the steering committee of ARENA (Association for Research into Ethnicity and Nationalism in the Americas) based at the Walker Institute, University of South Carolina.

• Introduction  1. Portents  2. Divisions  3. The Road to Perdition  4. All Quiet Along the Potomac  5. Battle Cry of Freedom  6. Into the West  7. The People Embodied  8. Lee's Miserables  Conclusion: Death of a President, Birth of a Nation

"With admirable style, Susan-Mary Grant has given us the best brief history of the American Civil War. She combines a balanced and wide-ranging perspective with revealing first-hand testimony. The result is a narrative that is useful and engaging on every facet of this complex drama."— Edward L. Ayers, author of In the Presence of Mine Enemies: War in the Heart of America, 1859-1863 and The Promise of the New South: Life after Reconstruction"In this engaging and fast-paced study of the crux of American history, Susan-Mary Grant interweaves concise narrative and assured analysis to produce a work which properly puts the battle-field to the fore, but which never loses sight of the larger context and the war's significance in national construction. It is an admirable achievement."—Richard Carwardine, author of Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power"Susan-Mary Grant's impressive War for a Nation clears a fresh path through the debris—both material and intellectual—of America's most destructive conflict."—Charles Joyner, author of Down by the Riverside: A South Carolina Slave Community