"The Civil War defined us as what we are & it opened us to being what we became, good & bad things...It was the crossroads of our being, & it was a hell of a crossroads: the suffering, the enormous tragedy of the whole thing."- Shelby Foote
  When the illustrated edition of The Civil War was published, The NY Time hailed it as "a treasure for the eye & mind." Ward's history interweaves the author's narrative with the voices of those who lived thru the cataclysmic trial of nationhood: not just Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass & Robert E. Lee, but genteel Southern ladies & escaped slaves, cavalry officers & common foot soldiers who fought in Yankee blue & Rebel gray. The Civil War also includes essays by historians of the era: Don E. Fehrenbacher, on the war's origins; Barbara J. Fields, on the freeing of slaves; Shelby Foote, on the soldiers & commanders; James M. McPherson, on the political dimensions; & C. Vann Woodward, assessing the America that emerged from the war's ashes.
Introduction: The crossroads of our being
1861: A house divided
Why the war came/ Don E. Fehrenbacher
1862: Forever free
Who freeds the slaves?/ Barbara J. Fields
1863: The universe of battle
Men at war: an interview with Shelby Foote
1864: Most hallowed ground
War & politics/ James M. McPherson
1865: The better angels of our nature
What the war made us/ C. Vann Woodward