What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War (Vintage) - Softcover

"An essential contribution to our understanding of slavery and the Civil War." --The Philadelphia Inquirer"A breathtakingly thorough examination of attitudes toward slavery of the rank-and-file troops, blue and gray, black and white." --The Baltimore Sun "An engrossing study of Civil War soldiers . . . by breathing life into them, she breathes life into debates over why the war came and how it was waged." --Chicago Tribune "A splendid book that should be read carefully by all who have an interest in the Civil War." --Civil War News

Drawing on the diaries and letters of soldiers on both sides of the conflict, a close-up look at the meaning of slavery to Union and Confederate troops reveals how Union soldiers called for emancipation long before the Emancipation Proclamation and how Confederate soldiers believed that abolition would destroy the very fabric of Southern society. Reprint.