Don't Know Much About® the Civil War

It has been 150 years since the opening salvo of the Civil War. Americans share a deep and abiding interest in the war that split the country. No other period in our history has generated so many books. The market is flooded with Civil War biographies, chronicles, battle guides, almanacs, atlases and diaries of minor and major players. Additionally, consumers can buy magazines devoted to the war, videotaped tours of the battlefields, board games and computer software that allow them to “relive” the war. Outside of Washington, D.C., Gettysburg remains the most visited historic site in the United States. Thousands of Civil War re-enactors keep this history alive by donning uniforms and re-creating the battles of the war.

“For more than 130 years, writers, historians, sociologists, novelists, and poets have attempted to explain the Civil War in military, economic, social, and political terms,” writes Ken Davis. “But the roots of this terrible conflict are still misunderstood by many Americans.” The New York Times bestselling author delves into the conflict in Don’t Know Much About® the Civil War. In this esssential volume in Davis’ widely acclaimed Don’t Know Much About® series, he skillfully sorts out the players, politics and key events of the Civil War.

Davis reveals little-known facts that will surprise even learned Civil War buffs. Students of the conflict may know every strategic detail about Gettysburg and what went wrong for the Confederacy, but they may not know that both sides committed atrocities and murdered civilians with little remorse. In telling the “hidden history” of the period, Davis discloses that Robert E. Lee was suffering from a severe stomach ailment that may have impaired his judgment. He also notes that Ulysses S. Grant expelled all the Jews from the territory in his command and that a draft riot in New York City led by Irish immigrants claimed more casualties than the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.

“The Civil War has been the spawning ground for many myths,” writes Davis, who aims to correct the grievous oversights and misguided teachings of the past, especially as they relate to blacks, women and Native Americans. He explains that his “interest isn’t in a politically ‘correct’ view of the Civil War but one that is historically accurate.” Vivid and informative, Don’t Know Much About® the Civil War sets the record straight on the nation’s bloodiest conflict.