"The crowning achievement of one of America's most distinguished military historians." —Lincoln Prize jury

"Readers will find much to debate in this book—including . . . its affirmation that, because of emancipation, 'the Civil War calls for a rethinking of the attitude . . . that war is always futile, that its rewards never match its cost, that any conflict [must be] immediately decisive and virtually without loss of American lives.'" —Gary W. Gallagher