More than one hundred and fifty years after the Civil War began, its hold on the American imagination has not abated. This Very Short Introduction offers a concise history of the era and serves as a necessary introduction to dramatic events that fundamentally reshaped the nation.

Louis P. Masur is Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University. His many books include Lincoln's Last Speech: Wartime Reconstruction and the Crisis of Reunion (OUP, 2015), Lincoln's Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Union, and "the real war will never get in the books": Selections from Writers during the Civil War (OUP, 1993).

• List of Illustrations


• Acknowledgments


• Introduction


• Ch 1: The Origins of the Civil War


• Ch 2: 1861


• Ch 3: 1862


• Ch 4: 1863


• Ch 5: 1864


• Ch6: 1865 and After the War


• Epilogue


• References


• Further Reading


• Index