A collection of over two dozen essays on the most important topics and themes of the American Civil War and Reconstruction - each essay is an interpretive summary of the key literature in the field, and places the topic in its historical context.

Lacy Ford is Professor of History at the University of South Carolina. He is the recipient of many awards in American and Southern history including the 1999 NEH Fellowship Award and the Francis B. Simkins prize for his book Origins of Southern Radicalism (1988).