Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction

Ordeal by Fire is a comprehensive one-volume account of the United States during the era of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Written by one of this country's leading Civil War historians and a Pulitzer Prize winner, the text is divided into three distinct sections: Part I describes the social, economic, ideological, and political conflicts that lead to war; Part II covers all aspects of the war itself; and Part III deals with the post-war problems of reuniting the nation and defining the rights of the freed slaves in the new South.