Ordeal by Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction

To give instructors who use this textbook maximum flexibility, the first two parts of "Ordeal by Fire" are now available as individual paperbacks. Volume one describes the social, economic, ideological and political conflicts that lead to war; Volume two will cover all aspects of the war itself. Both volumes try to go beyond the range of a standard textbook to capture the human drama and excitement of a tragic and transitional period in US history. For the second edition, Professor McPherson has incorporated new scholarship on blacks, women and other non-elite groups, including new material on women and workers in the antebellum US, women in the wartime North, and the home front in the confederacy.