The Pulitzer Prize–winning historian "ranges informally but authoritatively" across Civil War-related topics in a thought-provoking essay collection ( The New York Times). Based on a lecture series delivered at Wesleyan University, these essays come from Bruce Catton, a New York Times–bestselling and National Book Award–winning author acclaimed as "one of America's foremost Civil War authorities" ( Kirkus Reviews). In them, he delves more deeply into the subject of the war and its meaning for America—addressing such issues as the psychology of the citizen soldier; the presidential career of Ulysses S. Grant; and what happens to civil liberties in wartime. He explores how the war compelled the nation to confront questions about race and democracy, and places the conflict in a wider context, identifying it as the world's first truly modern war. "Nothing in our time makes the Civil War as alive as the writings of Bruce Catton." — The Baltimore Sun