"The crowning achievement of one of America's most distinguished military historians." -- Lincoln Prize jury

"Readers will find much to debate in this book -- including... its affirmation that, because of emancipation, 'the Civil War calls for a rethinking of the attitude... that war is always futile, that its rewards never match its cost, that any conflict [must be] immediately decisive and virtually without loss of American lives.'" -- Gary W. Gallagher