Trial by Fire: A People's History of the Civil War and Reconstruction

Page Simith's history is unparalleled anywhere. This history should be required reading in schools everywhere, in place of the boring, lifeless textbooks we were forced to read as children. If minor and pointless minutiae can be refuted, the big picture cannot. This is not "revisionist" history, it is told primarily through contemporary diaries and newspaper accounts, and assembled into a riveting narrative by a master historian. The heroes and villains of this frenzied, uncompromising, brutal and ultimately disastrous period are allowed to emerge on their own, not as fantasies of a partisan agenda. This great country can learn much from the retelling of this painful episode in our history, on our collective journey to become the great people we think we are.

This is the finest work of history I have read, thoroughly researched and brilliant. It cuts directly to the meaning of the United States and brightly illuminates today's problems and their causes without making those points directly. Mr. Page is thoughtful, balanced and even-handed throughout. Though the book is long, it is a tense and exciting read. He knows how to tell a story, and there is none more compelling than the story of our nation in its peril. This series is so well-respected that it is surprising to see negative reviews on this site. Read this book for yourself, and you'll feel its excellence on every page.