What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War

There are already some good reviews so I will only suggest reading the following interesting books on Lincoln and/or the Civil War in addition to Manning's work,: 1) "Lincoln: a biography" by Benjamin P. Thomas (a classical biography, written more than half a century ago which has passed the test of time with brilliant qualifications); 2) "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era" by James M. McPherson (nowadays the standard, very readable, one-volume history of US Civil War); 3) "Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime: From the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism" by Geoffrey R. Stone, specially chapter II "The Civil War: Mr. Lincoln's First Amendment" (in fact, all the book is worth-reading); 4) "Lincoln's Constitution" by Daniel Farber (how Abraham Lincoln faced the constitutional issues brought on by the US Civil War); and 5) "Justice in Blue and Gray: A Legal History of the Civil War" by Stephen Neff (comprehensive study of the wide range of legal issues arising from the US Civil War).

As a Southerner (from Kentucky) and descendent of slave-owners, Confederates, and Yankees as well, I have to state that this book thoroughly clears up the erroneous facts concerning why both Northern and Southern men fought in the American Civil War. Living in the South especially, and currently living in Georgia, I've seen the general public inundated with such propaganda that the American Civil War was over "states' rights" and/or "Northern economic interests", etc... But this book clears up the rhetoric and explains why both sides fought, using extensive research on original soldiers' letters and diaries. Of special note is that the book is extremely well written, with excellent usage of the English language throughout, as well as focused and logical arguments to support the author's facts. In summary, this is one of the top 5 books I've read on the American Civil War. (just a lagniappe...the author - Chandra Manning, a professor at Georgetown University - is originally from Ireland.)

I had a history professor who challenged us to look at WWII from the perspective of WWI, not from the perspective of today and the hindsight that offers. The challenge made history more real and understandable. Chandra Manning offers readers the same challenge--look at the Civil War from the perspective of a nation born only a few decades before, rather than from today. When we inflict our hindsight judgment on history, we fail to give those who created it a fair shake. Union soldiers' letters showed they entered the war from the idea of wanting to prove the republican self-government worked that was based on the Declaration of Independence less than a century earlier. The world was watching the new country, and the Union soldiers saw secession as egregious. Confederate soldiers likened their revolution against the Union to the colonies' revolution against Great Britain. The new Confederate government was about promoting white liberty while protecting slavery and the Confederate way of life. Slavery was hardly on the radar screen for most white Union soldiers. Their concern was the success of the new government. Eventually the Union soldier saw that slavery is what tore the Union apart. From that perspective, it's easy to see how the Union soldier could fight to eliminate the very thing that threatened the new government--slavery. From Lincoln's election on, the North's position was to prohibit the expansion of slavery. The war was a necessity, in the South's view, if their homes and families were to remain safe. Chandra Manning offers a chronological accounting of the war from the people who fought it. As you read, you can see how both the northern and southern soldiers' attitudes evolved. Slaveholders and non-slaveholders held similar beliefs on the war's beginnings and its impact on keeping the fight going. Any Civil War or history buff will enjoy this book. It's well documented with 85 pages of notes and 22 pages of primary sources. You'll be hard pressed to find so much at your fingertips again. Armchair Interviews says: Treat yourself to a walk forward through history. You see things from a different perspective.

Chandra Manning's first book, "What This Cruel War Was Over," squarely rebuts the popular belief that Civil War soldiers did not care about slavery. Manning places in the lap of the reader countless letters penned by soldiers to families and loved ones attesting to slavery's role in starting the war, stirring up morale, and being the ultimate reason to fight on. Instead of leaving the telling of history to speeches by great generals and politicians, Manning firmly directs our eyes to the very words of the rank and file who gave the war meaning. Personally, I found the incredible degree of dissent within both the Union and Confederate camps to be most interesting. Some idealistic Union soldiers protested slavery to assure liberty and freedom for all, while other soldiers kept rigidly racist views of slaves but still demanded an end to slavery because they felt slavery would inevitably lead to more clashes between the North and South. Southern soldiers, frustrated by the growing power of the Confederate government to seize their family's assets for the war effort, often questioned their own motivation for defending a government as invasive as the North. Still, fearful of a world in which former slaves might come to own their land and intermarry with white women, Southern soldiers persisted on in battle for the Confederacy. Even yet, some Confederate soldiers thought serving in the war might be a foot in the door to someday owning slaves. Of particular interest to the reader will be letters from African-American Union soldiers who labored in battle not only to end slavery but to earn equal pay and respect from the army. Despite their additional hardships, these soldiers came to be known as some of the bravest and most dedicated soldiers on the battlefield. Letters reveal that white soldiers often came away so impressed that many began to reconsider their previously held racist ideologies. An enjoyable read! Guaranteed to change the national conversation about the Civil War and the end of slavery.

This book has been quickly reviewed by major hitters among American historians. Chandra Manning has been described as the "rising star of new American historians." Such high praise might make one assume this is a book geared to knowledgable scholars and enjoyable only by them. The truth is Dr. Mannings writing style and skill make this work both enlightening and enjoyable to the scholar and the history enthusiast. Any one interested in this "cruel war" will find enlightenment not shown by the earlier greats in historic writing and teaching. We can only hope that Professor Manning does not make us wait long for her next work. What William Freehling offers us in antebellum literature Chandra Manning provides in the psychology of the war itself.