Between 1861 and 1865, the clash of the greatest armies the Western hemisphere had ever seen turned small towns, little-known streams, and obscure meadows in the American countryside into names we will always remember. In those great battles, those streams ran red with blood - and the United States was truly born. If you've ever wanted to understand the Civil War, this series of 48 startlingly evocative lectures by a leading Civil War historian

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Gary Gallagher presents a brilliant reinterpretation of the Civil War, arguing that it was the preservation of the Union, rather than abolition of slavery, that motivated the war effort in the North.

More than 60,000 books have been published on the Civil War. Most Americans, though, get their ideas about the war--why it was fought, what was won, what was lost--not from books but from movies, television, and other popular media. In an engaging and accessible survey, Gary W. Gallagher guides readers through the stories told in recent film and art, showing how these stories have both reflected and influenced the political, social, and racial currents...

A look at Lee and many of the top generals during the years of the Confederacy. Professor Gallagher analyses the generalship of Lee and 13 other generals. The lectures also focus on some younger officers who rose through the ranks as well as Jackson, Longstreet and Early.

"This set of essays by twenty-seven historians of the Civil War describes a wide array of the war's photographs, examining them in unfamiliar ways." --