In a thoughtful essay, the author of Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War suggests that “the 150th anniversary of the Civil War is too narrow a lens through which to view the conflict.”
He’s probably right.
150 Years of Misunderstanding the Civil War, by Tony Horwitz (The Atlantic)
… It’s hard to argue with the Gettysburg Address. But in recent years, historians have rubbed much of the luster from the Civil War and questioned its sanctification. Should we consecrate a war that killed and maimed over a million Americans? Or should we question, as many have in recent conflicts, whether this was really a war of necessity that justified its appalling costs?
