This title covers a period in American history characterized by decades of intensifying conflict over slavery and government authority, culminating in Abraham Lincoln’s election and eleven states seceding from the Union. The Civil War began as a limited conflict with the aim of restoring the Union. It became a diffuse, violent war that lasted four years, claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, and ultimately led to the abolition of slavery and a vigorous debate over the terms by which the seceded states would be restored to the nation. The book ends with a chapter on the aftermath of the war and the remaking of America.

Introduction -- The origins of the Civil War -- 1861 -- 1862 -- 1863 -- 1864 -- 1865 and after the war -- Epilogue.