Written with the same comprehensiveness and in the same eminently readable style as the author's previous short history books, this lucid, objective account of America's Civil War takes readers from Lincoln's election in 1860 and the secession of the Southern states to the ultimate surrender of the Confederate Army at Appomattox in 1865.

A Short History of the Civil War covers all the important historical highlights of America's most devastating war, while providing many fascinating and little-known details.