Description: Fateful Lightning is a mid-length survey of the American Civil War. In this revision of his 1994 The Crisis of the American Republic, leading Civil War scholar Allen C. Guelzo covers a broad range of topics, including politics, religion, gender, race, diplomacy, and technology. Unlike other Civil War surveys, the book concludes with substantial coverage of the postwar Reconstruction and the modern-day legacy of the Civil War in American literature and popular culture.
Review Quotes: "Guelzo has a masterful command of the intricate narrative of the Civil War period. His tale contains familiar stories, but also new insights." --Journal of American History
"Guelzo's book is a shining example of the virtues of the macro approach when it is undertaken with energy and efficiency. By panning out and reviewing the events that occurred over several decades, Guelzo offers a useful synthesis of the developing Civil War narrative..." --The New York Times"It's hard to imagine a better one-volume history of the American Civil War than Gettysburg College professor Allen C. Guelzo's new work." --The Washington Times
"Guelzo's prose is graceful and erudite - indeed, almost poetic. His is as comfortable with military topics as he is with the political, social, and economic aspects of the war and its aftermath." --The Weekly Standard"Allen C. Guelzo's new book should occupy the same position in the current Civil War sesquicentennial as Bruce Catton's books did 50 years ago during the war's centennial. Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War & Reconstruction deserves this prominence for Guelzo's thorough knowledge of the subject, his ability to draw fresh conclusion, and his exceptional writing skills." --The Saturday Evening Post
"This is an outstanding effort to recount and explain our greatest national trauma to general readers." --Booklist"With his accustomed eloquence and erudition, Allen C. Guelzo has produced a grand and sweeping account of the Civil War, vividly depicting its events, its characters, and, most of all, the ideas that drove them. Fateful Lightning is destined to take its place alongside the classic narratives of the nation's greatest crisis." --Steven E. Woodworth, author of This Great Struggle: America's Civil War"[A] splendidly-written narrative" --Civil War Book Review"Fateful Lightning is a splendid accomplishment." --David Frum, Daily Beast"Fateful Lightning is a wonderful book. It is the summit of a long career of a consumate historian. ... [A] timely addition to a long tradition of scholarly histories of both the Civil War and Reconstruction. ... Guelzo seamlessly weaves the history of actual warfare with other cultural and historical events of the time. ... Because it is so well-written and produces such an engrossing story, it is one that students and scholars alike will relish." --International Social Science Review